How long have you been at Telefónica and what is your assessment of your time here?
I’ve been with the company for 13 years now, and the truth is that it’s been a very ‘curious’ path, with a wide variety of projects and tasks… some more challenging than others! But all in all, it has shaped who I have become today, as a person and as a professional. It is difficult to think that these publications can be totally free of bias, but those who know me know that I am not known for saying nice things just because of social pressure… and if you add to that that I am a bit embarrassed to appear in this type of format… I think my best presentation and answer about my assessment of my history at Telefónica is that it has been, and continues to be every day, an exceptional and tremendously enriching adventure.
Is there any project at Telefónica that you feel particularly satisfied with or proud of?
Difficult answer… but I’m sure we all say the same thing hehe, so to make it easier for me I will exclude stages that have not yet been completed, because I am undoubtedly now living one of the most motivating of my career in ‘LaCabina’… Although having developed most of my activity in global projects has been great and has even allowed me to live incredible experiences such as working in the USA with Wayra, I will highlight my first ‘big project’ that cut the umbilical cord at a stroke and made me grow a lot (with nostalgia factor included)… A year and a bit after joining Telefónica, I was in the home marketing-equipment area (yes, in those days, the product and technical parts converged), I passed my director in the corridor and I said to him: ‘hey, it would be nice to design an APP that would bring together capabilities that we see in the market, such as optimisation of Wifi channels or visualisation of the map of connected devices, but take advantage of the fact that we have access to the equipment to talk directly to the router… like a Swiss army knife for the customer! ‘. Well, today this is what we know today as the Smart Wifi ecosystem and for me it is a source of pride that the seed was a home-made application that I worked on with three programmers, when I was ‘super young for these things’ hehe… Anyway, here I have to address the culprit who entrusted me with that challenge, and to all those responsible who have supported me at some point: a big thank you.
What do you think Telefónica has contributed to society?
I have to come to the present day to answer this question with better criteria: in LaCabina I am discovering from a real perspective how Telefónica has an impact on our environment. And we do it in so many ways… Not only with how we develop our own activity, because we are a key player in those geographies where we operate, but also because we enable this transformation for the customers we work with. Through digitalisation we enable organisations to make this world a little/much better place… affecting public administrations and private companies, some of which are giants that have a brutal relationship with our day-to-day life… And here you would have to cut me off because it is amazing to see how many areas of the company translate technologies into applications with a spectacular social, human and environmental impact. Before landing at LaCabina, I never imagined that Telefónica would have such a strong and wide-ranging impact on the mission of technology enabling the construction of a more humane world.
Where do you see Telefónica in the future?
As I’m going to be scolded for going into so much detail (that’s the thing about having a ‘quality time’ to write, with good music and a cool drink on the side), I’m going to refer back to the previous question: this powerful mission that we have in our society, digitally transforming all our lives and also the playing field where we operate, is a path that we will continue to travel and where we will be very surprised by everything that is to come… Our life has more and more ‘connections’ with new technologies and communications, so this cannot be otherwise, but we must do so aware that this is a great responsibility.
Could you live without a mobile phone?
Are we talking about a traditional mobile phone or a smartphone? Because I would have a different tolerance to make that trip to the past depending on each gadget… Although doing without a phone today is almost inconceivable, I will tell you that I love having my moments of imprisoning the smartphone and forcing myself to enjoy ‘everything else’ to the fullest, without that extra bit of distraction. Without a doubt, devices open a thousand doors for us, but we have to know when to put them aside in order to squeeze even more out of what surrounds us.
Help us solve one of humanity’s great enigmas: the potato omelette… With onion or without onion?
I was already forewarned about this delicate question that divides the two Spains… hehe. Well, here my answer will be a real anecdote: a few years ago I would answer without thinking that I only like the option without onion, because my mother and grandmother were against this version and because their potato-only omelettes were spectacular… but like other things in life, preconceptions are not good and you have to be open to new things: now I am a fan of the super-onioned omelette (but please don’t tell my mother).
