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Torsten Minkwitz, Group CTO at mobile provider, Lebara, says the company’s future is looking positive. Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Danielle Harris
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Lebara has grown to become one of the larger companies selling prepaid mobile phone services since its humble beginnings 17 years ago.
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ocusing on what they call the global citizen, aspiring people moving to a new country, the aim is to provide attractive rates, international calls and data plans as the mainstay of their business. Having been taken over last September by Swiss investor, Palmarium, a new executive
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management, with a vast amount of experience in digital transformation, is driving the company forward, as Lebara’s Group CTO, Torsten Minkwitz, explains, “The new management team at Lebara has turned around the offering, with a shift from the classical side, moving more towards data services. We have new structures in place, and our
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Global Sourcing Association recognized cooperation between N-iX and Lebara as a category finalist for Digital Transformation Project of the Year at GSA UK 2017 Awards
The ongoing partnership with N-iX is a critical strategic relationship and has allowed Lebara to decrease time to market, reduce cost and improve the technical capability that we have� Torsten Minkwitz, Group CTO, Lebara
contact@n-ix.com +380 322 295 767 n-ix.com
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“We are working with some development teams from our partner, N-iX, to redo our backend. We are not a massive company, with large teams of people analysing, so we have to make our machines work harder”
brand has been given a refresh. You can already see the new look on the web and our app, and it will make its way into many of our shops. Another big gamechanger is the opportunity for our customers to switch to 4G at no extra cost, which, of course, people are adopting.”
necessary step for its customer base, which is digital-savvy. Torsten said, “Classical SMS is no longer sufficient. Although we have maintained this offering, we have added to it, with a more useful app for our customers. It’s about making the customer experience easier, in real-time, and more immediate. We have also digitised a lot of our retail channels, where we
The direction of the company to become more digital is a 7
“The new management te around the offering, with side, moving more tow
Torsten Minkwitz, L
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eam at Lebara has turned a shift from the classical wards data services�
Lebara’s Group CTO
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have thousands and thousands of retailers selling our products at different capability levels. At the click of a button, you can now purchase SIM cards, buy vouchers, or top up your phone.” According to Torsten, there is a lot happening at Lebara HQ, with management working hard to take steps in adopting a revolutionary approach and bringing new capabilities. Torsten added, “We don’t want to make changes that will take two years to implement. We want to bring the benefits
earlier, and for our customers to notice the difference when they are using our products. Every month, they will see new changes.” With an emphasis on the omnichannel customer experience, the customer is at the centre of all these changes that are taking place. Torsten said, “The way people work with their various providers means
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“We will be able of our custom with the right i pro
Torsten Minkwi
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e to satisfy the needs mers and retailers, intelligence to do it ofitably”
itz, Lebara’s Group CTO they expect all channels to work the same way. When they sit at home using their laptop or mobile phone, they want the same experience in both. If not, it confuses the customer and makes it difficult for call centres to answer customer questions, so they may not be able to reach a conclusion on the next step effectively.” Lebara is already using AI and advanced analytics-based business decisioning in some corners of the business to be more responsive to their customers’ needs, while also ensuring that they are running a profitable business. Torsten explains, “We are working with some development teams from our
partner, N-ix, to redo our backend. We are not a massive company, with large teams of people analysing, so we have to make our machines work harder. In this way, we have already worked with our partner, Sasken, to optimise the interface between ourselves and the carriers whose networks we use, guided by machine learning. This prediction method saves us money, and allows better customer offers.” Further optimisations in other areas are scheduled to take place, both internally and externally, over the coming months. Taking a holistic view, the machine does the learning, thus optimising several parameters. Torsten concluded, “I think what’s important on our journey is having the capabilities and flexibilities from AI, whilst also optimising our technology cost. There is no point having an old system doing old stuff! To this end, we will be able to satisfy the needs of our customers and retailers, with the right intelligence to do it profitably.”
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The White Chapel Building, 10 Whitechapel High Street, London, England, E1 8DX +44 207 031 0791 www.mobile.lebara.com