VEON
you cannot really transform anything .
“ It ’ s absolutely key to have a purpose as a centre , and customer is a purpose . Then , of course , we need to have an open-mindedness . We cannot go into any situation thinking only one solution would work . We ’ ve got to balance things . Sometimes a local opinion matters , sometimes a global opinion matters .
“ Thirdly , we should walk the talk . If you don ’ t do that , we just kind of stumble preaching something , it never gets done .
“ Have purpose , be very openminded , walk the talk , all of the time .”
The future of telecoms VEON is taking radical steps to own its future and influence the shape of things to come . In Malik ’ s view there has been a breakdown in the value chain in the telecoms industry more generally . OTT content services are leveraging networks to build closer relationships with customers than the network providers themselves . Infrastructure is installed and maintained as a commodity divorced from the needs of their end users . Devices and sales swirl competitively around the edges .
The outcome is an increasingly disengaged customer . The reincarnation of VEON from VimpelCom – and all the change that has occurred under the hood - is geared around fostering customer engagement from the grass roots , by transforming the fundaments of both company and service .
“ As a telecoms industry , we were given 3G as a tool ,” Malik says . “ We were given 4G as a tool and now we are talking about 5G , but we have never addressed our core problem : How do we address customers in a real-time , personalised manner ? How do we empower our customers and our consumers more , so that they feel in control in the same way they feel in control of their bank account , or their airline ticket , and how can we take this customer confidence to the next level ?
“ That is what we are dealing with right now and , in my opinion , if we do not deal with that , we can keep building networks of new
44 December 2017