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TCS+ | Pushkar Gokhale on Openserve's digital strategy
Openserve chief digital and strategy officer Pushkar Gokhale is TechCentral’s guest in this episode of the TCS+ business technology show, where he unpacks the role of digital services on the Telkom subsidiary’s growth ambitions. Gokhale, who has worked for various telecommunications operators around the world, came to South Africa more than a decade ago and liked the country so much he decided to make it his home. In this interview – which forms part of a series of TCS+ interviews with Openserve executives – Pushkar chats about: • His career history, and what brought him to South Africa – and to Telkom and Openserve; • The highlights of his career so far, and why he is passionate about telecoms and the opportunities around digital services; • His role at Openserve and what his daily work entails; • How digital services, including Openserve’s new consumer app, are playing a role in the company’s core business as a wholesaler of infrastructure services; • The digital transformation of Openserve’s operations – what was involved and how it is changing the way it does business; and • How Openserve works with partners, both locally and globally. Don’t miss an insightful interview about one of South Africa’s most important infrastructure providers.
- Duration:
- 23m
- Broadcast on:
- 12 Aug 2024
- Audio Format:
- aac
I'm Duncan McLeod, and this is Tech Central's TCS Plus, the Business Technology Show, which is brought to you today by OpenServe. Now, this is the latest in a series of interviews we're having with executives from OpenServe, which, of course, is a subsidiary of Telcom Group and a really interesting business with a long history in South Africa's telecommunications industry. In the latest episode in the series, I'm having a discussion with Pushkar Gokle, who is the company's chief digital and strategy officer. Pushkar, great to see you in the studio. Welcome to Tech Central. Thanks for making the time. Thank you. Great to be here. Great. You were originally from India. Yeah, born in India. But you've been in South Africa for the past 12 years, I believe. 12 years. This is home. Okay. I've been lucky. I think my first connection to Africa was when I was doing high school, did my high school in Egypt, and then been fortunate to travel the world, lived in Australia and worked there for seven years. In Telco? In Telco, I was working for Salesforce Australia, working with a number of clients there. With that, then I moved to India for a year and then went to Dallas, Texas, working there with AT&T and other Telcos. Okay. Real world citizen. Yeah. I had a great opportunity to work on the fiber. Over launching fiber there and got that sort of experience and then came to Africa, stayed in Ghana for a year. Ghana. Ghana, yeah. Zambia, and then Malawi, very short, and then South Africa. It's been 12 years. Okay. So what are the impressions of these markets in Africa that you lived in? Ghana, I've been to. It's a really beautiful country. What are your impressions of the place? Listen, coming from Dallas, obviously, there was a big difference that you saw in infrastructure. Yeah. People and the appetite for growth is something that stands out in any emerging economy and that's across Africa. Yeah. So I think there's a huge potential for people to grow. And more importantly, people are hungry, especially Ghana. You could see a lot of emphasis on education. And you see that trickling down across all the countries. I think the opportunities there, people are great. And one of the important things is a lot of times we look at Africa or emerging economies as countries that need to catch up. Actually, we have a great opportunity to leapfrog a lot of the first world countries. And that's what technology allows us to do. Right, right. So you've been in South Africa now for 12 years, is that those 12 years been in within the telecom stable? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Always inside open server or other parts of the telecoms. I've worked in the group. I've come in 2012 and worked in the IT space and then got an opportunity to move to open server, especially as we were branding open server in 2015-16. Okay. So really worked through that strategy piece. So the whole and bundling and the corporatisation of it, et cetera, et cetera. The branding, the colours, everything else and fascinating journey, a lot to learn. So had a great, great opportunity. Okay. Excellent. So your current role within the business is chief digital and strategy officer. What is your day-to-day job entail? What do you actually do? You're fascinating. A lot of people are asking this a title because you don't see this combination a lot. In one word, I think it's about transformation and if you're truly looking at digital being at the heart of what transformation can do, the strategy pivots around it as well. So I lead the business strategy of the company along with the technology strategy. But my main job is to transform the organisation and I've been lucky to have a great team around me and a great bunch of leaders led by Halton. We've really been focused, especially since 2019 of trying to look at this company and look at a commercial view and how do we transform internally as well as the services that we bring to market externally. Okay. Okay. So what's on your plate at the moment, what's keeping you busy? Are there some big projects that you're focusing on? Yeah. It's a very, very exciting project, you know, it's one of the sort of the last big series of transformation that journeys that we've been taking. It's called the tech app. It should be out in the next month or so. We started this journey in 2020 around when COVID hit and looking at how do we try to use digital to transform our processes, the way we go to market and we launched something called the open self-connect app, not sure if you've used it, and it won the TM forum award for innovation and customer experience. And that was the first foray into how do we