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Filling the ICT skills gap in the Telecommunications sector of the future (FITS): STUDY REPORT /51

Expert consultancy support for FITS

FINAL REPORT (Milestone 8) 10 November 2014

Filling the ICT skills gap in the Telecommunications sector of the future (FITS)

STUDY REPORT

ABSTRACT

This report was jointly commissioned by UNI Europa and the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) and funded from the European Commission’s progress programme. Delivered by Breyer Publico, the report provides an overview of findings from both desktop research and primary research conducted through stakeholder interviews focused upon understanding main business trends, industry future skills needs and current good practice in addressing skills development challenges.

The report reveals the business changes that take the industry from a historically hardware based environment to a software dominated digital future. It closes the gap of European telecommunication future skills awareness and unveils the skills that are crucial to address a rapidly changing business environment within ever-‐present technology and usage advances. The report moves on to recognise that the European telecommunications industry despite and sometimes because of fierce competition deploys pockets of good practice in the search for solutions to identify, recruit and retain highly skilled staff.

The key findings of the report identify twenty-‐seven skill topics that are critical to the future of the telecommunications industry and it culminates with the provision of five key recommendations to address the unrelenting requirement to maintain and further develop a highly skilled workforce.

This publication is supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS (2007-‐2013).

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CONTENT OVERVIEW

1. Study Objectives ....................................................................................................... 3

2. Introduction to the European Telecommunications Sector ..................................... 3

3. Business Trends ........................................................................................................ 5 3.1. Business outlook methodology………………………………………………………….………….5 3.2. Main business trends…………………………………………………………………………………….6

3.2.1. Detailed view of business drivers from a political, economic, social and technological perspective (PEST) ........................................................................... .7

3.2.2. Summary of industry perspective trends ..................................................... 12

4. Skills Need Identification ........................................................................................ 13 4.1. Skills identification methodology…………………………………………………………………13 4.2. Main skills gaps and challenges ...................................................................... 14 4.2.1. Detailed view of skills needs ....................................................................... 16 4.2.2. Skills trends, gaps and challenges related to the e-‐CF ................................ 21

5. Responses from Company Best Practices .............................................................. 31 5.1. Recruiting competent talent for the future .................................................... 31 5.2. Training and reskilling (particularly 40+) ......................................................... 34 5.3. Attracting more women into ICT employment ............................................... 37 6. Conclusions and recommendations ....................................................................... 39 ANNEX

A. Reports used in conducting the PEST analysis ....................................................... 43 B. Interview questionnaire supporting project stage 2 .............................................. 44 C. Overview of company best practice ....................................................................... 47

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This study was possible thanks to the support and invaluable contributions from European telecommunications

sector representatives, from the companies BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia, Ericsson LSS, Orange, Portugal Telecom, TDC (Sweden & Denmark), Telefónica, Telenor, TeliaSonera and Vodafone and the trade unions UNI Europa, CWU (UK), Ver.di (Germany), SEKO (Sweden), Sinttav (Portugal), FISTEL-‐CISL (Italy), CWU (Ireland), Prospect (UK), Unionen (Sweden), Dansk Metal (Denmark), CFDT-‐F3C (France) and UGT (Spain).

This publication is supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS (2007-‐2013). This Programme is implemented by the European Commission. It was established to financially support the

implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment, social affairs and equal opportunities area, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Europe 2020 Strategy goals in these fields. The seven-‐year Programme targets all stakeholders who can help shape the development of appropriate and effective employment and social legislation and policies, across the EU-‐28, EFTA-‐EEA and EU candidate and pre-‐candidate countries. For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/progress

The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or opinion of the European Commission.

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1. Study Objectives

European social partners in the telecom sector, The European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association ETNO and the European trade unions federation UNI Europa, have jointly undertaken the European project “Filling the ICT skills gap in the Telecommunications Sector of the future – identifying and spreading best practice”.

The project’s objective is to collect and analyse information on telecommunications and ICT labour market trends, identifying the main drivers of change and the impact on skills needs in the telecommunication sector, and to identify and share best practice on effective solutions to fill the ICT skills gap.

In particular, the project aims to:

• Provide an exchange of the above analysis between European telecom operators and their partners (training providers, education establishments etc.), to support mutual understanding of future industry skill requirements, and

• Facilitate the collection and sharing of best practice for training and reskilling (particularly those over 40), recruiting competent talent for the future and attracting more women into ICT employment.

The final outcome aims to disseminate effective solutions that may be applied to address the identified challenges and act as a starting point to engender further cooperation amongst all stakeholders (companies, education training providers, social partners, national and European bodies) in order to address skills needs in the future.

To support these project aims, the Breyer Publico Consultancy team were contracted to analyse and highlight the main trends that shape the industry in the foreseeable future. The research team assessed the evolving needs of telecommunication professional staff in terms of jobs, skills, academic and vocational training. To achieve this objective the team systematically gathered specialist analysis and available reports to:

• elaborate an overview of expected major impacts on ICT job content, • identify future skills needs, • share potentially effective solutions for future skills development, with a focused look at

best practise for training and reskilling (particularly those over 40), recruitment of competent talent and the attraction of more women into ICT employment.

2. Introduction to the European Telecommunications Sector

It is commonly accepted that the Telecommunication’s sector is a worldwide industry featuring rapid growth and rapid change, exploiting leading edge technology and requiring a highly skilled and innovative workforce. Furthermore, over several decades there has been an ever-‐increasing convergence between the technology deployed by the information technology industry and telecommunications industry with an inevitable impact on the skills requirements by technical professionals within the telecommunications sector. Europe is an acute example of the challenges faced in the analogue to digital transition. As an early adopter and installer of extensive copper networks Europe faces a correspondingly significant task to upgrade its legacy infrastructure.

An additional dynamic, influencing the skills and competence needs of the workforce, is the impact of Information Technology providers offering OTT (Over the Top) services such as voice and video traffic, distribution of multimedia and entertainment content, search engines, cloud and social media. This parallel competition is an additional driver of change influencing the pace and volume of the skills challenges facing the telecommunications sector.

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Although focused on future skills requirements, this research activity reflects on past and current skills requirements to aid the prediction of future skills needs.

Telecommunications was born out of the invention of the telephone in the late nineteenth century, resulting in the establishment of a new industry sector in the early twentieth century. The telecommunications industry, using analogue technology, was arguably the first truly international sector crossing national borders and requiring international standards to enable interoperability between national telephone systems. The dominant feature of the industry was the hardware infrastructure consisting of landline cables connecting switching centres (telephone exchanges) constructed like a spiders web providing connections between any one telephone and another and via alternative pathways. Initially, this was a manual activity achieved by operators, physically connecting telephone users. This connection method was superseded through electro mechanical, automatic switching (The Strowger System) introduced in the middle of the twentieth century.

