O2 Czech Republic Brochure 2019

Looking at digital transformation from a commercial perspective

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The commercial a IT transformati O2 Czech Repub WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR PRODUCED BY

JAMES PEPPER

and ion of blic

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O2 CZECH REPUBLIC

Jan Hruska, CTO at O2 Czech Republic, discusses the company’s ongoing digital transformation of both its technology and commercial functions

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challenge often faced by customer-facing tech companies is the internal conflict between marketing and IT. After more

than a decade working on the commercial side of telecommunications, O2 Czech Republic’s new 04

CTO, Jan Hruska – a mathematics and computer science graduate from the Charles University in Prague – has the unique advantage of seeing the country’s largest telecommunications provider from both sides of the equation. “I’m lucky to be one of the few people who are able to understand and know the company from every perspective,” he explains.

“Because I spent over 10 years in different positions on the commercial side of the business, I can apply a deep understanding of its marketing, commercial and distribution issues, programs and challenges to my technical role. At almost every company there’s a tension between the technicians and the commercial guys. I see my current mission as not only mitigating this tension, but bringing the two halves of the company together to establish a creative dialog that helps us progress, and strengthens both

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O2 CZECH REPUBLIC

our technological market leadership and our commercial position. I can talk to the commercial side and explain technologies using language the commercial guys understand, and along with this, promote achievements, projects and excellent people we have in Technology.”

Hruska’s new role has included overseeing the completion of a fouryear digital transformation of O2 Czech Republic’s customer relationship management (CRM) strategy, business support systems (BSS), and practices 06

ranging from billing systems to product catalogues. “We call it Simple Online Company. The aim was a radical simplification that would enable future digitisation,” Hruska says. Never a company to stand still, O2 Czech Republic is also now embarking on another ongoing personnel-focused transformation. “We are now implementing agile scrum methodology for change delivery, that covers about 300 people and connects with the Simple Online Company transformation, because we created the enabler for digitisation and now we need to transform the way we deliver new services and changes,” Hruska adds. From a technological

“ Our advantage lies in the fact we are able to offer the full range of telco products” — Jan Hruska, CTO, O2 Czech Republic

CLICK TO WATCH : ‘O2 SMART BOX: O2 SMART BOOSTER’ 07 point of view, the company is also

Founded in 2006 after rebranding

implementing significant changes to its

from the amalgamation of Czech

network architecture. Hruska elabo-

Telecom and Eurotel, O2 Czech Republic

rates: “We’re introducing some sign-

is the largest integrated telecommunica-

ificant product improvements, one of

tions provider in the Czech market,

which is that we are complementing

operating approximately 7mn mobile and

traditional copper DSL lines with house-

fixed accesses in the region. In 2012,

hold internet that is based on LTE

the company was the first in the region

connectivity, so called Fixed Wireless

to open its network to virtual operators.

Access.” We spoke to Hruska about

Operating the only Tier III certified

O2 Czech Republic’s ever-advancing

data centres in Central Europe, O2 is

evolution, its past, present and future

a regional leader in hosting, cloud and

transformations, and the collaborative

managed services.

expertise he is bringing to the company’s CTO role.

“Our advantage lies in the fact we are able to offer the full range of telco w w w. o2. cz

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O2 CZECH REPUBLIC

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products,” says Hruska. “We originated

Republic, as well as Czech national

from a merger between fixed and mobile

football and ice hockey leagues –

operators, so we have fully integrated

a huge majority of important matches

suite of products. We were the first

you can’t see without O2 TV service.”

operator here that started an IP television

For a company with such an extensive

service, which adds a new dimension

and diverse portfolio of offerings,

to our fixed internet service.” O2 also

ensuring its customers have an intuitive

produces its own content for television.

and accessible customer experience is

“We have a daughter company that pro-

a top priority. The Simple Online

duces three sports channels, and we

Company, which launched in October

own some exclusive rights to content

2018, involved the launch of a new CRM

like the Champions League in Czech

system and a new customer portal, as

11 E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Jan Hruska Jan Hruska graduated in Computer Science at Charles University in Prague in 1994. After 8 years in management consulting, he moved to Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. Within his 15 years with Telefónica, and later O2 Czech Republic, Jan went through many positions, mainly Fixed-Mobile convergence program manager, E-shop manager, Director for distribution strategy and sales performance, Fixed services marketing director, to his current role of CTO, covering responsibility for IT, Network, and Product management areas. Jan’s latest focus is fixed wireless internet, network function virtualisation, simplification of product portfolio and customer serving processes, agile change delivery.

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CONTACT US w w w. o2. cz

Trusted Partner of O2 & Telco Sector Key competencies in Telco Sector

We connect internal processes and systems with digital products and services for our clients and help them succeed in a digital world.