take technology to the customer and bring a lot of self-service capabilities like healing your line, testing your line, looking at orders. And then we sort of pivoted towards the clients and a big part of our journey is looking at the B2B clients, which are ISPs. Which is your main focus really. I mean, you work through ISP partner. And, you know, historical legacy applications had a lot of different portals. They would log in in different portals and we sort of consolidated everything in Azure, Microsoft Azure. And now we've built a single sign-on application base for all our partners to log in, get a lot of analytics about what, you know, services they're getting, what are the orders. Of course, there's improvements continuously being done. And the last, which was very important pivotal part of this journey on the total experience was the employees themselves. So this tech app is going to really transform the way people look at, and the tech arrives to your doorstep typically it would take around 45 minutes to an hour to get everything set up. We're hoping we can get it down to 15 minutes. So providing them a lot of self-service capabilities through the app securely signing on. So really excited about it. I'm really interested that you've developed an app that can be used by the end consumer in their home to check on their connectivity because you do work through other partners. You don't typically work with the end user directly. But I imagine there must be some frustration that you see if there's an issue on the network that's affecting a customer. The customer doesn't really know where the problem is. They've got to phone the ISP. The ISP doesn't necessarily give them the information they're looking for. So this, I guess, kind of empowers the ultimate end user customer to know what's going on. Yeah, 100%. And I think it's an app which helps both the ISPs and us. Yes. Because once the customer understands where the problem is, they can really direct it. Yes. Also, it allows us to, you know, there's really cool functionality that we've built in that if you do see that the network is down, it sort of auto-generates our ticket with an open serve and we know exactly what's happening and then we can send the tech to heal it or we can do it remotely. So and we've seen that, you know, the app being downloaded, we're close to a million downloads and the rating is at around 4.2 to 4.5 across all three platforms. So really heartened to see the response that we're getting. Of course, it's a journey. We keep improving the app itself, our website has just gone through a revamp as well. The focus is on customer experience. One of our key strategies is to drive the best experience in every interaction. And the app was one of the first pivotal parts. It's also allowed to connect to home before you get connected with an ISP, you know, this concept of pre-provisioned homes that you see around the world. So as we pass a home, we can connect your home and once we connect that, we really don't need to send a technician out to get you connected. You know, you can talk to our partners, they'll send you a router or you buy your own router and you plug in and hopefully you've got internet. Okay. So how do you measure success for this app? I imagine that one of the metrics you would look at is the mean time to restore a service where there is a problem, has this app allowed, has it allowed open serve to fix problems more quickly? Yeah, I think a couple of measures. One is, of course, you know, the best measure is what the customer is saying about the app. So we look at the app rating and the net promoter so very closely and we've been growing. The second one, of course, is how do we use self-service? So how many people are actually using the test my line, fix my line opportunities? And we've seen that growing quite tremendously, which means that, yes, there may be a problem but they're fixing it themselves. And I think fiber allows you to do that as well as you've transitioned to that. So the app has given us a lot of insights into what's happening with the customer and the feedback from the customer has been great as well. As I said, there's a learning. We've also, you know, one of the key aspects as we launched the app was to also create a presence on social platforms, which, as open server, a wholesaler, traditionally didn't. So we've been using Sprinkler as a software tool which sort of aggregates all responses and we've been able to respond to the customers as they look at the app as well as if we can't service through the app, we've got the social platforms going through. The meantime to repair is reduced, the meantime Connect has reduced, which is great. Our NPS scores are hovering close to 70%, sorry, and the connectivity rate is also a big measure of success, right? The more the people find accessing, using, and interacting with open server easier, I think the word of mouth is a big proponent of it. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. I do imagine though that the number of faults you're seeing on your network has come down in the last few years as you've forklifted out your copper network and replaced it with fiber infrastructure because I guess it's less prone to theft, but it's also probably a more stable technology I'm imagining, so are you seeing a general downtrend in the number of faults on the network? Oh yeah, huge, huge decline in faults. The key thing is how do you use technology, especially as you scale, right? So remember we had a large copper network and now as we grow our network on fiber as well, there will be some problems on the network, but it's about how do you use technology to self-service as well as self-heal? And secondly... So you don't always have to send a technician out? We don't, we don't. And we've seen that reduce quite a bit, as I mentioned, on the app. A lot of times you just need to reconfigure the line and you could do it remotely. And now if you have it at the palm, you know, on your palms, you can do it much easier. I think the customer becomes much more aware