In the 1990’s the cellular telephone added a new dimension to telecommunications and spawned a new sub sector of the industry. A new breed of communication service providers using the airwaves accompanied by the traditional telecommunications companies, who provided the cable infrastructure, introduced a personal telephone revolution. This precipitated exponential growth in handset provision and wireless connectivity with concurrent skills requirement consequences.

Also in the 1990’s, the Internet became a commercial reality. This technology was developed within the Information Technology Industry (IT) and outside of the influence of telecommunication national/ international regulations. The Internet was rapidly adopted and implemented by IT suppliers of products and services and as a significant technological disruptor; it bred many new innovative services, for example, voice over Internet protocol (VOIP).

Another revolution that radically changed the industry was the move from analogue to digital technology accompanied by the drive to move from copper to fibre carrier systems. Taking place towards the end of the twentieth century, this led to an even more significant change, taking an existing, hardware dominated industry, on an inexorable journey to a digital software dominated future. Furthermore, the pace of change has accelerated and new applications such as CATV Video Streaming are forcing exponential growth in Internet and infrastructure traffic.

Technical, commercial and legislative changes have all had a dramatic effect on workforce skills and the boundaries and reach of the telecommunications industry. There is no reason to assume that the pace will subside or the direction of travel change.

Although the pace of change is significant, many traditional telecommunication skills, for example exchange maintenance, are still required, but the overlapping nature of other sectors, including the audio-‐visual and broadcasting sectors, combined with new technological innovations demand a broader and a more specialist skill set across the telecommunications industry. Additionally, skills identification must take into account leading edge technologies and associated skills and knowledge currently deployed by the Information Technology sector.

In summary, the pace of skills change requirements is accelerating and its multidisciplinary nature places heavy demands upon the Telecommunication professional workforce and the development of a European fit for purpose skills strategy. As mobile-‐cellular penetration exceeds 100% in Europe, market saturation exceeds that of the developing world that stood at 89% in 20131. As a

1 Source: ITU Telecommunications ICT Indicators database

The telecommunications industry is moving from a hardware-‐dominated environment to a software-‐dominated environment.

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marker and driver for skills transition it can be concluded that Europe is at the forefront of the challenge to maintain and transform the skills of the workforce. This is reinforced by Europe’s leading position in the level of Internet user penetration at 75% compared to the Americas at 61% and Africa at 16%.

There is an urgent need to address maintenance of existing traditional telecommunication and cellular skills (voice and data over digital networks) that must also be supplemented by Internet skills prevalent in the IT industry sector.

3. Business Trends

As previously stated in chapter 1, the aim of this report is to provide direction on the future skills requirements of the Telecommunications Industry over the next five years; two approaches were adopted to foresee these needs.

Investigation of existing research papers revealed that very limited information was available to provide direct qualitative and quantitative understanding of the skills required of future telecommunication technical professionals. The limited research material available is generically included from an ICT industry perspective and not identified separately.

Therefore one approach taken, to identify future skill requirements, was to investigate industry business trends from a variety of papers and reports (listed in Annex A) to provide a background and context for the telecommunication industry future. This provided information was used to create a realistic hypothesis of the associated skills required to build the future of the telecommunication industry; more details are included in chapter 4, ‘Skills need identification’.

In parallel to this desktop research, a variety of knowledgeable telecommunications stakeholders were interviewed from both employer and trade union perspectives to gain an insight into their perception of business direction and future skills needs. The business drivers combined with stakeholder responses to future skills requirements and good practise deployed to close the skills gaps informed the conclusions of this report.

3.1. Business outlook methodology

The tool applied to the collection of secondary research, in order to provide a digestible picture of the telecommunication industry’s likely future, was PEST analysis.

PEST is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors used to assess the market for a business unit. It is a framework of macro-‐environmental factors used to articulate strategic components that influence the future of an organization or industry. PEST analysis provides a useful aid to understanding market growth or decline and the position, potential and direction for a business.

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Figure 1: The PEST analysis method

Analysing the industry in this way enabled a focused overview of the trends and issues facing the industry by presenting brief statements that help report readers to quickly assimilate key points. Important features of relevant papers were synthesized and incorporated within the statements that follow in chapter 3.2.1, ‘Detailed view of business drivers from a political, economic, social and technological perspective’.

In addition to desktop research, expert opinion was systematically sought and recorded from a questionnaire that covered the main topics defined by the FITS project scope, see annex B for details of the questions asked.

10 telecommunication operators and 14 trade unions were approached to support the FITS activity by providing valuable practical market insights from the employer and social partner perspectives. This combination provided comprehensive EU-‐wide coverage and it included several companies with a worldwide market presence. Companies included BT, Deutsche Telekom, Telecom Italia, Ericsson LSS, Orange, Portugal Telecom, TDC (Sweden & Denmark), Telefónica, Telenor, TeliaSonera and Vodafone. UNI Europa, CWU (UK), Ver.di (Germany), SEKO (Sweden), Sinttav (Portugal), FISTEL-‐CISL (Italy), CWU (Ireland), Prospect (UK), Unionen (Sweden), Dansk Metal (Denmark), CFDT-‐F3C (France) and UGT (Spain) represented the views of European social partners.

This empirical research phase gathered experiences and views from 27 sector representatives covering a broad variety of job roles, addressing key topics of this consultancy activity. One employer and four company trade union representatives additionally provided written statements.

3.2. Main business trends

A synthesis from the range of reports, blogs and papers, paints a challenging picture of increasing customer service and product demands from an industry undergoing significant change within some areas, diminishing revenue streams driving down costs to maintain profitability and accompanied by headcount reductions. Interview respondents confirmed this perception, highlighting a very competitive environment within the telecommunications industry and some respondents referred to this commonly as a “price war”.

Traffic across the Internet continues to grow exponentially, driven by a ‘perfect storm’ of the Internet of things and increased mobile applications. Innovative applications such as e-‐pay, e-‐health and video down streaming supported by technologies such as cloud and big data, contribute to the technically complex matrix of bundled service offerings. Legacy technologies based upon copper infrastructures are unable to support this new breed of services and the coexistence of

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copper and fibre networks is a significant technological and business challenge facing the ex PTT2 organisations.

Mobile traffic will also grow exponentially with technological innovation providing undreamed of data speeds measured in Gigabyte/sec enabling anything everywhere to be connected to the cloud. The vast (up to 300 Billion Euro)3 investment required for future infrastructure development is a significant political issue; specifically regarding how the required investment will be funded and by whom.

