Leaders in the world of next-level technology and communication, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (ALE), held their Connex18 event on the 25th of January this year. A conference designed to share ideas, insights, and information about the business roadmap with industry analysts, Connex18 was brimming with fantastic opportunities to learn about a business going through its very own state of digital transformation (DX).
I was lucky enough to be invited to Connex18 on behalf of UC Today, where I attended a host of sessions tailored towards the discussion of customer experience (CX) and digital transformation.
Building the Digital Future with Jack Chen
After Nicholas Morel, Vice President of Strategic and Corporate Marketing welcomed attendees to the event and opened the day, Jack Chen, CEO for ALE was the first to take the stage. He shared his vision of what ALE is currently doing to transform in the industry, taking their previous portfolio of on-premises PBX and networking equipment into the cloud.
For Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, the focus isn’t on jumping directly into the cloud environment but designing a stepping-stone solution with hybrid in the middle. Their strategy in the Communications channel is based on the idea of “Everything as-a-service”, driven by the potential of their already popular CPaaS and UCaaS solution, Rainbow.
Not only does Rainbow integrate with ALE’s own on-premises PBX, but it also works with other third-party solutions too – highlighting Jack Chen’s comments that the future of successful business is all about creating “easier” customer experiences.
While we’re obsessed with all things Comms here at UC Today, it’s worth noting that ALE is a successful networking company too. By 2020, they hope that around 80% of their revenue will be powered by non-corporate telephony along with CPaaS and their ever-increasing focus on the world of IoT. Already, ALE has seen 1000+ customers on Rainbow, 1000+ partners on Rainbow, 235k cloud seats on Rainbow, +25k added APIs on Stellar, and 15+ new partners recruited.
Implementing the Digital Future with Matthieu Destot
Following Jack’s insights into the future of ALE, Matthieu Destot, EVP of Global Sales and Marketing claimed the stage to talk about the significant growth that the company has seen so far. ALE have achieved 5% growth overall, as well as double-digit growth in their preferred verticals, with the fastest level of development in transportation.
The fastest growing region for ALE is currently APAC, and Europe North has seen a fantastic year in 2017 for growth – particularly in the networking business, and the transportation vertical with the help of the new IoT solution.
During his session, Matthieu covered the fact that the business go-to-market in Russia has changed, with more distributors now ready to address the enterprise market. What’s more, ALE believes that they may have won the market share for enterprise Comms in Europe South.
Heading into the future, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise will be continuing to focus their efforts on the channel, their chosen verticals, and the power of the cloud. They’re currently a 100% channel-focused business, and they’re hoping to acquire countless new users, particularly on Rainbow with plenty of positive growth already evidence from 2017.
As a forward-thinking company in the communications and networking industries, ALE won some huge CPaaS deals during 2017, and believe that their growth will continue to emerge as they attract new developers. In fact, the business has its own dedicated cloud division, where they’ll be focusing on growth hacking during 2018.
Matthieu also drew attention to the exciting fact that ALE has secured their branding until 2044 – something which will undoubtedly help them to maintain familiarity and loyalty with their fan base in the years to come.
The Roadmap for Vertical DX
Together, both Matthieu Destot and Nicolas Morel teamed up with EVP of Network Business Divisions, Stephan Robineu to discuss the ALE roadmap for the years ahead. Matthieu noted that:
“UX is moving from a generic experience to a personalised event.”
Thanks to new AI enabled platforms, IoT, and disruptive technology, there are more ways to communicate with the customer than ever before.
Next, on the stage, Nicolas and Stephan spoke about the verticals that ALE will be targeting in their digital transformation strategy, including:
- Healthcare: ALE hopes to improve patient communication strategies and make it easier for patients to connect with their care teams in a more mobile, reliable way
- Education: ALE is introducing mobile and transformative technology into the education space, delivering the digitisation of the classroom, and making it easier for teachers to automate safety in the academic environment
- Transportation: Perhaps the biggest vertical for the company, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise will be exploring IoT containers, better CX for passenger experience, WiFi enablement, and better management of emergency situations in the transportation sector
- Government: ALE is looking at citizen security, response to emergency situations, IoT CCTV, multi-channel engagement, and smart cities
- Hospitality: From guest engagement to better CX and analytics, ALE is also exploring the rise of technology in the hospitality sector
Partnering in a Digital World
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise even addressed the consolidation and collaboration trend that we’ve been seeing over the last year, by announcing some of their own partnerships. SVP of Verticals and Strategic Alliances, Thierry Bonnin took to the stage to reveal the upcoming connection between IBM and ALE.
ALE plan to start using IBM’s Watson technology to tap into the data analytics and natural language processing. They believe that there will be use cases for this in each of their current verticals, as Watson can do everything from answering emails to gathering guest feedback and personalising the customer experience. The IBM system could even deliver smart advice to students, support city sensors, and take part in citizen authentication.
The other announcement that Thierry made was a new partnership with PGi. PGi’s outstanding history with interoperability in the collaboration and conferencing world allowed ALE to fast-track new capabilities for Rainbow, opening new doors for the future of cognitive communication and collaboration.
An Exciting Event Overall
Throughout the remainder of the afternoon at Connex18 there were plenty of other incredible sessions about communications and collaboration. For instance, the VP of mid to large business verticals, Stanilias Sorporeal spoke about the rise of hybrid communications, and Moussa Zaghdoud addressed the rising trend of scalable communication platforms as a service.
Even Xavier Martin, the Vice President for Corporate Marketing and Communication at ALE took to the stage to discuss vertically tailored solutions for the age of customer experience. He acknowledged that for Alcatel Lucent Enterprise, the future isn’t about just delivering new technology, but providing outcome-based solutions by helping customers with digital transformation.
Overall, the event was a wonderful experience and a fantastic opportunity for me to meet the experts of this dynamic business for the first time.