of where the problem is. For example, we're also trying to give a lot of education. You get a 100 meg line, but your router is only capable of 20 meg's, you know, it's important for you to get the right router, get the right Wi-Fi mesh, because the experience is what you consume. And that's been the shift which I spoke about from 2019-20, is about what does the customer or the end customer want from the ISP and us, from a network perspective. And that synergy and working very closely with our partners has really helped. Does it make it difficult that you don't have a relationship directly with the end user and that you work through an ISP? Does that add complexity to the process? I think you need to be aware that our job is to connect the premise. The billing and the relationship remains with the ISP. The customer is the ISP's customer. But our job is to ensure that the service that they get through our network is of the best quality. So it's about finding the right balance, working with your partners quite closely. We've been lucky to have some great partners who've been very closely, you know, working with us as we improve the service of open serve. That has really helped us drive our NPS scores up, our connectivity rate up, and the key points of how do we get our fiber at the right places, right? So with over 1.3 million homes passed and over 600,000 homes connected, I think we're heading in the right direction. Importantly, how many people want to connect on our network is equally important. Has this app allowed you to learn things about your network that you didn't know before? Yeah, 100%. As I said, you know, a lot of times you would just leave the box, the ONT there, and you would walk away and you didn't really understand how the customer was using it and you would get a lot of his own network is down or I'm not getting the right speeds. I think through the app, you realize we've also had this foray into understanding how many devices do you really use, you know, what kind of speeds do you need because that allows us to work with our partners as well and complement what they're trying to give in the market. It's allowed us to look at prepaid as a proposition from a network perspective. Also, you know, look at different innovations within the app itself. A lot of great work, right? Somebody says if only I knew everything about what open serve could do, you know, I won't have gone anywhere else. Yeah. And I think the app has been a manifestation of the capabilities that we inherently have. Very proud of the work that the team has done. I think part of this transformation journey is getting the right team, which is so focused on delivery and customer experience. That has been great as well. And what has the reaction been from your ISP partners and is there scope to share more information with them and work more closely with them on for example? Yeah, we do that. A day to day, I mean, on a monthly basis, I know you met with pillar, you know, he and his team work very closely with the ISPs. And from a technology perspective, my team and I work very closely with them. As you transform the landscape of your applications and your processes, I think the handshake is very important. You know, everyone talks about open APIs and, you know, it's important that the ecosystem is ready for it as well, right? One thing is about, hey, I've got the best technology, but if nobody can consume it, you struggle. So it's about getting the right ecosystem, the partners ready. And we also did a big, big transformation, which probably is one of the proudest moments for my team and myself, is doing a BSS, which is a business support system transformation. It was a 30, 40-year-old legacy application, wow grown, and we did that within two years on time, and I keep reminding Alton about that. What have you moved to? What is it built on? We are now on single VOC SG, which allows us, you know, there are three big components of BSS, right? It allows you to now talk to the digital platforms itself and then go into microservices. The second thing is how do you manage this, right? Historically, any legacy application, you start becoming people-centric. As you transform your processes, your data, now you become more aware of how the process is run, and then you can really stabilize this platform. So, very proud of the work that we've done, and being able to then render these services upwards into the customers. So what comes next for OpenServe, in terms of its digital transformation, what's next on your place, what are you going to be doing next, what are the opportunities as you see them for the next couple of years? Yeah, I think the tech app is going to be the first sort of the loss of the big transformations that we've done, and post that we're going to really focus on the network. How do we now look at digital transformation within the network and bring in further skills and capabilities to the customer and clients, and that allows a closer relationship with our partners as well. So my team and my focus is going to sort of move from the customer, the client, and the employee towards the network, which we've started doing already, you know, ensuring that there are synergies between the network, the applications, and commercial. And what about other areas of OpenServe, because you're not only an access provider, you don't only provide fiber into homes, you also operate a national fiber network of, I think it was 170,000 kilometres, I think it was the Viva providers in the interview. And of course, you also invested in a range of undersea cable systems. What can you do in those areas to improve efficiencies? Yeah, I think the key in digital transformation is to understand how to use data, right? Because data is one part, and then try to get the insights from it. So a lot of people sort of get lost in this concept of digital, "Hey, let's get the right technology across." But how do you stitch that technology with the processes is important. So for example, the undersea cables, what kind of data consumption are we getting? Those