Encompassing all, there is a public demand for confidence building, to provide a safe and secure infrastructure protected from criminal activity or accidental disaster scenarios, that also protects minors from unsuitable online content.

Although analysed from two different sources the outcomes of desktop research and responses from questionnaire respondents lead to similar conclusions even if expressed in different language. Stakeholders recognise the speed and direction of technical challenges faced by the industry but also realise the impacts on future business exerted by economic, social and political directions.

3.2.1. Detailed view of business drivers from a political, economic, social and technological perspective

The following statements summarize the main findings of the PEST analysis undertaken in the context of the research activity. Each numbered statement (highlighted in bold print) is expanded to provide additional clarity. The statements reflect a wide range of views and opinions from a variety of observers and therefore, although not always verifiable, they reflect perceptions and help form a broad understanding of the likely future of the telecommunications industry.

POLITICAL

1. Future telecommunication infrastructure is likely to involve private investment in densely populated areas and public investment in sparsely populated areas. Economic, market forces naturally encourage the provision of infrastructure by private companies to areas of dense population. Governments understand the economic and social necessity of the provision of high-‐speed broadband services to rural communities and apply universal service obligations. Negotiation and legislation for future infrastructure development is under discussion and some observers think it may result in shared public/ private investment.

2. International standards are needed to ensure interoperability of national infrastructures and enable signalling protocols to operate in harmony. This enables free flow of voice, data and video and protects the asset value of hardware and software.

3. No single organisation will be permitted to establish a monopoly. National Governments plan to ensure competitive environments and a free market for telecommunications customers and therefore rules are applied to ensure no single company can dominate from a monopolistic position.

4. Telecommunication industry incumbents are compelled by legislation to offer wholesale prices to new entrants and virtual service providers; OTT (over the top players) benefit from lack of infrastructure costs. Development of telecommunications infrastructures has

2 PTT is an acronym for Postal, Telephone and Telegraph services and applies to the public communications organisations established to provide this services from the beginning of the 20th Century 3 Source: ETNO www.etno.eu

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grown out of public switched networks, which in turn were privatised but accompanied by legislation to enable new telecommunication market entrants to share the network at agreed prices. As technology has developed, new entrants such as OTT (Over the top) players are not encumbered by these restrictions and use networks at no cost.

5. Radio spectrum policies influence the implementation of wireless communications. Control over airwaves and spectrum distribution is the subject of legislation to ensure optimum usage and minimise interference between frequency bands (e.g. for national security and emergency services). The availability and release of bandwidths is not only a technical but also a social and economic issue that is not under the direct control of telecommunications companies.

6. Taxation of OTT’s versus telecommunications companies. New OTT entrants, often from outside of Europe, have the freedom to establish European headquarters wherever they can optimise tax payments. The playing field is not level for existing telecommunication companies as they are unable to take advantage of this opportunity.

7. National service providers are obliged to provide public and universal4 services. These are crucial with regard to the provision of Internet access to rural and underserved areas and the EU citizens’ right to communication.

8. The abolition of roaming charges and the lowering of prices has had an impact on revenue. Complex technologies and quality of service have a price and reduced income is likely to have an impact on necessary investment and employment.

ECONOMIC

9. Throw away devices such as telephones and PCs. The nature of product development is fundamentally changed by the notion of sophisticated products that are not economically viable to repair and also become technically redundant after a few months. Service and repair functions are disrupted and consume financing models are revolutionised with rental replacing ownership models.

10. Integration of telecommunications into a single function providing fixed voice video, TV and Internet data. This is commonly referred to as convergence or triple play. It has high significance for infrastructure providers, as their networks need to be technically capable of supporting these three types of traffic flow. Continued use of legacy networks to support separate media distribution is no longer economically viable nor does it offer the integrated service requirements demanded by customers.

11. Customers driving the race for new technologies looking for competitive edge. Customers of the telecommunications companies are constantly seeking ways to improve their productivity and customer service offerings and this is driving a shift towards customer power. Customers increasingly demand products and services rather than, as in the past, passively awaiting new offerings.

12. Model for infrastructure funding must change, independent research studies estimate that up to 300 Billion Euros is required to modernise European networks over ten plus years. The cost of building fibre based and mobile broadband networks supporting 4G networks, to meet convergence needs, is estimated to exceed 300 Billion Euros across Europe and this significant investment cannot be met without a new funding model. This is particularly relevant given the falling revenues of traditional network suppliers and the

4 Universal service is an economic, legal and business term used in the telecommunications industry, referring to the practice of providing a baseline level of services to every resident of a country.

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complex environment that incorporates many new broadcast entrants and users of networks. In addition the requirement is for networks to serve the public interest and provide an engine for economic growth.

13. Revenues are declining sharply approximately -‐2% per annum. Falling incomes from fixed line subscribers over the past five years add to the urgency to solving the issue of who will pay for the necessary infrastructure development required across Europe.

14. Telecommunication industry headcount in Europe is declining. In order to meet shareholder demands and maintain profitability in a competitive market with declining revenue, traditional telecommunications organisations have optimised headcount. This business pressure drives the need to up-‐skill the workforce and mitigate potential employment loss.

15. The infrastructure network is no longer the defining competitive factor. The development of a superior network used to be the central factor in attracting customers to a particular company. This is no longer the case as sophisticated marketing techniques, product/service provision and pricing models play a bigger role in influencing customer choice.

16. Traditional telecommunications organisations face very tough challenges to move back into business growth. As growth and revenues from traditional services stall and data and content struggle to compensate for declines, the industry faces a range of uncertainties5.

17. The market for fixed and mobile telephone subscribers has reached saturation point (over 100% in some countries). For twenty years technical innovation from mobiles to the Internet have driven high growth. However in some countries mobile penetration exceeds 100%, with an a average of more than one device per head of population; and this will pose inevitable business challenges to maintain business growth over the next decade.

18. Traffic across mobile networks will increase a thousand fold in a decade. The driver for this phenomenal growth will be the the Internet of things. Whilst traffic growth between people will grow more slowly, intelligent perception and intelligent control will grow rapidly as more and more devices are connected to the Internet. Network connectivity and complexity will be a growing challenge.

SOCIAL

19. Move from physical devices to wearable devices. Wearable technology, for example, from watches to embedded chips in clothing are likely to enhance health, convenience, productivity and safety and provide more useful information to individuals and organisations.

20. Social and business communications will integrate. The convergence trend will also manifest itself by bringing together business and social communications. This will reduce the need for multiple devices that are often required to ensure secure connection to business networks that differentiate private and business networks and devices.

