How small moves ignite industry-wide change

Partner Article The telecom industry is at a crossroads, caught between the rapid evolution of AI and other technologies and the challenge of implementing meaningful change without disrupting operations Speaking on stage at the event at Mobile World Congress, leaders from Orange, Accenture, and Kingfisher and moderator from CCS Insight came together to discuss the challenge of change and how starting small can have big results A perception problem In today’s fast evolving economic environment, where AI and new market segments are reshaping the digital landscape, the industry is under increasing pressure to keep up and change quickly. In this transformation process, the first obstacle to overcome is the perception of change as being difficult, costly, and time consuming. For Kingfisher CEO Georgiann Reigle, the core of this challenge stems from competing priorities within a typical telco. “The job of the telco is massive,” said Reigle. “They are trying to meet customer demands, innovate, reduce operational costs, drive growth, and deliver new services – all at the same time. Every single telco is in the midst of one or many digitisation projects and that context makes it difficult push for further organisational change That’s a stack of priorities that they have to force rank, which is a challenge.” Underpinning these competing priorities is the perception of large-scale transformation as resource intensive and disruptive. But, the panellists emphasised that meaningful change doesn’t have to be overwhelming, it can start with small strategic steps. Jefferson Wang, Chief Strategy Officer of Cloud First at Accenture added that “there is this perception that transformation requires a big bang process, that is certainly one way to approach it, but there is also a progressive way to do it. A lot of times we see success happen in a smaller and more progressive way, and there’s an art to that.” The importance of momentum At the heart of overcoming these preconceptions is being able to demonstrate meaningful results and tangible progress quickly. “We see a lot of progress happening in a smaller, progressive way. There’s an art to that, because you want to build in some quick wins so you can quickly realise momentum,” said Wang. “You don’t need to change everything all at once,” noting that telco customers are sensitive to service disruption. “The plane is flying and we’re going to rebuild the engine while we’re still in the air. It has to be small steps so that customers feel a positive impact rather than a negative one.” Identifying quick wins is key in this respect, with small successes unlocking the door for change on a larger scale. A smarter path to the circular economy Small progressive steps are central to advancing the circular device economy. Kingfisher, for example, shared how it collaborates with telcos to enhance mobile phone ownership experiences through its circular operating platform Katalyst . It enables telcos to deliver tailored device programmes through a one-for-one device ownership model, helping streamline operations, harness emerging technologies, and meet the needs of today’s consumers, all while driving environmental benefits and without disrupting core operations. For Reigle, programmes and platforms like this are beneficial for telcos, as they only require small changes to existing initiatives and infrastructures to significantly boost device return rates, increase customer satisfaction and drive growth. “Set the expectation that the customer will return the device at the point of sale. That’s not a significant change for the telco and their business model – it might only be a few tweaks to their programme and their communication […] but it can deliver a 10–15x in the number of devices customers return,” Reigle explained. “It’s a win-win. The customer wins financially, and the operator wins by seeing that customer return to their store.” Orange’s Managing Director Regional Karine Dussert-Sarthe, echoed these sentiments, noting an observed disconnect between customer views on second-hand device ownership and their observed behaviours – emphasising the need for awareness amongst target audiences. “We’re slightly disappointed with customer behaviour,” said Dussert-Sarthe. “They know purchasing the newest device every time is less sustainable – in fact, they tell us they want second-hand devices. But the numbers don’t support this. It’s probably less than 10% of our customer base right now that do this.” An example given was Orange’s Christmas campaign aimed at encouraging parents to buy their children second-hand devices rather than new ones during the holiday period. “Results were very good,” said Dussert-Sarthe. “We’re confident that with programmes like this we can build awareness and change this behaviour. But it must be an industry-wide effort.” The first move toward meaningful change To close the session Ben Wood, CCS Insight, asked panellists “If there’s one small step [or piece of advice] that telcos could take today to drive the biggest long-term impact, what would it be? Wang’s advice to telcos is clear “think big, start small, scale fast!” Dussert-Sarthe said, “There’s no one-size-fits-all to customer experience. These days customers want seamless networks, they want ubiquity. The standard of expectation is so high that we have to keep evolving. I’d say test–and–learn and being customer obsessed are my two key factors.” Reigle concluded, “We’re always going to live in a world of competing priorities, so getting the alignment of those priorities is so important. When you can create a win-win that meets ARPU growth goals, meets customer lifetime value extension goals, and meets sustainability goals at the same time, that’s where you’ll see the most impact,” Find out more from Orange , Kingfisher and Accenture here