are important plays for us to understand. And also to partner, for instance, the biggest content sort of driver is videos. And I guess the podcast would be online and people might watch this, and that's going to be data. So that consumption rate also cuts across not only access, but our aggregation and co-network. So quite aware, and that's when I spoke about the network, I think no transformation is only for a particular segment. When I spoke about this unified partner platform that we built, this cuts across segments. So even our carrier clients or wholesale enterprise clients can access the same portal platform to get in. So the transformation is truly driven for all the clients and employees. So yeah, that's the basis of what transformation does. If you had to pick one benefit from all this work that you've done, what would you say it is? Efficiency? If I may, I mean, I guess one would be, yes, internally efficiency, but I think it's also helped with the brand. It's taken away from this all. It's a legacy sort of incumbent view of what telecom or open service looked at, but pivoting towards an innovative company. The fact that here came OpenServ going to Copenhagen and TM Forum and on the panel with all these big companies and winning the award, and we just won another award this year for the innovation we're doing in energy space. So I think the innovation and digital transformation really, hopefully, is driving this view that hey, OpenServ is not just about fiber, but it's also an innovative company which enables us to connect together as well as to the world. Are you doing any work around machine learning and artificial intelligence? Because I imagine a lot of the faults that occur on the network are similar. Probably, I mean, you can tell me, but I'm imagining 80, 90% of the faults that occur are probably the same thing. Is there a way that you could unleash AI bots into the system? I don't know if that's the right terminology, but using AI tools to automatically fix problems before the customer is even aware of them? And that's what the network transformation will be looking at. We've already sort of been looking at it. We do use machine learning even on our app, on our platforms. What's important to understand is machine learning sort of restricts you to patterns. It looks at patterns and tries to fix it. Gen AI allows you to do something completely different. So are we sort of into it for a long run, of course, and we are trying to build on it. Getting the right skills is important into the company. Young still is coming in really excited about this. So we are doing a lot of work. A lot of learning, I must confess, I think it's important for every leader to put his hand up and say, I don't know it all. So a lot of learning for myself, my team, my organization, but we're very excited about the benefits, right? But I want to use machine learning to fix the problems that really make a difference. With somebody, I read a quote, I don't want Gen AI or machine learning to do my art. I wanted to do my laundry. So one needs to use it very effectively and correctly, right? Are you managing to find the skills you need to do all the stuff that ICT skills in South Africa are in short supply? Are you able to find the talent you need? My view has been that there is talent. You need to also nurture the talent. I think professionals like myself and companies across board have to invest in nurturing that talent. You have to build and buy, that's for sure, like any other company. So in-source the talent when you need it, and then build the talent simultaneously. It's an important piece. But there is talent. Of course, we need to make the pool much bigger, maths and science becomes a crucial part of it. It's our job as professionals to make this cool and exciting. And hopefully people watching this might be interested in getting into this space. So your podcast as well as making, you know, Gen AI or machine learning or any kind of science more attractive is going to be important as we move forward. There are some really, really smart guys in South Africa. You just need to tap in and nurture them. And I'm lucky to have a few of them in my team. And they play a really important role. Yeah. Yeah. Just lastly, where do you see the telco of the future? I mean, what is OpenServe going to look like five years from now? Have you gone through this whole process of digital transformation? And what can new ISP partners and the end user customers expect from OpenServe in that period? What are you going to be doing differently as an organization? Yeah. I think telcos in general were a closed space. A lot of the thought processes was build everything yourself, make everything yourself. I think digital, the essence of digital is creating an ecosystem which is open and create an ecosystem that you can partner together with. So I'm a firm believer and yes, you need to build some things, but you need to partner more often. And we've been fortunate enough to have some great partners working with us through this journey. I think OpenServe, I'm very confident about OpenServe in the next five to ten years. Fibre is here, communication and connectivity is here to stay, and as the world goes, wireless, wireless goes fixed. So we are in a good space. I think it's this continuous improvement that we need to look at. What is key for telcos is to look at services that we can build rather than OTT players themselves coming and building different services. So how do we monetize? And having that commercial mindset, even as you drive digital transformation, is often it's seen as an efficiency driven program. Yes. The way we have driven it, it has to be custom experience and revenue driven program. And I think that's where you'll find a lot more benefit. Well, thank you for sharing these great insights into the OpenServe business with Tech Central Pushka. Pushka, GoClare is Chief Digital and Strategy Officer at OpenServe. Thank you for making the time to talk to our audience today. Thank you, pleasure being here. - Thank you so much. - Thanks.