21. LAN bandwidth will grow to accommodate voice, data and video. The triple play scenario with integration of audio, visual and data across national broadband networks will naturally extend into Local Area Networks (LANs). This will simplify the installation and implementation of new devices in the local home or business environment.

5 Telco 15 IBM Global Services

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22. Working from home will require easy set up for end users. This new social trend drives the need to simplify technology for end users so that they are able to effortlessly set up devices at home without the need for complex and expensive physical installation support.

23. More flexible times of working and more flexible places to work from. The 9-‐5 culture is no longer valid for knowledge workers who require access to social and business technological facilities wherever they are travelling, in their own or a customer’s office or at home. This will have significant impact on employees and companies requiring new approaches to support employee work life balance and re-‐appraisement of associated lifestyle changes.

24. Vast increase in daily ingest of information by individuals. The volume of information available to individuals will continue its unabated growth necessitating the availability of smart software information systems that can support sifting and prioritising data and valid information. This drives the development of ‘big/open data’ solutions and significantly influences the competence profile of technical and marketing personnel.

25. ‘Internet of things” or internet everywhere with machine to machine communications will drive meteoric traffic increase with 50 Billion end devices worldwide by 2020. This startling prediction will have significant impact on infrastructure requirements and the associated investment required to build appropriate capacity.

26. By 2020 the internet of things will result in a machine to machine communication ratio to human interaction of 30/1. This reinforces the expectation that a new dynamic will drive an ever-‐increasing need for more traffic capacity across international telecommunications networks.

27. Portable services demand, any application on any device. The existing model whereby devices such as PC’s incorporate software applications within the device will need to change to enable applications to be used by any device. User demands are for complete flexibility in the use of social or business applications from any location. This will continue the drive for more cloud services.

28. By 2016 video proportion of Internet traffic will reach 55%. This provides further evidence to support the notion that a vast and accelerating growth in data flow will occur.

29. Further demand for content blocking to protect minors. As video content is freely streamed around networks and is accessible from multiple devices the need to protect children from unsuitable material will increase. Security, in the form of protecting children from ‘adult only’ content will become a significant requirement.

30. Video calling will become mainstream. Although technically available for some time it is predicted that voice combined with video images will become a regular method of communication over the next decade.

31. Banking services of developing countries will grow significantly as their economies grow deploying online services. Currently the developed world widely uses online banking services, which in Europe are expanding through the use of mobile applications. This is a trend that will extend to a much broader population as the wealth of individuals in developing countries increases.

32. Customers will demand cloud services from secure and reliable service providers. As the reliance upon cloud services develops so does the need for 100% availability and reliability. If the cloud is not accessible then the user will be unable to access their applications. This will lead to complete dependence and therefore the demand for secure and stable provision of service (this could be viewed as a significant opportunity for existing traditional telecommunication providers). Consolidation of new services requires the development of new IT and marketing skills within the telecom workforce.

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33. ‘On demand’ broadcasting will release customers from scheduled viewing. The growing trend for television viewers to time shift viewing broadcast programmes, is fundamentally changing viewing habits. No longer will television programming restrict viewers to sit in front of a television at scheduled times; they will be able to view content at times to meet their personal schedules.

34. Focus on Talent Management of telecommunications staff will be required to foster innovation and provide necessary business skills. The ever-‐changing telecommunications industry competes for technology professionals and for staff with business acumen. The technical and business challenges facing the industry require development and recruitment of innovative personnel who can contribute to the future direction and success of their company. The acquisition of talent cannot be left to chance but must be at the forefront of the business strategy.

35. Avoid growing the impact of the digital divide. In a growing digital economy with the expansion of digital services (e.g. e-‐health, e-‐learning etc.), the divide between people who have access to online services and those who do not, is increasing. This is not only a material divide, influenced by infrastructure such as remote community access to high-‐speed broadband but also a knowledge gap between citizens that have ICT user skills and those who do not. The ICT industry and public authorities will be challenged to address these issues through infrastructure investment and education provision.

TECHNOLOGICAL

36. Growth in digital and decline in PSTN. This is a unanimous conclusion of industry watchers. Since liberalisation of the telecommunications industry across Europe in the 1980’s the emphasis has shifted from the maintenance of a Public Switched Network to new digital data and mobile infrastructures supporting high-‐speed digital transmission of voice, data and video.

37. Explosion of OTT services. The technical capability to transmit video and TV broadcasts, unfettered over the Internet has engendered a new breed of ‘Over the Top’ players and services. Although providing a best effort non-‐managed service, this trend is unlikely to abate and broadcasters will continue to leverage the advantages they derive from being unburdened by the need to maintain a network.

38. Telephony will move further towards integrated telecommunications encompassing voice, data, images and video. Voice communications were once the driver of the telecommunications industry now voice takes its place alongside data and video that have become the main drivers of transmission traffic.

39. Convergence will accelerate by development of the infrastructure to incorporate all voice, data, information and entertainment. If we are currently witnessing the convergence of telecommunications and the Internet, the next decade will see the convergence of broadcast, television and the Internet.

40. Voice networks will be further integrated and fully migrate to carrier grade IP networks. Although requiring investment there are obvious advantages to providing an integrated network capable of supporting data, video and voice. In consequence there will be an inevitable transfer of voice communications to ‘voice over’ and ‘voice over Internet IP’ technologies.

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41. Cloud services will expand dramatically and be people centric but device agnostic6. The attraction of cloud services will grow as more and more devices are able to access services and applications. The trend will be towards the provision of any service to any device, based upon the needs of the person accessing the service. Innovations such as ‘Terastream’ and net virtualization, cloud-‐based technologies, have the potential to reduce network complexity and improve operating efficiency.

42. Projector phones will enable shared information to be presented to large groups. Mobile phones are currently used to share information such as images on a one to one basis; in the future they will be able to project a large image on a screen to enable sharing with larger groups.

43. Mobile 3D is a likely innovation. As television pictures can now be transmitted to provide a three dimensional experience, it is anticipated that mobile telephone or communication devices will be able to provide a similar experience.

44. By 2020 5G will be available offering up to 1 GB/per second speeds (as opposed to megabyte today). The telecommunication industry target is to make 5th Generation technology available by 2020. This technology, currently under development, is a dramatic step forward in terms of speed and availability inside and outside of buildings. The transformation that will occur as a result of this major enhancement of mobile communications is yet to be fully understood.

45. Mobile computing application growth will accelerate. Increasing awareness and availability of 4G technologies will see increased acceptance and development of mobile applications. The outlook for 5G technologies will further enhance this trend.

The above statements have been analysed to reveal the underlying skills required to fulfil the predictions contained within each statement. The connection with skills is that, skills requirements are not abstract items; they are driven by business imperatives and business change requirements. As previously mentioned, primary research into the skills requirements of technical professional staff, is not readily available, however it is apparent from the PEST analysis, extracted from multiple sources, that business change is inevitable and that this will drive changes to the skills profile of technical professionals within the industry.

