The Belgian operator also intends to integrate its B2B IT activities into a dedicated affiliate to strengthen its IT position in the Benelux market
Proximus has signed a strategic partnership with Tech Mahindra that will work together to will and build a technology platform, ‘Tech Hub’ that will provide next-generation connectivity offerings for business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and business-to-business-to-any (B2B2X) segments.
The new ‘Tech Hub’ platform, will enable consumers and businesses to explore, purchase and activate the services from Proximus as well as their partner ecosystem with self-service options and take advantage of the range of next-generation digital offerings.
“We are pleased to partner with Tech Mahindra to build this new innovative platform,” said Proximus CDIO Antonietta Mastroianni (above). “At Proximus, we are leading with our superior fibre/ 5G network, that is becoming more software-based and can deliver innovative features ‘as a Service’, eg 5G Slicing.”
She added: “We are building strong software assets across the Group. This new platform, the ‘Tech Hub’ will be able to blend these unique assets in new value propositions for our customers, in B2C, B2B and B2B2X. The onboarding, purchasing, and activation will be digital-first and offer a similar experience as the world’s leading cloud platforms.”
The ‘Tech Hub’ platform to be built by Tech Mahindra is powered by Comviva BlueMarble – currently used by Vodafone Germany. The win is an interesting one for the company given Proximus already has a 20+ year relationship with Tata Consultancy Services.
“As the telecom industry continues to evolve, telcos are finding new ways to reinvent themselves and adopt newer monetization streams,” said Tech Mahindra president EMEA business Vikram Nair. “Through this strategic partnership, Tech Mahindra will deliver a future-ready platform that will be instrumental in accelerating Proximus’s ‘Telco to Techco’ journey.”
He added: “The partnership will leverage Tech Mahindra’s extensive telecom expertise, 5G capabilities, AI proficiency, and cutting-edge IT services to revolutionize customer experience and drive business growth.”
Enterprise IT transformation
Earlier this week, Proximus announced plans to integrate its B2B IT activities into a dedicated affiliate in the Benelux market. The company presented a plan to the social partners to transfer the Proximus SA B2B activities in IT to its affiliate PICT SA (Proximus ICT) and transform this unit into an “end-to-end IT integrator” leveraging its strong Benelux footprint.
Six months ago, Proximus launched the Proximus NXT brand, and the operator said this was the next step but left it with a two-fold ambition: on the telco side, to growth fibre, 5G and IoT in the enterprise market and on the other side, to further strengthen its IT activities utilising its position in domains like workspace, cloud, sovereign cloud, security and AI.
To meet these priorities, the B2B activities of Proximus in IT will be transferred to the existing affiliate PICT SA and merged with the existing teams. This would allow for a clearer focus on the particularities of the IT business, develop an own B2B IT identity and bring it closer to the ecosystem of Proximus’s affiliates and partners.
Anne-Sophie Lotgering, currently enterprise market lead of Proximus, will be the new leader of this entity. The B2B telco activities will remain in Proximus SA and will be led by Renaud Tilmans, the current customer operations lead of Proximus.
The plan, which would imply the transfer of around 350-400 employees working in the enterprise business unit of Proximus SA to PICT SA as of 1 July 2024, has been presented to the social partners and colleagues involved have been informed. Proximus said it will now leave the time “to an open and constructive social dialogue”, with the aim to come back with more information in April and the intention to implement the new structure as of the second half of this year.