Tell us a little about yourself. What does your job at Telefónica involve?
Thanks to working at Telefónica I have been able to carry out different activities and roles, and to take something positive from each of them. I started as a project manager for data warehouse solutions and decision-making systems, where I saw the importance of being able to meet the internal needs on which strategic decisions are based.
Later I was responsible for customer service and after-sales support processes. In my roles as service manager, client manager or project office director for large accounts, I have been able to empathise with our clients and share with them the advantages that our services bring to their businesses.
Coordinating the provision project managers allowed me to understand the rush our clients are in to have their services implemented to align them with their processes, the different problems we have and the ways to provide solutions according to each case.
SMEs represent two thirds of the Spanish business fabric, and focusing in recent years on the services that Telefónica offers to this segment has allowed me to see how it is possible to standardise services with sufficient flexibility to be able to reach all sizes and the particularities of each company, enjoying simple and complex services just as they are made for large accounts; voice and data communications solutions, workstation solutions, cybersecurity, hosting, housing, cloud solutions, personalised IT solutions, etc.
At the moment, as well as being close to the services we have for our SME segment, I am participating in the transformation and robotisation of processes that will allow our after-sales processes to be updated and adapted to the internal requirements and those of our customers.
We are renewing our systems and we will rely on the latest technologies in ticketing, BPM, CRM, AI… to provide multichannel solutions, adapting them according to the services and understanding the needs of each segment and customer. We seek to have quality information, to reduce as much as possible the time taken to solve technical cases of incidents or requests from our customers and to cover the e2e after-sales process of any service and segment.
How important is digitisation for after-sales service in companies?
The services that Telefónica offers for the digitisation of companies are designed so that any segment can have the best ICT solutions tailored to their needs.
The work that is done between marketing, development, service commercialisation, operations and other cross-cutting areas to adapt the services to our customers is an excellent example of teamwork.
In the creation of any service, special attention is paid to the implementation and after-sales support model, which prioritises the triad formed by quality of service, valuable information for the customer and the reduction of the resolution time of any technical issue affecting our customers.
In these digitisation processes, we have specialised technical personnel from Telefónica Empresas and other companies in the group such as Telefónica Tech and ACENS, as well as specialised partners and manufacturers.
What is the relationship between digitisation and business resilience?
We have a recent example with COVID-19 where digitalisation has made it possible to measure business resilience in order to be able to continue doing business; data traffic, teleworking, videoconferencing, decentralised and cloud solutions, remote problem solving, tele-training…
But there are also relationships that may not be so obvious and yet have been studied in depth, such as improving agency costs, enhancing the transparency of the company’s own strategic information and facilitating access to financing.
In the specific case of SMEs, how important is digital transformation for them?
It is fundamental, not only to improve resilience as we have mentioned, but also to improve productivity, facilitate the export of goods and services, facilitate the reduction of the environmental footprint and base their own business on the digitalisation of their products and services.
The EU is aware of this and recently made Next Generation funds available to its member states. The Digital Kit programme for Spanish companies seeks to facilitate the adoption of these digital solutions to enable SMEs to modernise their processes, systems and services.
Can the fact that the benefits of the digital transformation of companies cannot be seen in the short term be a deterrent to undertaking this process?
Yes. Digital transformation has to be accompanied by a change in culture. Digitising a company is not the same as carrying out a digital transformation of it.
It is a change with certain barriers that have to be overcome like any process of change, it is essential that it is dealt with jointly between the agents that motivate the transformation, the employees and the manufacturers and integrators that participate in the project.
How can these possible reservations be overcome?
The reluctance to a transformation process must be overcome from within the ecosystem in which it is implemented, both in terms of the human factor and the available resources. It is necessary to have employees and managers from the company in which it is implemented, integrators and manufacturers. Among the measures to be taken into account is:
- Having one or more internal leaders for the digital transformation who support and set an example. Without internal leaders who are aligned with this cultural change and the actions that need to be taken, the process may encounter obstacles that hinder the achievement of the project’s objectives.
- Clear communication of what is going to be done and the expected benefits. Keep channels open to clarify any questions or concerns employees may have.
- Involve employees, get their feedback and take them into account in decision-making.
- Train and have mentors to accompany them in the process. Facilitate training and knowledge exchange.
- Set realistic goals in terms of implementation, both in scope and time.
What role does digital empowerment play in these situations?
Fundamentally. Reskilling and continuous digital training brings with it new opportunities to do things, making our work more efficient.
Just as in the industrial revolution we went from manual looms to mechanical looms, history tells us that we cannot ignore technological advances and that taking advantage of them gives us clear advantages.
Who do you know at Telefónica that you consider excellent at their job?
In the digitalisation processes of companies there is no lack of cybersecurity solutions and thanks to Jaime Tejada Gutiérrez and his team at Telefónica Tech, they make the services for which they are responsible affordable and operational for our customers.
