Huawei and HKT have jointly opened a new Digital Transformation Practice Center (DTPC) in Hong Kong to help global telecoms operators plan and accelerate their digital transformation strategies.
The DTPC, which is being announced first at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, is part of Huawei’s initiatives to drive the implementation of the Open Roads Community (OPRC) digital transformation theory framework system that the company has developed with leading operators and industry researchers, said Derry Li (pictured), Vice President of Huawei Consulting & System Integration.
Five stages of digital transformation
Li said the goal of the DTPC is to help operators realize digital transformation in a more agile and low-cost manner, as the conventional method of transformation always involves large investment and sometimes takes several years to complete.
At the DTPC, a cross-function agile team consisting of operators, end-users, Huawei and third party partners will focus on transformational scenarios covering the five stages of digital transformation.
“It is a process of transformation mode conversion, capability growth, and new business opportunity incubation that [an] operator team goes through with us in DTPC,” Li told reporters at a media briefing at the company’s annual Operations Transformation Forum in Munich, Germany.
In addition, the DTPC is connected to Huawei Cloud Open Labs so that operators can also experience on-the-spot the transformed services. Huawei and HTK are also working with third party partners to ensure operators can get the latest solutions and capability that suit them best, Li added.
Three streams of programs
According to Li, DTPC is offering three types of programs for operators, from a half a day or a full day “strategic visit” (for CXOs), to an “applied immersion” program which last one or two weeks, and a “deep dive” program which takes anywhere between four and eight weeks, depending on the complexity of the scenario and solution.
Initially the programs focus on best practices of HKT gained during its digital transformation journey. DTPC also plans to extend the scope of the programs to involve more operators and cover other technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) between the quarters of Q4 2018 and Q1 2019, and 5G services and innovation in the first half of 2019, Li added.
HKT and Huawei jointly implemented an end-to-end digital transformation project aimed at helping the operator deliver the customer-centric ROADS (real-time, on-demand, all-online, DIY, social) experience for customers.
The transformation project covered both service and operational transformation, as well as the cloudification of telecoms infrastructure.
“We are glad to cooperate with Huawei to carry out the digital transformation project. During the process, we have encountered many challenges in terms of user experience, business processes, business support systems and network infrastructure,” said Henry Wong, Head of Strategic Wireless Technology & Core Networks of HKT’s Engineering Division.
Thanks to the joint team, Wong said, HKT has extended its connectivity offerings and tap into the new business opportunities arising from enterprises segments by launching new services such as enterprise cloud, mobile cloud VPN through the transformed cloud platform.
“There is no single way of doing digital transformation. We want to share our experience with other operators, and by sharing we can accelerate the digital transformation in the telco industry and generate synergies among us,” he said. “Because our competitors are not just telcos but also external OTT players who are doing things faster than telcos.”
The formation of the DTPC represents one of Huawei’s latest moves to support telecoms operators’ digital transformation.
Huawei chairman Liang Hua has said that “the process of digital transformation isn’t easy. In most cases, it takes at least 18 months to get through the toughest period. But once you get through that period, you can go from "idea to launch" in weeks instead of months. Huawei has seen several telcos prove this is possible - it is not a dream. And remember, in 18 months from now, 5G technology will be mature."
And to successfully transform their operations, operators should “pick a scenario, start small, think big, align business and IT and scale fast”, Liang told audience during his keynote presentation at the opening of the OTF2018.
In addition, Huawei has also launched a range of new products and solutions, covering IoT, cloud, data center and network operations – all aimed at helping operators meet the manifold challenges that arise during their digital transformation journey.
For more information, visit Huawei’s Operations Transformation Forum 2018.