Ericsson CMO pushes company’s move out of its comfort zone

Ericsson’s chief marketing officer and chief commercial officer, Helena Norrman, said the company had been preparing for the right conditions to introduce its ongoing transformation strategy for some years now, and that despite Ericsson’s leadership in the telecom infrastructure business, the company sees its future in areas that it does not currently exercise dominance in.

Speaking to Comm. on her first visit to Dubai, Norrman said, “We are of the belief that our future success will not be based on hanging on to what we already have, but rather developing into new areas. We are investing in what is beyond the core of what we do, and we believe market conditions are such that we will remain relevant in the next phase of the evolution of the telecom sector.”

Ericsson has previously stated that it intends to maintain its strong position in its core business areas of radio, core and transmission, and telecom services, while also looking to establish leadership in specific areas identified as cloud, IP networks, TV and media, OSS/BSS, as well as vertical industrial and societal industries such as transportation, public services, and energy.

While the time horizon for the achievement of the first wave of transformative undertakings at Ericsson is set at 2020, Norrman says most of the five areas that Ericsson is placing a greater emphasis on will and have already begun to produce results, and will continue to do so in the years to come. She believes that partnerships will be a strong element in the company’s journey, with the bottleneck to further uptake of mobile digital services being more about affordability rather than the availability of the technology.

“In the development of the telco sector there was a period of vendor strength, followed by a period of operator strength. What I think we are currently in an era of partnership and I believe this will be to the overall benefit of all participants in the ecosystem,” Norrman said.