The outcome of the skills analysis has been incorporated within table 1 of chapter 4.2.1.

3.2.2. Summary of industry perspective trends

In parallel, with desktop research, interviews were carried out with 32 telecommunication industry stakeholders relevant to the study field. The respondents represented companies and trade unions from across Europe, some having a worldwide market presence. Participants provided their insight and personal perspectives. Respondents were specifically asked about business trends and their responses have been consolidated into the summary that follows.

• Digitalisation was a common theme as respondents highlighted an inevitable move from copper to fibre optic IP based networks. Likewise the convergence of telephone, video, broadcasting and data communication within a single network, was raised by most.

• Common business drivers include a sharp price war between telecommunication providers and the growth in OTT players from Information Technology corporations.

6 Quote from Maribel Lopez, Forbes March 2012

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• Innovative new applications include, e-‐pay, e-‐health, entertainment, the silver economy (older people), specialised TV channels and packaged services that are enhanced by the deployment of big data and cloud solutions. Services and applications once confined to Personal Computers are now increasingly available and demanded on smart phones.

• Business emphasis changes noted are encapsulated in the following sound bites: core business move from voice to data, from monopolism to competition and from telecommunication to innovation. Innovation is a popular concept across many industries and for telecommunications some see it as shift from innovative products to innovative services.

• Business lines are no longer separated but integrated in order to maximise service provision to offer and sell bundled package services, managed service offerings and digital consultancy.

Social partners observed that market pressures are leading to lean organisations with resultant cost and headcount reduction pressures. This is accompanied by the trend towards use of online tools that blur the borders between work and home having an impact on work life management. There is a significant, and as yet, apparently unfulfilled need for employee training and development in work-‐life balance that would benefit individuals and their employers alike.

4. Skills Need Identification

As previously highlighted, PEST analysis provided an overview of the strategic business challenges and potential direction of the telecommunications industry over the next few years. However, the objective of this report is to understand the future skills requirements of the workforce. Given that skill requirements are driven by business direction, analysis of business direction reveals an associated skills outlook. The outcome of this analysis is incorporated in table 1.

Feedback from expert survey respondents also provides an invaluable contribution to understanding future skills requirements. This feedback has also been consolidated and added to table 1.

It should be noted that telecommunications companies operate in a complex and fiercely competitive environment. Company origins have developed from disparate backgrounds and they have different core competences that are reflected by different skills profiles within each company. Furthermore telecommunications companies may focus upon their core capabilities and operate in a particular segment, such as public switched networks, but they will also operate in other market sectors either independently or within an alliance. For this reason the model for each company skills profile will vary considerably. In addition, skills needs do not remain static. Skills acquisition and growth is not typically a stepladder approach but can be more accurately described as attempting to scale upwards on a downward moving escalator.

Industry observers commonly agree that telecommunications technology is moving towards and is aligning with Information Technology, leading to the logical conclusion that the work force skills set will be similarly aligned.

4.1. Skills identification methodology

As highlighted above, two primary sources of information were utilised to identify skills requirements; 1) output from the PEST analysis and 2) structured consultation with experts from industry including, technology departments, social partners and human resource managers. Primary research providing empirical skills data for the skills outlook of the telecommunications

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industry across Europe is extremely limited. However, some data is available from the UK telecommunications industry courtesy of Technology Insights 20127 produced by e-‐skills UK. From this report we can observe changes in telecommunications sector employment numbers over a ten-‐year period.

Using SOC codes8 to identify ‘Telecommunications engineers’ they demonstrate a fall in quantity of 16% over this period and for ‘Line repairers and cable workers’ a fall of 64%. This data supports the overview of a changing industry, resulting in changing requirements for job roles, leading to a change of skill requirements.

Being one of the few papers that identify future telecommunications skills requirements and although it addresses only the UK, its conclusions provide valuable input for consideration.

In summary the Technology Insights report notes that that the nature of skills will continue to change and by taking input from over 4,700 employers (IT and Telecommunications) goes on to identify five cross cutting skill related themes for the future.

• Security Skills • Business Skills • Technology Specific skills • Interpersonal skills • Analytical and research skills

The veracity of these skills clusters, originally related to the e-‐skills UK Technology Insights 2012 primary report was tested against the outcome of the skills extracted from the PEST analysis. The outcome was that matching of the UK based categories and the broader European identified skills proved to be fit for purpose. In consequence, these cross cutting themes have been adopted, within this report, to provide a common structure of skills identified from both the PEST analysis and also the expert interviews. This structure can be found in table 1, chapter 4.2.1.

Given the broadly acknowledged direction of skills requirements moving from a hardware environment to a software environment, the report does not need to rely entirely on research as the Information Technology Industry provides a valuable insight into the nature of technical skills needs from the recently published European e-‐Competence Framework (e-‐CF) version 3.0. The information used to build e-‐CF 3.0 was therefore used, as a further source of information, and enhances table 1.

During industry consultations, interviews with experts were structured into common trends. Respondents were questioned on their views about the main business and technical trends that they perceived from current business experience and day-‐to-‐day work. These observations were grouped by common topics and are provided in an overview that follows.

As a footnote it should be recognised that the structure and pace of change experienced by different companies across different geographies is variable and therefore the feedback is not universally applicable. For example, the speed of conversion from copper to fibre and the penetration of mobile provision differ considerable between nations such as Sweden, Portugal, Germany and France.

4.2. Main skills gaps and challenges

Below is an overview of the research findings; they have been further detailed within the following sub chapter 4.2.1. 7 Produced by and original copyright of e-‐skills UK Sector Skills Council Ltd 2000-‐2012 8 The Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) is a common classification of occupational information for the United Kingdom.

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FROM DESKTOP

• Security skills: Security and data protection have a clear and immediate impact on skills requirements of telecommunications professionals. This is a pervasive issue that from a skills perspective must be addressed by professionals in many different job roles. Cloud computing services raise the issue of data security to new levels. Users need to be confident that their information assets are safe and this requires the deployment of telecommunication professionals who have the competence to give this protection. Security requires the establishment of rigorous processes and procedures that are constantly monitored and updated and relentlessly applied. Examples of these skills include, information security strategy development and information security management.

• Business Skills: Core business skills are increasingly required by ICT professionals and are commonly referred to, in Europe, as a key component for dual thinkers who must combine their technical skills with business acumen, also sometimes labelled as hybrid skills. Lifecycle product development and the solution of real business issues are of increasing importance. Technical skills need to be accompanied by sound business acumen and the ability to bring technical solutions to business problems. Examples of these skills include, customer needs identification, sales management, business plan development and information system / business strategy alignment.

