A truly digital telecom operator
Deutsche
Telekom Where innovation
is mission critica
al
WRITTEN BY
LAURA MULLAN PRODUCED BY
JAMES PEPPER
w w w. t e l e k o m . c o m
Embarking on a digital journey to foster innovation, Deutsche Telekom is set to remain as Europe’s leading telecom operator aving established itself as one of the world’s leading telecommunication companies, Deutsche Telekom is set to ink a new chapter in its story as it embraces a new wave of digitisation. No mean task, Dr. Kai-Ulrich Deissner, with his responsibilities as Chief Financial Officer of the newly found Board Area Technology & Innovation under Claudia Nemat, Board member Technology & Innovation, has a meaningful impact on this transformation. Deissner is what they call in German a “colourful dog”. Not your usual finance officer, he has worked in many parts of the value chain and in three regions across Europe; product marketing, many years of
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sales and process engineering in the local German business, as well as several CFO roles mark his 14-year long career for Deutsche Telekom. This diverse background extends to his private life: Deissner is as passionate about his job as he is about gaming (he is a level 40 PokemonGo player) and long-distance running. He was initially trained as a journalist and studied American poetry at Cambridge university, before making his first professional steps in the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s. “And where is the money – this was the leading question when the bubble burst”, he looks back, “and this is what has been guiding my professional behaviour ever since.” Bringing both operational and financial experience to the fore,
“ We strategically see ourselves as the leading European telecom” — Kai-Ulrich Deissner Chief Financial Officer Technology
Deissner says that today digitisation is critical for the success of the company. “Digitisation is inevitable. It will happen anyways, so it’s better to take it in your own hands rather than let it happen to you,” Deissner observes. “Any market player out there will tell you that digitisation is mission critical. You need to become faster and quicker w w w. t e l e k o m . c o m
The best of a now in y
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“ Changing our network from traditional copper to fibre is a strategic investment for the future” — Kai-Ulrich Deissner Chief Financial Officer Technology
and more innovative to remain competitive by enabling accelerated digitisation for better customer experience.” Deutsche Telekom’s commitment to digitisation is most visibly manifested
requires convergent networks
by the fact that it created a new board
that speak a single language: IP.
area called Technology and Innovation,
Especially Claudia Nemat’s team
clearly signalling the self-conception
is driving this convergence of
and importance of technological inge-
technology, IT and innovation at
nuity for the organisation.
Deutsche Telekom. This will
Convergence – the bundling of differ-
make the company faster and
ent network, communication and IT
more efficient. Convergence
technologies – was one of the major
allows to overcome technical
steps into digitisation. Customers want
limitations, making new, innova-
to be able to access their data quickly,
tive services possible.
anywhere and at any time. This
Deissner explains that, as
more rapid technological
strengthen innovation, to make it much
advancements have entered the
quicker and to deliver what we promise.”
fray, the borders between net-
Being fully committed to its technology
work technologies and
leadership attaining innovation leadership in
information technology are
networks and 5G, Deutsche Telekom recog-
quickly receding.
nises that its core asset is its leadership in 5G
“Historically separate divisions
and lightning-fast network. As the fundamen-
such as network technology (NT)
tal basis for this, the company is currently
and information technology (IT)
undergoing “a network modernisation of his-
are now converging as technol-
torical scale,” Deissner stresses. With his
ogy develops. Classical network
long-distance running experience, Deissner
technology and IT grow stronger
knows that in order to undergo this radical
together. Software Defined Net-
transformation, you need a long breath and
works are on the forefront,” he
endurance.
says. “To acknowledge that,
On top of this, the organisation is driving
we’ve combined network tech-
network expansion in Germany faster than
nology and information
any other company. Recently, just under 300
technology into one area to
new mobile base stations went into service in the region. In 2017, the company also installed 40,000 km of optical fibre in Germany alone, more than the entire length of the federal road network in the country. To prepare for the rollout of 5G, Deissner says that Deutsche Telekom is overhauling its
w w w. t e l e k o m . c o m
network to keep hold of its top-class
you actually see something on
position. “We strategically see our-
the street. With new technolo-
selves as the leading European
gies, we can accelerate this
telecom and, with that in mind, it is vital
process immensely, making us
that we keep our network updated,”
more efficient and decreasing
says Deissner.
our time to market.”
“Changing our network from tradi-
Digital transformations can
tional copper to fibre is a strategic
rack up huge expenses. At
investment for the future. For us it is
Deutsche Telekom, instead of
very clear if you want to be a leading
just looking at the amount that
European telecom, your core asset is
the company is investing, man-
your network, and that’s what you need
agement discussions centre on
to modernise and to keep it on top and
the impact on the top line and
innovate in the future.”
more and more on customer
New technologies certainly accelerate this network expansion.
experience. “Expanding our technology
“Traditionally, any new network is rolled
leadership is exactly the right
out in a detailed way taking many dif-
impetus for delivering the tech-
ferent steps and a long time,” he
nology and network innovations
continues. “It can take months before
that the digital transformation
needs. How well or poorly we deliver these
explains Deissner. “To
technology and network innovations will also
establish a unit that is
determine our bottom line, and thus the suc-
faster, more innovative,
cess of our company,” Claudia Nemat, Board
and more convergent, we
member Technology & Innovation, stressed
decided that we not only
as part of the Capital Markets Day in May
need to focus on how
2018.
much money we invest, but
Whilst this is a concept often adhered to in
also on what we get for
theory, Deissner is ensuring that it becomes
that. Often a complex task
an ingrained everyday practice so that
to do...”
