Optus has completed a business restructuring that integrates Optus Business with Alphawest and SingTel subsidiary NCS. The groups, which serve enterprise and government customers, previously operated separately.
“Our new Optus Business structure will have networking, managed services, mobility applications and cloud all under one roof, a truly integrated end-to-end proposition, domestic and regional, with customer centricity at the heart of our strategy,” Optus Business managing director, John Paitaridis, announced at the Optus Vision conference today in Sydney.
Optus began the restructuring in November last year, integrating Optus with Alphawest. NCS integration took place in April.
Under the restructuring, Optus Business and Alphawest will work together as a co-branded organisation, with former Alphawest CEO Ian Smith serving as vice-president, ICT solutions of Optus Business. The addition of NCS means Optus will now directly offer NCS cloud and mobility services, it said.
Through the restructuring, Optus has developed six divisions focusing on business application services, cloud and data centres, collaboration, contact centres, bring your own device (BYOD) and machine-to-machine (M2M) services, it said.
In a media briefing, Paitaridis acknowledged that the restructuring at Optus contributed to nearly 1000 layoffs in 2012 and another round of job cuts this year.
“I had a delivery organisation inside Alphawest and a delivery organisation inside of Optus. I had a presales organisation in Alphawest [and] a presales organisation in Optus,” he said.
“We’ve taken the opportunity to review duplication ... and those changes have occurred.
“We’ve settled our organisation and we’re now really focusing on the go to market.”
However, Optus officials stressed that the restructure benefits customers, responding to a “converged world” by allowing customers to work with one unit for fixed and mobile connectivity, network and managed services. The previous structure was “fairly disjointed,” said Paitaridis.
Paitaridis said the financial services and insurance industries will be major areas of focus for Optus Business. The telco will also seek to expand in the logistics, education and healthcare markets, among other areas, he said.
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