• Technology specific skills: High-‐level technology skills and knowledge are a core requirement of telecommunications professionals. The convergence of voice, data and video demands the skills to install, manage and configure networks and connected devices. Architecture and infrastructure changes, growth in cloud computing and expanding mobile applications all require appropriate technological skills. Technology is at the heart of the telecommunications industry and ICT professional staff needing core technology capability across a broad spectrum of job roles. Examples of these skills include application development, technology trend monitoring and system architecture design.

• Interpersonal skills: As the complexity of telecommunication infrastructure and devices grows so does the need to communicate simply and clearly with customers and suppliers to avoid costly misunderstandings. Despite the importance of interpersonal skills being recognised for many years, employers continue to seek and develop these vital skills to enhance the overall capability of the workforce. Examples of these skills include relationship management and personnel development.

• Analytical and research skills: Analysis is a crucial skill required to link business solutions with appropriate technology. It is necessary to utilise analytical skills to interpret operational data and provide valid management information. Big data drives the need for telecommunication professionals who can build solid data architecture structures. Examples of these skills include information and knowledge management and risk management.

FROM INTERVIEWS

• Management and Leadership is a reoccurring theme, despite the predominance of technology skills within the telecommunications industry sector. One company stated that they need “Great Technical Leaders” others referred to the social capacity to lead and manage innovative teams in flatter project structures, others to lean

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management. This combination of technical capability and leadership qualities is sometimes referred to as e-‐leadership.

• Customer needs Identification; again not a predominantly technical skill, was raised as a requirement by many respondents. Customer insight, in close relationship to product/ services psychology, is seen as an important attribute at both manager and technical expert level in a services industry operating in a competitive environment.

• Copper to Fibre skills is an exclusive requirement of the telecommunications sector that is moving from an analogue past to a digital future. However, there is also a need to retain ‘copper skills’ as networks evolve at different speeds and technicians are called upon to operate in a copper and also a fibre optic environment.

• Multi-‐skilled technicians are a direct follow on, from the previous highlight, with a technical and operational requirement for personnel to be able to service many diverse technologies to end-‐customers in business and private environment. One respondent noted that the luxury of different technical teams performing different tasks was no longer affordable; technicians need to be capable of completing installation or maintenance tasks from end to end.

• Technical know-‐how was, not surprisingly, highly important with a continuous challenge to maintain the currency of knowledge and skills within the technical workforce.

• Behavioural and attitudinal skills including appropriate behaviour against the customer are also highly prized in an industry providing customer service to industry and the general public. Relationship management, project management and team working are important in an environment where management structures are being de-‐layered.

• Hybrid skills were often mentioned. Although respondents and research outcomes identify individual skills, the workplace requirement is for individuals with multiple skills, for example sales with technical knowledge or management with customer relationship capability. The requirement for cross-‐disciplinary skills is a growing requirement in both telecommunication and IT sectors.

• Technology appreciation was raised by some respondents; they pointed out that to design and implement new services it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of new technological capabilities. In one sense this is a specific example of hybrid skills bringing together business analysis and technology skills.

• Innovation across all business units and job functions was another important requirement expressed by respondents. Although not easily defined, innovation and creativity are seen as essential skills in a competitive and rapidly changing technological environment.

The above reflects general trends in answers received, however, it should be noted that the skills perceived as critical are variable and therefore the feedback is not universally applicable. For example, the varying speed of conversion from copper to fibre and the penetration of mobile provision lead to different skills needs across different organisations.

4.2.1 Detailed view of skills needs

Having described the separate sources from which skills information has been collected, the following chart provides a consolidated overview of the critical skills required within the telecommunications industry of the future.

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In table 1 below, 27 skill topics (which could more accurately be described as competences) have been identified and the information tabulated into the five categories (business, security, analytical, technology and interpersonal) adopted from earlier primary research.

The skill topics are further elucidated and detailed by the addition of italic notes that contain a mixture of applicable abilities including competence, knowledge and skills.

Table 1: Predicted critical skills required within the telecommunications industry of the future

Business Security Analytical Technology Interpersonal

Application Development

Integrated development environments (IDE)/ interactive development environments

User interfaces

Web standards

Publishing protocols

Agile development

Mobile applications

Intelligent Building applications


Integrated development environments (IDE) / interactive development environments

User interfaces

Web standards

Publishing protocols

Agile development

Mobile applications

Intelligent Building applications

Big Data

Exploitation (including social networks)

Big Data

Protection from intrusion

Big Data

Applies techniques to manage structured and unstructured data NoSQL

Data mining

Big Data

Use of massively parallel software and servers

Big Data

Creativity & customer understanding

Business Process Management & Transformation

The ability to achieve process optimisation


The ability to achieve process optimisation


M2M (machine to machine)


Creativity

Change Management

Analysis of cost and benefits of business change

Change Management

Analysis of cost and benefits of business change

Change Management

Manages technical updates and improvements to ensure continuity of service

Change Management

Keeping people on board with change

Channel Management

The capability to manage value add retailers to enhance business performance

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Cloud

The ability to take advantage of opportunities presented by cloud computing

Cloud

Provision of a secure environment

Cloud

The ability to apply analytics to the cloud environment

Cloud

SaaS (software as a service)

Cloud

Design/ implementation

LTE-‐SAE (Long-‐term evolution – system architecture evolution)

Convergence

Integration/ interoperability Capability to ensure that disparate systems can communicate and exchange data

Convergence

Integration/ interoperability Capability to ensure that disparate systems can communicate and exchange data

Customer Needs Analysis

Active listening and prioritisation of customer requirements


Proactive risk management


Uses customer needs analysis techniques


Customer Insight

Customer Service Management

Ensuring that systems and processes enhance customer experience

Customer Relationship Management

Maintaining and developing customer loyalty

Digital Marketing

Understanding and application of web technology for marketing

Hybrid skills

Able to apply technical solution to business issue

Hybrid skills

Able to analyse business issue and apply technical solution

Hybrid skills

Able to take business issue and apply technical solution

Multi-‐skilled copper + fibre, fibre + mobile

Fibre last mile

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Integration/ interoperability

Able to ensure that disparate systems are capable of communicating and exchanging data

Copper to fibre

Innovating

Identifies business advantages and improvements of adopting emerging technologies

Innovating


Innovating


Innovating

Flexibility

Leadership

Taking responsibility to guide and support colleagues in a business or technical field

Leadership

Technical awareness

Leadership

Management with social awareness

Lean Management

Applies continuous process improvement techniques to enhance value to the customer

Lean Management

Applies continuous process improvement techniques to enhance value to the customer

Networks

Network Architectures, Interfaces; migration of multiple communications services into a single network;

Standards ensuring operation with multiple end-‐user platforms and evolving communications modes;

Connectivity between fixed and wireless telecommunication networks

Physical networks allowing cellular telephone sets to function with the fixed network infrastructure.

