Regional Leader Spearheads Innovation Excellence and Diversity

The Situation

Since its flotation in the mid-nineties, the client has maintained a leadership position in the fixed line, mobile, Internet and data transfer markets in its country in Eastern Europe. As a service company operating in a competitive market, a major strategic goal has been to maximize its focus in areas of innovation, new business and diversification. Expanding into financially attractive business segments that integrate well with existing businesses are high on the radar for management. To sustain its growth in the long-term, the Group realized it would have to expand beyond its core business with “natural fit” diversification.

The Solution

The client collaborated with Capgemini’s TME Consulting practice to jointly define processes for a new Corporate Development business unit to specifically address business goals. The main focus of the unit is to:

• gather, develop and nurture new and fresh ideas
• innovate and incubate new as well as alternative businesses for growth
• add new competencies, and help identify acquisition targets
• capture and store information on a transparent innovation process.

The Corporate Development unit was also tasked to take ownership and responsibility for alternative businesses, and manage (directly or through subsidiaries) or support third-party products and services like content provision, financial services, hosting, etc. Capgemini, working intimately with key stakeholders at the client, developed the end-to-end innovation process for the unit comprising phase ideation and screening, concept development, implementation, commercialization and launch, and post-launch. The team also established an innovation board to oversee corporate innovation within the Group at board level.

The Result

The Corporate Development unit has been fully operational since 2008. It independently manages the existing alternative service portfolio for the Group, and also focuses on developing new alternative businesses. The unit creates and manages the corporate innovation process via ideas, methodologies and project management to develop new business in alternative markets, as well as support existing business units to fully leverage their capabilities.

The unit is expected to become the main driver for innovation in the Group by providing well-structured and best-in-class innovation management, processes and systems for emerging new ideas. It is also expected to support the Group’s entry into new market segments like Media & Advertising, Content Development and Management, Financial and Transactional Services, e-Health, e-Commerce, and Public Markets.