Exclusive Interview: Gulraiz Khalid
Gulraiz Khalid: Nexign is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. What changes has the company undergone during this time?
Natalia Komleva: Like many other companies, Nexign is undergoing a major transformation as we are modernizing our business models and customer interactions. For 30 years, the telecom and ICT markets and our clients have changed a lot. We understand this fact very well, and we know that our clients value continuous progress, the ability to take advantage of new technologies, and the ability to adapt to dynamic market shifts.
Our story began in 1992 when we were a small team of people sharing the same vision who developed billing systems. In 30 years, we have become an international company, a major provider of digital solutions for telecom operators. We have implemented more than 120 projects worldwide, and our team has grown up to its current 1,800 employees. We are also very proud that we have managed to maintain continuous operation and strong financial performance even through challenges related to implementing and adapting to change.
GK: How has the year 2022 been so far from a corporate point of view?
NK: This year, we have focused on addressing our clients’ new business goals and creating services to expand their capabilities. Our work has included developing new products to improve the operational efficiency of telecom operators, reduce their expenditures, and offer advanced monetization capabilities for different assets, including 5G projects. We have also continued to optimize our product portfolio and strengthen the reliability of our solutions by using microservices and open digital architecture.
GK: Would you like to comment a little bit on the BSS industry at the moment?
NK: The industry, as a whole, faces tough challenges; telecom operators want to stand out as more than just connectivity players. They are providing more non-core digital services while chasing new revenue streams and exploring cross-industry partnerships. Adapting to this transformation means a fundamental change in BSS systems. It becomes essential to maintain a high rate of innovation, promote multi-access edge computing, and monetize every ecosystem-enabled solution.
Moreover, with regards to digital transformation, it was often implemented only at the upper levels with a focus on customer experience. And we see that it is time to take it deeper into the core of the systems since further progress is only possible with a holistic approach and change at all levels.
GK: How will this evolution beyond connectivity impact revenues?
NK: When operators are expanding their lines of business and creating a next-generation experience, they unlock new revenue opportunities. However, the speed of transformation and introduction of new monetization models is rapidly increasing, and it is no surprise that some are left with dozens of siloed systems that become a burden.
To address this issue we have recently developed and introduced a new solution called Nexign Revenue Management for harmonizing diverse revenue streams on a single convergent platform. It helps manage the entire revenue generation process across all business verticals and provides advanced 5G network monetization opportunities. The solution natively supports the convergence of B2B and B2C business lines, prepaid and postpaid payment models, fixed-line, broadband, and mobile networks, and easily integrates with any digital layer and other systems in the operator’s BSS landscape.
GK: How do you see your role in the Middle East telecom and ICT market? Are you planning to introduce this solution in the region?
NK: The Middle East is a special region for us, as we believe we can add value here. We have the company’s MEA headquarters in Dubai and are always looking for new ways to expand our local capacities. We are already working with some of the leading telecom players in the region and have established strong partnerships with them. So, we are familiar with their business goals and aspirations and strongly believe that Nexign Revenue Management will be a much-needed solution for our local partners looking for a modern, scalable and flexible monetization system. Additionally, the solution ensures multidimensional convergence and operational flexibility not limited by vendor or technology, which is also a rising trend in the market.
GK: Could you give us insight on your latest key projects?
NK: Our latest success story is deploying Nexign’s Neon Intranet Platform at MegaFon. The operator was looking for a secure, flexible, and scalable platform that could support the company’s unique employee development program, be easily adapted, and be configured in accordance with new tasks. Ultimately, the company chose our proprietary solution that not only allowed for creating a digital space to bring together about 30,000 employees but also reduced costs and sped up the overall functionality by 30%, as compared to the previous system.
Recently we also worked with Zain Kuwait on increasing the effectiveness of sales and marketing initiatives. Together we implemented the Marketing Campaign Management System, a BI-integrated solution for diversified campaign management. It enabled the operator to make targeted offerings to diverse groups of clients, increase response rates, and boost customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
GK: What will be your key focus for the remainder of 2022 and in the near-term future?
NK: We believe that our goal is empowering clients to modernize their BSS systems, adapt networks to the 5G era, and build next-generation convergent digital ecosystems. In our opinion, these are the three pillars essential for growth in a modern, highly competitive market. Therefore, we will continue to deliver successful project transformations while creating and deploying cloud-native, future-proof, modular, and scalable products to increase CSPs’ agility and operational efficiency.