MIMO (multiple input, multiple output)

Mobile 3D

Network broadcasting

Project Management

Prince 2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments)

Project Management

Security pervasive across all activities

Project Management

Technical oversight

Project Management

Delegate tasks and manage team member contributions. Adapted to creative teams with independent thinking and autonomy

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Programing

C NET Java Linux Agile SAP Scrum Open source

Risk Management

Applies good practices, methodologies and standards analysis

Risk Management


Risk Management


Risk Management


Risk Management


Server Management

Capability to optimise and manage servers, by applying patches, software updates and upgrades

Systems Architecture and Protocols

(circuit switching v.s packet switching, multiplexing networks); Transport protocols (e.g. HTTP/TCP IP, etc.)

Access technologies (e.g. analogic, POTS/TACS, ETACS, digital, ISDN, VOIP/GSM, UMTS, etc. Internet, PSTN, ISDN, DSL, Ethernet/GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, LTE)

Lower frequency radio spectrum wireless technologies (cell networks/mobile broadband)

System Engineering

IT Architecture

Technical Support

Provision of technical guidance to technical staff or customers

Outsource Management

Control over the deployment of external human resources

Unit Testing

SQL Agile Java

Web/Internet Development

HTML 5 PHP

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4.2.2. Skills trends, gaps and challenges related to the e-‐CF

The detailed skills findings highlighted in 4.2.1. can be expressed in many ways and at several levels of detail. This is a common issue encountered within the Information and Communication Technology industry and can lead to confusion of the meaning of each skill. As a remedy to this problem, the European Commission supported the creation of the European e-‐Competence Framework (e-‐CF), a structure designed by ICT sector multi-‐stakeholder collaboration under the umbrella of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), to simplify and create a common language for competence articulation in the ICT field. The e-‐CF version 3.0 was published in 2014.9

To aid common understanding of the important skills identified for tomorrow’s telecommunications industry, the following chart provides a translation and link to the e-‐CF so that the findings of this report can be directly linked to the broader Information and Communications Technology (ICT)10 European background.

The first column of the table contains the skill (or competence) identified from research activities and the next column provides a matching e-‐CF descriptor accompanied by the associated e-‐CF skill examples to provide a context and depth of description. In some cases, a final column entry includes an associated knowledge example but only when it helps to clarify the e-‐CF relationship with the identified skill.

Table 2: Telecommunications future skills aligned with e-‐CF Competence descriptors

IDENTIFIED SKILL RELEVANT E-‐CF EXTRACTS

FROM TABLE 1 CORRESPONDENT E-‐CF DESCRIPTOR (DIMENSION 2)

E-‐CF SKILL EXAMPLE (DIMENSION 4)

E-‐CF KNOWLEDGE EXAMPLE (WHEN VALUE IS ADDED)


B.1. Application Development

INTERPRETS THE APPLICATION DESIGN TO DEVELOP A SUITABLE APPLICATION

IN ACCORDANCE WITH CUSTOMER

NEEDS. ADAPTS EXISTING SOLUTIONS BY E.G. PORTING AN APPLICATION TO ANOTHER OPERATING SYSTEM. CODES, DEBUGS, TESTS AND DOCUMENTS AND

COMMUNICATES PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT STAGES. SELECTS APPROPRIATE TECHNICAL OPTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT SUCH AS REUSING, IMPROVING OR RECONFIGURATION OF

EXISTING COMPONENTS. OPTIMISES

EFFICIENCY, COST AND QUALITY. VALIDATES RESULTS WITH USER

REPRESENTATIVES, INTEGRATES AND COMMISSIONS THE OVERALL SOLUTION

S1 EXPLAIN AND COMMUNICATE THE DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT TO THE

CUSTOMER

S2 PERFORM AND EVALUATE TEST

RESULTS AGAINST PRODUCT

SPECIFICATIONS

S3 APPLY APPROPRIATE SOFTWARE

AND/OR HARDWARE ARCHITECTURES

S4 DEVELOP USER INTERFACES, BUSINESS SOFTWARE COMPONENTS

AND EMBEDDED SOFTWARE

COMPONENTS

S5 MANAGE AND GUARANTEE HIGH

LEVELS OF COHESION AND QUALITY

S6 USE DATA MODELS

9 For more information see: e-‐CF website www.ecompetences.eu and CEN website www.cen.eu 10 Information and communications technology (ICT) is often used as an extended synonym for information technology (IT), but is a more specific term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-‐visual systems, which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information. “Information and Communication Technology from. FOLDOC. Retrieved 2013-‐08-‐18.

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S7 PERFORM AND EVALUATE TEST IN THE CUSTOMER OR TARGET

ENVIRONMENT

S8 COOPERATE WITH DEVELOPMENT TEAM AND WITH APPLICATION

DESIGNERS

Big Data

D.10. Information and Knowledge Management

Identifies and manages structured and unstructured information and considers information distribution policies. Creates information structure to enable exploitation and optimisation of information. Understands appropriate tools to be deployed to create, extract, maintain, renew and propagate business knowledge in order to capitalise from the information asset

S1 gather internal and external knowledge and information needs

S2 formalise customer requirements

S3 translate/ reflect business behaviour into structured information

S4 make information available

S5 ensure that IPR and privacy issues are respected

S6 capture, storage, analyse, data sets, that are complex and large, not structured and in different formats

S7 apply data mining methods

K4 challenges related to unstructured data (e.g. data analytics)


A.1. IS and Business Strategy Alignment

Anticipates long-‐term business requirements, influences improvement of organisational process efficiency and effectiveness. Determines the IS model and the enterprise architecture in line with the organisation's policy and ensures a secure environment. Makes strategic IS policy decisions for the enterprise, including sourcing strategies.

S1 analyse future developments in business process and technology application

S2 determine requirements for processes related to ICT services

S3 identify and analyse long-‐term user/customer needs

S4 contribute to the development of ICT strategy and policy, including ICT security and quality

S5 contribute to the development of the business strategy

S6 analyse feasibility in terms of costs and benefits

S7 review and analyse effects of implementations

S8 understand the impact of new technologies on business (e.g. open/big data, dematerialisation opportunities and strategies)

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S9 understand the business benefits of new technologies and how this can add value and provide competitive advantage (e.g. open/big data, dematerialisation opportunities and strategies)

S10 understand the enterprise architecture

S11 understand the legal & regulatory landscape in order to factor into business requirements

Change Management

E.7. Business Change Management

Assesses the implications of new digital solutions. Defines the requirements and quantifies the business benefits. Manages the deployment of change taking into account structural and cultural issues. Maintains business and process continuity throughout change, monitoring the impact, taking any required remedial action and refining approach.

