The telecoms industry has played a large role in this time of pandemic and, in this episode of the Weekly with JC series held on March 10, 2022, one of the greatest contributors in this industry shared updates, as well as their story of fulfilling and continuously seeking to fulfill the expectations of their customers.
The guest speaker for this session was Francisco “Cocoy” Claravall, Vice President for Product Development and Engineering of Globe Business, the corporate arm of Globe Telecom. He is also the commercial lead for the group’s cybersecurity business. Cocoy was formerly the head for product development and management of Globe’s consumer products in broadband and mobile. He also held various positions in the areas of sales, pre-sales, product and business development of Globe Business. His other work experience includes stints in Cisco Systems, Motorola, and Accenture.
Mharicar Castillo-Reyes and Michael Gorres were also present during the session to share their thoughts about the topic. Mharicar is the President and CEO of Asticom, a seasoned leader, whose expertise in HR and shared services spheres brought growth and success to companies. With Mharicar as its chief, Asticom has seen vigorous growth within six years of operations, produced three subsidiaries, acquired a new company, and reached its 2 billion revenue mark. Michael, on the other hand, has over 30 years of professional experience in information technology. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management Engineering from De La Salle University and started his professional career with Accenture in its offices in the United States, Europe, and the Philippines. In 2018, he joined Third Pillar as the CTO for its Global Delivery Center (GDC), which is responsible for the company’s salesforce implementations.
Cocoy began his talk with a presentation entitled “Beyond Telco: In the Digital Now”, which was inspired by a realization during the pandemic that, while telco is an important part of business, it is important to everyday life as well. According to Cocoy, they realized that being just a typical telco company will not really be enough to serve the needs of the Filipino people. Discussing how the industry operated then and now, he cited that, due to the pandemic, many companies were forced to adapt and set up remote/hybrid work arrangements. He added that up to 70% of white-collar jobs can be successfully performed remotely; in fact, some companies had already adapted to remote work even before the pandemic hit. He quipped that Globe was one of the early adaptors when they shifted to a fully cloud-based collaboration email system, while everyone else was using conference-based email systems.
Cocoy shared that they have seen an increase in companies trying to do the same but were not as ready. Eventually, these companies were able to adapt. In 2020, they had to enable thousands of broadband connections because their customers needed to support their employees. As of today, they were able to scale the execution of work-from-anywhere, especially now that demands of employees have changed. The current labor force now chooses companies that offer the flexibility to work from anywhere and has become a competitive differentiation if you want to be chosen as a company to work for.
Last year, there was a major interest in internet and telco products across Asia because connectivity was and still is one of the most basic necessities during these times. This resulted in more people buying internet and telco products online. In the first quarter of 2021, Globe was able to keep up with the demand, much thanks to the digitalization efforts they started five years ago. In the second and third quarter of the same year, they kept the momentum of network transformation by ramping up digitalization efforts, as well as building and expanding strong networks through investments in fiber, mobile, and internet infrastructure. This 2022, they predict operational stability and aim to continue to build beyond telco products that will add more value for their customers. The telco of yesterday is way different from the telco we are seeing now. At present, most telco companies are optimistic and are growing like those of the BPO, GSP, healthcare, and retail industries. The banking industry, however, had a rough start, but is now starting to adapt.
Economic recovery, resilient network with expanded coverage, service improvements, better regulations and governance, as well as the shift in customer expectations were the key growth drivers for the telco industry. Numerous towers with higher capacity were built, enabling them to provide services to other industries and partners that needed help in securing their businesses and continuing their operations via remote solutions. Such companies were provided with much-needed connectivity and ICT solutions, such as protecting them through local security operations centers and helping them to digitally transform retail operations through e-commerce and contactless solutions.
It is Globe’s mission to create wonderful experiences for people—where they have choices, can overcome challenges, and can discover new ways to enjoy life. They envision a Philippines that is admired, where families’ dreams come true and businesses flourish.
Mharicar expressed that she is honored to be part of the Globe Group of Companies as it continuously pursues growth and innovation and explores opportunities. It is one of the companies that, not only survived, but also thrived through crisis and is now reaping the benefits. She also reiterated how the pandemic accelerated the use of technology and highlighted the importance of connectivity when it forced companies and their employees to work from home. There really is a need to re-imagine and recreate the future of work as employees are now looking for more purpose-driven companies. As a shared services company, they need to ensure that people have the right tools to stay productive and support clients consistently amid and beyond the pandemic. In 2021, they had to take the same bold move of Globe towards supporting their overall vision of contributing to the economic recovery of the Philippines. To continuously provide opportunities for Filipinos, they set up three subsidiaries that address the needs of their clients. She also noted that, as organizations, they need to create shared values for customers, employees, and communities, regardless of industry. They also need to innovate and transform businesses for the future.
Following this, Mike shared his takeaways, starting with agreeing that the pandemic has, indeed, accelerated the work-from-home setup. He shared that their company had initially doubted the possibility that they can deliver end-to-end projects in a fully remote environment. According to Mike, they had encountered some hurdles when they started as fully remote but was able to successfully deliver because of these two factors—cloud-based solutions and good connectivity. Mike emphasized that automation is very important for businesses to succeed and continue to operate efficiently—artificial intelligence is indeed a game changer. Finally, he closed by stating that the timing of some of Globe’s innovative products was nearly perfect.
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