AS part of AfricaCom 2022, Huawei this week hosted the Operations Transformation Forum Africa 2022 (OTF Africa 2022).
The forum brought together leading African operators, industry partners and organisations, and other top experts to discuss how the telecoms industry can best capitalise on the opportunities created by the new digital economy.
Held under the theme “Further Unleash Transformation Toward DigiVerse 2.0”, discussions at the event focused on accelerating the evolution of next-generation autonomous networks by targeting the kind of digital transformation that’s critical to driving revenue growth and improved efficiency.
Operators also had a chance to share their own successful examples of leveraging both data and experience insights to grow user bases and create new revenue sources by building agile, cloud-native operations systems in areas such as fintech.
“As we move towards Digiverse 2.0,” said Jacky Zhou, President of Huawei Service and Software Solution & Marketing, “we have to promote synergy effects and evolve to cross-scenario collaboration, which are driven by smart data, and with smart operations services to explore new scenarios and experiences and bring new growth and value.”
As Kalvin Bahia, Principal Economist, GSMA Intelligence pointed out, achieving this kind of transformation requires organisations to have the right kind of framework in place.
“A Digital Operations Transformation Framework,” he said, “consists of five dimensions: transformation strategy, value criteria, process optimisation, data and platform, and organisation & people.”
Bringing these dimensions together enables carriers to digitally transform and deliver value to their customers.
Safaricom’s James Maitai explained how his network is already using emergent technologies to drive the next phase of its evolution.
“New technology has changed all of our lives and environments,” he said.
“By 2025, Safaricom will use renewable energy to achieve green transformation and contribute to lowering carbon emissions in the world.”
MTN South Africa also has ambitious plans for 2025 when it comes to enabling the success of the core business and growing with new platforms.
“A key enabler of our Ambition 2025 is to continue to ensure that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices lie at the core of our business,” said Zoltan Miklos, General Manager, MTN South Africa.
“It is with this in mind that our sustainability vision is clear – it is to create shared value for our stakeholders through responsible ESG practices.”
As Advocate Boitshepo from Orange Botswana pointed out, digital operations transformation is not an end-goal but the means of finding new business growth in an era of digital-first customers.
Orange Botswana’s primary business transformation driver is the improved intelligence of its network operations and maintenance (O&M) efforts.
Antonieta Gomes, Business Director, Mobile Financial Services, UNITEL Money, meanwhile, gave the forum audience insight into how it’s using digital transformation to empower micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Angola.
“UNITEL Money aim to build secure and affordable digital financial services for individuals and MSMEs,” she said, adding that it aims to do so by, “making everyone and everything connected through the leveraging of digital technology and strong partnerships.”
Huawei has sought to embody precisely the kind of transformation spoken about during the forum, including through the launch of its Fintech 2.0 product earlier in the week.
“The best innovations are localised scenarios that leverage on local partnerships,” said Bryan You, Director of Southern Africa Software Solution and Marketing.
“Huawei’s Fintech 2.0 product will ease the innovation efforts and accelerate the digitalisation of Africa.”
Simon Liang, Director of Huawei Consulting & System Integration Solution discussed the benefits and challenges of operators’ digital operations transformation.
As Danwill Duan, President of Huawei Southern Africa’s Delivery & Service Business pointed out, achieving the kind of transformation spoken about at the forum can only be done with widespread industry collaboration.
“If you want to go fast, walk alone, if you want to go far, walk together,” he said.
“Huawei will continuously work with carriers to achieve four upgrades through four co-creations.
“With the ‘three horizons’ strategy, Huawei will increase digital investment in transformation, upgrade the industry, and light up the future.”
AfricaCom ran from 7 to 11 November in Cape Town, South Africa. – Zambezi News