Enterprise Economic Systems & SAP Services Portal & Digital Commerce

SPC Provisioning

Prepaid billing

Projects for O2

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Ness, strategic partner for a complex digital transformation

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well as a new product catalogue, network

“Emeldi is a key partner that we picked

inventory system, provisioning system

because of their flexibility. We are able

and a complete revamp of the billing

to influence the product and get any so-

system. “Our aim was to radically

lution we need. Putting their technology

simplify,” says Hruska. “We reworked

in the middle of our CRM is definitely

our product catalogue from thousands

strengthening our partnership.”

of services to a couple of hundred. We

Even though the technical side of the

also switched from our legacy CRM to

transformation is up and running, Hruska

a new system we built ourselves based

maintains the work is far from over.

on Emeldi Commerce Core.” Emeldi is

“This is an ongoing process. We need

a long-term partner of O2 Czech

to keep it simple and make sure any

Republic. The company’s Commerce

additions and modifications we make

Core provides the core functionality

aren’t creating extra complexity, which

for O2 Czech Republic’s new CRM. “It’s

is an extremely tough exercise.” The

the heart of our CRM,” says Hruska.

transformation has also allowed O2

“ I spent over 10 years in different positions on the commercial side of the business, and I can apply that deep understanding to my technical role” — Jan Hruska, CTO, O2 Czech Republic

15 Czech Republic to take the next step

er’s mobile and access the system

on its journey towards digitisation.

alongside them. It’s true assisted

“Previously, our store set up had

self-care.”

a legacy system that typically required

If Emeldi is the heart of O2 Czech

four employees behind the counter,

Republic’s new CRM, then Ness is its

working on a main computer, and only

face. “They’re an important IT vendor,

allowed for one on the floor greeting

providing us with portal solutions; our

customers,” says Hruska. “Now, we

new Moje O2 portal, developed by Ness,

have a new system running on all our

is what the customers and internal staff

devices, not just the store computer,

see from their side,” says Hruska. The

but with no reduction in functionality.

new face of O2 Czech Republic’s IT is

We can have four guys on the floor in

allowing the company to pursue strategic

any setup you can imagine. They can

change in the way it manages its

talk with the customer; they can take

employees and hiring practices. “It’s

their own mobile or even the custom-

enabling us to look for a different w w w. o2. cz

O2 CZECH REPUBLIC

£1.5bn Approximate revenue

2006

Year founded

4,500

16

Approximate number of employees

profile when hiring people in our stores

they can focus on their conversation

and call centres. Previously, the ability

with the customer.”

to work with the complex system was

In addition to reworking the customer-

a priority. Up to 30% of store consultants

facing side of the business, O2 Czech

were leaving the company within the

Republic’s behind the scenes technical

first three months. Now, after launching

infrastructure is also undergoing a trans-

this system, we can focus on hiring

formation to ensure that the company’s

people who enjoy serving our customers,

services remain at the highest possible

who have more sales skills than technical

level of quality. “We are lucky to be in

skills – and that exit rate has dropped

a business with huge demand - a dem-

to almost zero immediately. Our employ-

and for data that shows double digit

ees are able to work naturally with the

annual growth rates. This requires us

new CRM and portal, which means

to significantly change our network

frequency band of 3.7GHz and LTE TDD to provide home and business internet connectivity for locations not covered well by fibre or DSL infrastructure,” Hruska explains. “This is allowing us to offer speeds of 100 megabit per second and higher, which is something that you cannot guarantee on a standard LTE network. This, connected with the O2 Smart Box – the premium WiFi router that we have in households and SMEs – complements the unique ecosystem of our fixed broadband service.”

Chinese tech giant Huawei is a key partner in O2 Czech Republic’s journey to ensure the tier one quality of its network architecture. “Huawei is one of the architecture in

important vendors to the network side

order to sustain quality

of the business,” says Hruska. “Our

and profitability,” Hruska adds.

fixed wireless service that runs on the

“We’re in the middle of virtualising our

dedicated 3.7GHz band is based on

core network systems, as well as

Huawei radio technology. It was one of

introducing a number of product

the key projects that we implemented

improvements.” The company is

with them last year.” Huawei’s Fusion-

implementing Huawei 5G ready radio

Sphere technology is also powering the

access technology to complement its

company’s virtual core network infra-

new, ultrafast LTE broadband service.

structure, part of O2 Czech Republic’s

“Last year, we launched a second

ongoing virtualisation initiative. “Huawei

generation of our fixed wireless broad-

is helping us to prepare for extreme

band service. We use dedicated

data usage growth that we expect to w w w. o2. cz

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O2 CZECH REPUBLIC

“ Our employees are able to work naturally with the new CRM and portal, which means they can focus on their conversation with the customer” — Jan Hruska, CTO, O2 Czech Republic 18

continue but is hard to predict precisely.

Network function virtualised infrastructure, together with virtual evolved packet core, is granting us practically unlimited scalability with a sustainable profit margin.”

Looking to the future, Hruska is confident in the ongoing transformation of O2 Czech Republic, powered by the symbiotic relationship between the business’ commercial and technology divisions. “We need to shorten the delivery time for new features and functionalities; we need sufficient capacity in our network to support the huge global demand for data, as well as providing a service with sustainable profitability.”

He concludes: “My vision is that every year we deliver a significant piece of our IT and network transformation which immediately translates to improved value proposition and customer experience, eventually allowing for constant growth of our market share, revenues, and profit.”

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O2 Czech Republic Za Brumlovkou 266/2 Praha 140 22, CZ T +00 420 720 720 720 www.o2.cz