People are at the heart of everything we do. Each team member brings their own unique experience, perspective, and passion to the table. That’s why we love taking a moment to spotlight the faces behind the work. This time, we caught up with Ed Bagnall, Managing Director for the EMEA region, to chat about his background, thoughts on the industry, and what he’s excited about in his new role.
1. How did you get started in telecom?
My background in telecoms comes from the GIS world. I've always been in software and started out at Esri UK in utilities and telecoms. Telecoms always interested me more, and I love the problems that we solve in our industry. It's fast-paced, and it's all about returning value and business benefits. There's something really quite exciting about telecoms, so I was naturally led to that over time.
2. What trends do you find most exciting or impactful in telecom today?
We're very excited as a company to see how technology innovations such as the AI and automation trends that we see across all industries are finding themselves in our world. In terms of what we are seeing today, I'm very excited about being able to automate the process of generating revenue and turning up customers. It's a very hot topic now, and a lot of digital transformation is driving that. It's something we're very passionate about, because we've got some great tools in that space to help customers.
3. Telecommunications is known for its rapid changes. How do you stay adaptable in such a dynamic environment?
One important factor is our people. We're not just a software company. We are telecom professionals, and we’re passionate about the direction the industry is going. We're a market leader and have been for several years. It's our people that help us do that. That’s backed up by a very strong development team that have a wealth of experience to drive our products. There isn’t any replacement for that. It's something we've earned over a long time and it's what keeps us ahead.
4. What major developments do you see taking place in telecom in the coming years?
I think the biggest development is the shift away from greenfield build-out and network deployment to generating revenue from the network. The types of tools that you might have in place to streamline and automate processing and network planning are very different to the ones that make sure the network is operating properly.
Questions around network capacity and the best optimised routes to turn up customers all need to be answered, and there's a lot of emphasis on that now. I think over the next five years we'll see that more, and after that we won't talk about network build out nearly as much as we do now.
5. What advice would you give to someone starting their career in the telecommunications industry?
My advice to people entering the telecommunication industry would be to focus on understanding and making connections in this world. Learn and speak to people who have done it for a long time and absorb their knowledge, but also don't be afraid to bring new ideas.
6. You recently moved into the role of managing director for EMEA. What are the main challenges and opportunities for that region?
We work with some of the world's largest networks, predominantly in North America, and over the last few years we've been building our brand and business internationally. We are ready to springboard that now.
In Europe and the Middle East, companies have a real appetite for transforming their businesses and taking the next step. They want to be innovators and leaders, and they're looking for future-ready solutions that can underpin all the things that they want to do. We're a solid platform for that, and we are the best placed solution on the market to replace some of the legacy systems out there that are nearing end of life. We’re delivering value to the market in that space, and I'm hoping to do a lot more of that in the coming years.
Catch the full interview below.
