VEON
else,” he says. “Not about your competition, just the customer. “See what the customer really wants, then look at what’s impacting the customer and what affects their choices. Is it a competitive thing which is influencing them? The internet, their freedom? What is going to make up the customer’s mind on what to choose and what not to choose? “Clean-sheet thinking is something like the automotive industry moving towards a completely electronic car. An electronic car is nothing but a computer on wheels and Tesla figured that out. “It’s very hard for the incumbent big auto manufacturers to make a hybrid car. They are building on the same chassis, they’re constrained by the engine room, by the back room. But Tesla clean-sheeted – they wanted space, a beautiful dashboard with everything visible like a computer screen… “That’s key when you transform. Keep the customer, understand the forces acting on them. Forget about the rest. Then find
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a way to provide the best solution for the customer while being sustainable and competitive in the marketplace.”
Leading technology transformation Malik and VEON’s leadership clean sheeted their entire organisation and pivoted it around the needs of their customers. For a company with over 235mn customers across a wide variety of territories, embarking on such a comprehensive reformation was certainly bold. But Malik is adamant that VEON represents more than a rebrand - the company’s mission, identity, and culture are ready for the future and the rebrand is a ribbon on the package. “VEON is a company where on one hand we have extremely big size and diversity - but not only that, we have a great pioneering spirit. Amongst the diversity and the scale, we are able to pioneer new frontiers, and that makes us very, very special,” he says. “Now the CTO role for me is extremely important in this journey. It’s about moving from conceptual