LIVE FROM AMDOCS EXPERIENCE 2017, BERLIN: Phil Jordan, group CIO at Telefonica, reflected on how the operator is undergoing a digital transformation that “is not just about IT, it’s a business transformation”.

“This is not about the channel, this is not about being an online business, it’s about being a digital business from the front to the back, end-to-end, top-to-bottom,” he said.

Jordan said he has a two point measure of digitalisation. “If a process isn’t automated, and it doesn’t happen in real-time, then it’s not digital,” he said.

Two goals
The executive said that the company is working toward two goals that “we are probably never going to achieve, but they are clear aspirations”.

The first applies to customers: the ability for them to undertake any interaction they want, using any screen, at any time. And the second is internal: the removal of staff in the back-office – “the extent to which we have to have people providing manual intervention or joining up processes”.

Digital journey
Jordan talked about the scale of Telefonica’s digital journey, which is happening across its operations in Europe and Latin America.

“We didn’t intend to do 15 different countries in parallel, but unfortunately the urgency of the transformation is such that we’ve ended up doing many of these together,” he said.

In order to do this, the company has a “strategy very much based on reuse”.

“We’ve bought the same thing 15 times, or the same three things 15 times, we understand how it’s designed, we understand how to test it, so it’s a very fast process now for a new country starting,” he said.

“The great thing about these projects is you can’t avoid them. It becomes top agenda for the CEO, and when it becomes top agenda, they like having the support of the group in doing it. As we’ve gone on, we get far less misalignment. But the first time [there is a conflict], you have to have a proper conversation,” he said.