Telco-As-A-Service: Meet Pierre-Yves Noel, Director Rainbow Platform at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
Episode 5 of the Product-As-A-Service Champions Podcast is out! Tune in as Yann Toutant, CEO of Black Winch and Pierre-Yves Noel, Director Innovation and Ecosystem - Rainbow Platform at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, demystify Network-As-A-Service and Communications-As-A-Service.
Telco-As-A-Service: Meet Pierre-Yves Noel, Director Rainbow Platform at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
Episode 5 of the Product-As-A-Service Champions Podcast is out! Tune in as Yann Toutant, CEO of Black Winch and Pierre-Yves Noel, Director Innovation and Ecosystem - Rainbow Platform at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, demystify Network-As-A-Service and Communications-As-A-Service.
Guest speaker
- 18+ years of experience in enterprise communications and software services at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise.
- Leading strategic innovation for the Rainbow platform, focusing on market verticals integration.
- Deep-rooted expertise in translating complex technical concepts into impactful business strategies.
- Excels in developing and implementing service strategies and leading transformative projects across various global markets.
- Rich background in software design, professional services, product management, business development, and business model innovation.
- Frequently shares his learnings and thought leadership at various events and bootcamps, such as INSEAD’s Subscription Business Bootcamp.
About Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise provides secure networking and communication solutions which enable organizations and industries to accelerate their operational efficiencies and competitiveness. In the Cloud. On Premises. Hybrid.
All solutions have built-in security, limited environmental impact and are fully compliant with data protection requirements of organizations and individuals at a national sovereignty and international industry level.
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise focuses on three pillars: Environment Sustainability, Social Responsibility, and Corporate Governance, providing technology solutions for the good of the environment, people, and business.
Over 100 years of innovation have made the company a trusted advisor to more than a million customers across the world. With headquarters in France and 3,400 business partners worldwide, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise achieves an effective global reach with a local focus.
Telco-As-A-Service
ALE's initial offering, Connectivity as a Service, has expanded to include a broader range of "as a service" options delivered through their partner distribution network.
These services now cover connectivity, application management, and industry-specific solutions, all billed based on consumption and business metrics.
ALE has also a Network as a Service offering, allowing businesses to purchase network infrastructure hardware, licenses, applications, management tools - with agile life-cycle services via subscriptions as opposed to perpetual contracts.
In addition, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise offers Rainbow, a converged UCaaS and CPaaS cloud communications platform, to help enterprises deliver the promise of good governance by integrating real-time communications in their software and hardware ecosystem.
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Key insights
"While there’s a clear trend toward moving from on-premises to the cloud, not every customer wants to make that shift. That’s why we also offer as-a-service consumption models that allow customers to keep products on-premises. The hosting model and the consumption model don’t have to be tied together, they can operate independently."
"If you don’t have access to your customers’ data, you can’t truly understand them. This is especially true in an indirect model, where it’s very difficult to get insights into adoption and consumption patterns. One of our key steps was to connect our products and start collecting this data, enabling us to better understand customer behavior."
"We had these best practices of services. One of them was moving from 'purchase of our customers' to a 'land, adopt, expand, renew' approach. 'Land the customer’: this refers to securing the initial subscription. 'Adopt' - yes, it means we need to ensure customers actively use our solutions. Why? Because if they don’t use them, they’re unlikely to renew next year. Then came the culture of 'expanding’; this wasn’t entirely new to us, as we already had experience with upselling. For over a decade, we’ve been selling maintenance contracts, which marked our first steps toward this transformation. In the 'expand' phase, the focus shifted to finding ways to upsell and cross-sell, increasing both annual contract value and total contract value. And then the 'renew’, which means ensuring customers see ongoing value and remain engaged."
"Ten years ago, we measured 14 layers between the developer and the user. I mean between developer and then you know maybe management, sales, channel sales, purchasing, and so on. To truly deliver outcomes and build long-lasting relationships, we had to reduce this. Our mantra is 'customer at the center,' ensuring we stay as close as possible to the user when defining and delivering services."
"One element I found difficult is not to be shy on pricing. That's one of the first things you have to put on the table. It has a value and you need to validate the price as much as the service that you're delivering to the customer because that's obviously part of the conversation."
References
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise: https://www.al-enterprise.com/
Rainbow: https://www.al-enterprise.com/en/rainbow
Zuora Case Study "Alcatel- Lucent Enterprise: A Customer Experience": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cAUl1sp6WM
UC Today Article "Smart Cities Deliver Good Governance": https://www.uctoday.com/unified-communications/smart-cities-deliver-good-governance-alcatel-lucent-enterprise/
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