Unveiling success with Kevin Friel – Kloudville’s impact on Global Tier 1 Telcos
Kloudville has garnered significant attention in the Telco market for its solutions that address complex challenges.
Today, we have the privilege of speaking with Kevin Friel, Chief Revenue Officer at Kloudville.
Interviewer: Kloudville has been creating quite a buzz among Telco experts. Why do you think Kloudville solutions are receiving so much attention, and how are they reshaping the Telco market?
Kevin Friel: Kloudville provides a comprehensive suite of solutions, such as Kloudville Telecom 360, Kloudville Marketplace 360, EPC/PLM 360, Kloudville CPQ 360, and Order 360, simplifying the digital transformation journey for Telcos. Our one-stop-shop approach streamlines tasks and development needs, enhancing the efficiency of CSPs. We have successfully implemented these solutions in various companies like Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Jawwy, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Fast Fiber, and Brightspeed, addressing current market challenges.
Interviewer: Many Telcos face challenges in adopting a catalog-driven approach to BSS/OSS. How does Kloudville view this issue?
Kevin Friel: Some of our customers like Saudi Telecom are far ahead of the curve for this digital transformation approach. They read the understanding a few years back knowing that digital transformation needed to start with the Product Lifecycle Management and Catalog driven Federation to their systems to break the time-to-market barrier and stay competitive. STC is a leader in digital transformation and is now prepared for the next decade of digital transformation (agility and change) by deploying the Kloudville 360 PLM & EPC solution – companywide for their Consumer (CBU), Enterprise (EBU) and Mobility (Jawwy) Business Units. These solutions go beyond just connectivity, focusing on providing valuable services to enterprises.
Interviewer: B2B CPQ is gaining traction in the Telco industry. How does it contribute to a thriving Telco ecosystem?
Kevin Friel: B2B CPQ revolutionizes Telcos by enabling them to transition from B2C to complex B2B solutions seamlessly. This shift involves managing intricate quotations, commercial orders, and workflow approvals efficiently. Most CSPs are struggling to find a platform that can integrate and reuse their sales lead and opportunity solution in place for B2C while adopting a B2B CPQ with the ability to truly ‘orchestrate’ the B2B CPQ process Quote to Order. These B2B CPQ complexities have the added requirements for workflow approvals that can include month-long tasks for capital asset requests, executive approvals for VIP and special discounts, and automated margin analysis that flags product managers who are combining complex telco and partner solutions where contracts are applicable. Fostering collaboration and innovation by allowing businesses to partner and develop new solutions for B2B CPQ can empower CSPs to capitalize on this collaborative spirit and build a vibrant Telco ecosystem. Telcos are seeing the huge potential of strategically deploying B2B CPQ-COM-Contract automation with digital signature integration (e.g., via DocuSign) to simplify B2B transactions and unlock creative business models. I foresee a boom in partnerships and alliances that leverage the capabilities of B2B markets to promote development, improve service offerings, and build a thriving Telco ecosystem in the next 4 years.
Interviewer: I have explored several projects Kloudville deployed in CSPs across the globe. In Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and their Mobility company Jawwy, in FastFiber, in Brightspeed, and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison. Could you elaborate on the project with Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and the impact it had?
Kevin Friel: Certainly. We partnered with Indosat Ooredoo, a leading Indonesian provider, to launch their digital marketplace, IDE by Indosat Business. Indosat is aimed to grow revenues by increasing its market share among Indonesia’s 64 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and help expand the growth of a new digital experience. The challenge was to offer solutions that combine Indosat telecom services with partner solutions, from Google, on a user-friendly marketplace. Kloudville Marketplace was the solution selected for this business challenge.
Interviewer: How long did it take to deploy and launch the marketplace with Indosat Ooredoo?
Kevin Friel: IDE was operational within ten weeks, exceeding expectations by two weeks. Hosted on Google Cloud, Kloudville Marketplace 360 integrated seamlessly with Google’s suite of tools, leveraging AI and machine learning for enhanced customer service and operational efficiency.
Interviewer: What were the outcomes of the IDE project?
Kevin Friel: Within a year, IDE witnessed a substantial 23-fold increase in subscribers, reaching over 30,000 subscribers and attracting 1.3 million visitors. This success underscores the effectiveness of Kloudville’s solutions and Indosat’s commitment to innovation.
Interviewer: We are seeing traditional Telcos changing to Techno’s, is that what happened in this project?
Kevin Friel: Yes, Indosat adopted a pioneering “techno” strategy, prioritizing rapid innovation and co-creation. This agility is crucial for success in today’s digital world. Traditional, risk-averse approaches can delay progress. Indosat aimed at rapidly developing products that solve real problems and challenges.
Interviewer: Kloudville seems to offer a diverse and comprehensive solution portfolio.
Kevin Friel: We do! Kloudville goes beyond just B2B Marketplaces. Our suite addresses key trends in the Telco industry. From streamlining operations with Telecom 360 to facilitating partnerships with Partner 360, to supporting product lifecycle management with PLM 360, enterprise product catalog management with EPC/CPQ, and order management with Order 360, it’s a complete suite of Telco solutions. We can support CSPs in many different business challenges.
Interviewer: Thank you for your time and for sharing these insightful perspectives.
Kevin Friel: It was a pleasure being here. Thank you for the opportunity.