Deutsche Telekom can forward its position in the market. “Traditionally, the finance department
“In some cases, we’re looking at areas that are not traditionally measured
measures input, so we measure and control
in finance, like customer
how much money we invest but put equal
satisfaction. It’s been quite
attention to the ‘output’ controlling, so both
a journey for our finance
top line and customer experience KPIs,”
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embracing the intelligent era with the intentdriven network In 2018, Huawei launched the Intent-Driven Network solution. This solution enables the rollout of a digital twin world that connects physical infrastructure to business needs. The network is driven by customers’ business intents and service policies. With intelligence, simplicity, ultra-broadband capabilities, openness, and security in mind, Huawei will help build a network that puts user experience front and center. Firstly, the Intent-Driven Network has the predictive analysis capability. Using big data and AI technologies, the network can predict network issues, proactively optimize network performance, and troubleshoot in advance. The network can also perceive the service experience of every single user in real time. With self-learning capabilities, it can continuously improve its intelligence and ability to perceive network issues and user experience issues. Secondly, the Intent-Driven Network is a simple network in terms of architecture, protocols, sites, and O&M, thus achieving full lifecycle automation and making the network more agile and efficient. This
helps improve the utilization of network resources and the flexibility of services. Thirdly, the Intent-Driven Network introduces new ultra-broadband technologies to achieve massive number of connections, ultralow latency, and ultra-high bandwidth. Fourthly, the Intent-Driven Network is always open and can be interconnected with various third-party platforms to build an open industry ecosystem. Finally, the core of the Intent-Driven Network is security. By identifying security threats in advance, the Intent-Driven Network implements proactive defense to ensure network intelligence and automation. The Intent-Driven Network will be integrated into various service scenarios and help carriers build solutions for future business scenarios. In 2018, Huawei has launched a series of innovative solutions for agile private lines, 5G transport, premium broadband, and enterprise campuses. These new options will help carriers reshape their business models.
www.huawei.com
“ Digitisation is inevitable. It will happen anyways, so it’s better to take it in your own hands rather than let it happen to you. Any market player out there will tell you that digitisation is mission critical” — Kai-Ulrich Deissner Chief Financial Officer Technology
team because while it’s still doing the
financial logic isn’t just driving results in
practical things of providing clear num-
the company’s finance department but
bers and proper accounting, it’s also
has impact on further operations within
about establishing financial logic to
the company.
measure our return on investment and productivity.” Deissner adds that it’s been quite a
“By bundling all our activities, it is also helping us use our resources to tackle some of the more challenging
challenge to lead traditional finance
number work as well. This means we
people to look more into the business
can spend less time producing reports
and acting as collaborative business
and more time on interpreting the
partners focusing on market and cus-
meaning of numbers, which enables us
tomer needs.
to support the business by providing a
As Chief Financial Officer for the
broad end-to-end thinking, combining
Technology & Innovation board area,
financial, commercial and operative
Deissner is aware that this sense of
concerns for our business partners.” w w w. t e l e k o m . c o m
Whilst cost efficiency is a vital
“You cannot reap all the benefits
aspect of this transformation story,
of digitisation if you are only focus-
it seems that, at the crux of it,
ing on costs,” Deissner explains.
Deutsche Telekom is focused on
“We think of technology as neces-
innovation and market impact.
sary not just for enabling
As a result, digitisation is not just
efficiencies, but for enabling innova-
changing the back-end functions,
tion that provides new products and
it’s also transforming the customer
sources of revenue.
experience and providing new avenues of revenue.
“Let me give you a few examples for efficiencies. One is the way you
Deutsche Telekom is represented in more than 50 countries worldwide
build fibre: Traditionally you manu-
“Another one comes from our call
ally plan the roll out of your network
centres, where we are using artificial
in many detailed process steps. It
intelligent voice agents to answer
takes a long time, before you actu-
customer complaints. In most of our
ally see something on the street.
internal processes we’re using
Now, with new technologies we can
those technologies to be more effi-
accelerate this planning process
cient while the key driver remains to
immensely, which is something that
be successful on the market.�
makes us more efficient and will help us being on the market quicker.
By all accounts, this has been a mammoth transformation for w w w. t e l e k o m . c o m
Deutsche Telekom which has
transformation and we’re satisfied
stretched across all departments
with the results so far. However, we
but none of this would be possible
need further steps to progress even
without the right culture to foster
more,” Deissner explains.
ingenuity. Today’s movers and shakers must
“One of the things that we’ve seen is that if we want to differentiate in
be agile and innovative. The right cul-
the market, there needs to be a cul-
ture is necessary to determine a
tural transformation underlying all of
successful digital transformation.
this,” notes Deissner. “In previous
Deutsche Telekom is promoting new
years, we have seen siloed thinking,
ways of thinking to foster this culture.
whereby people have thought only
“We’ve developed what you could
within the confines of their organisa-
call a ‘truly’ balanced scorecard
tional units rather than thinking about
where we’re looking at the financial
the benefit of the whole company. It
results, the delivery of new technol-
leads to more internal progress but
ogies, the operations, and the
less external progress, and so cul-
Deutsche Telekom has a revenue of €74.9bn work flexibly in projects, less hierarchical. In IT, we started a programme called ‘IT@Motion’, which is a bottom-up program for the reorganisation of our IT division.” “The motivation behind the restructuring is to give more power to employees and the creators throughout the company. Innovation is not limited to the board; it’s not limited tural transformation will be key.” “To make this cultural transformation real at Technology &
to any department. It’s a mindset rather than an organisation.” Innovation runs deep at Deutsche
Innovation, we massively invest in
Telekom and with savvy financial think-
enabling our employees to work
ing to back it up, it seems the German
in a more agile and cross-func-
telecom is ready for any hurdle that
tional way where suitable. This
comes its way.
includes structural adjustments, trainings and new working methods and tools,” he explains. “In the area of innovation for instance, we start into a pool organisation, the so-called Innovation Hub, where people can w w w. t e l e k o m . c o m
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