S1 analyse costs and benefits of business changes

S2 select appropriate ICT solutions based upon benefit, risks and overall impact

S3 construct and document a plan for implementation of process enhancements

S4 apply project management standards and tools

Channel Management

D.6. Channel Management

Develops the strategy for managing third party sales outlets. Ensures optimum commercial performance of the value-‐added resellers (VAR) channel through the provision of a coherent business and marketing strategy. Defines the targets for volume, geographic coverage and the industry sector for VAR engagements and structures incentive programmes to achieve complimentary sales results.

S1 choose the best sales channel according to the product or solution being delivered

S2 define discounts according to the competitive environment

S3 select value added retailers based on thorough analyses, plan and make contacts

S4 monitor and supervise channel performances in line with sales forecast and able to define corrective actions if necessary

S5 apply web marketing methods

Cloud

B.4. Solution Deployment

Following predefined general

S1 organise deployment workflow and product roll-‐out activities

K6 web, cloud and mobile technologies and environmental requirements

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standards of practice carries out planned necessary interventions to implement solution, including installing, upgrading or decommissioning. Configures hardware, software or network to ensure interoperability of system components and debugs any resultant faults or incompatibilities. Engages additional specialist resources if required, such as third party network providers. Formally hands over fully operational solution to user and completes documentation recording all relevant information, including equipment addressees, configuration and performance data.

S2 organise and plan beta-‐test activities, testing solution in its final operational environment

S3 configure components at any level to guarantee correct overall interoperability

S4 identify and engage expertise needed to solve interoperability problems

S5 organise and control initial support service provision including user training during system start-‐up

S6 organise population of data bases and manage data migration

S7 collaborate to modify 3rd party code; support and maintain modified software

Convergence

B.2. Component Integration

Integrates hardware, software or sub system components into an existing or a new system. Complies with established processes and procedures such as, configuration management and package maintenance. Takes into account the compatibility of existing and new modules to ensure system integrity, system interoperability and information security. Verifies and tests system capacity and performance and documentation of successful integration.

S1 measure system performance before, during and after system integration

S2 document and record activities, problems and related repair activities

S3 match customers' needs with existing products

S4 verify that integrated systems capabilities and efficiency match specifications

S5 secure/ back-‐up data to ensure integrity during system integration


D.11. Needs Identification

Actively listens to internal/ external customers, articulates and clarifies their needs. Manages the relationship with all stakeholders to ensure that the solution is in line with business requirements. Proposes different solutions (e.g. make-‐or-‐buy), by

S1 analyse and formalise business processes

S2 analyse customer requirements

S3 present ICT solution cost/benefit

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performing contextual analysis in support of user cantered system design. Advises the customer on appropriate solution choices. Acts as an advocate engaging in the implementation or configuration process of the chosen solution.

Customer Service Management

C.3. Service Delivery

Ensures service delivery in accordance with established service level agreements (SLA's). Takes proactive action to ensure stable and secure applications and ICT infrastructure to avoid potential service disruptions, attending to capacity planning and to information security. Updates operational document library and logs all service incidents. Maintains monitoring and management tools (i.e. scripts, procedures). Maintains IS services. Takes proactive measures

S1 apply the processes which comprise the organisation's ICT service delivery strategy

S2 fill in and complete documentation used in ICT service delivery

S3 analyse service delivery provision and report outcomes to senior colleagues

S4 plan and apply manpower workload/requirements for efficient and cost effective service provision

Customer Relationship Management

E.4. Relationship Management

Establishes and maintains positive business relationships between stakeholders (internal or external) deploying and complying with organisational processes. Maintains regular communication with customer/ partner/ supplier, and addresses needs through empathy with their environment and managing supply chain communications. Ensures that stakeholder needs, concerns or complaints are understood and addressed in accordance with organisational policy.

S1 deploy empathy to customer needs

S2 identify potential win win opportunities for client and own organisation

S3 establish realistic expectations to support development of mutual trust

S4 monitor ongoing commitments to ensure fulfilment

S5 communicate good and bad news to avoid surprises

Digital Marketing D.12. Digital Marketing

Understands the fundamental principles of digital marketing. Distinguishes between the traditional and digital approaches. Appreciates the range of channels available. Assesses the effectiveness of the

S1 understand how web technology can be used for marketing purposes

S2 understand user centric marketing

S3 be able to use and interpret web analytics

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various approaches and applies rigorous measurement techniques. Plans a coherent strategy using the most effective means available. Understands the data protection and privacy issues involved in the implementation of the marketing strategy

S4 understand the on-‐line environment

Hybrid Skills

Contained within all e-‐CF categories

A mix of skills that can be combined from skills examples across the e-‐CF

Integration / interoperability

B.2. Component Integration

Integrates hardware, software or sub system components into an existing or a new system. Complies with established processes and procedures such as, configuration management and package maintenance. Takes into account the compatibility of existing and new modules to ensure system integrity, system interoperability and information security. Verifies and tests system capacity and performance and documentation of successful integration.

S1 measure system performance before, during and after system integration

S2 document and record activities, problems and related repair activities

S3 match customers' needs with existing products

S4 verify that integrated systems capabilities and efficiency match specifications

S5 secure/ back-‐up data to ensure integrity during system integration

Innovating

A.9. Innovating

Devises creative solutions for the provision of new concepts, ideas, products or services. Deploys novel and open thinking to envision exploitation of technological advances to address business/ society needs or research direction.

S1 identify business advantages and improvements of adopting emerging technologies

S2 create a proof of concept

S3 think out of the box

S4 identify appropriate resources

Leadership

Lean Management

Leadership in the e-‐CF is described generically as follows;

Respected for innovative methods and use of initiative in specific technical or business areas: providing leadership and taking responsibility for team

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performances and development in unpredictable environments

Networks

Networks are included within the e-‐CF however physical carriers such as copper and fibre are not specifically addressed

Project Management

E.2. Project and Portfolio Management

Implements plan for a programme of change. Plans and directs a single or portfolio of ICT projects to ensure co-‐ordination and management of interdependencies. Orchestrates projects to develop or implement new, internal or externally defined processes to meet identified business needs. Defines activities, responsibilities, critical milestones, resources, skills needs, interfaces and budget, optimises costs and time utilisation, minimises waste and strives for high quality. Develops contingency plans to address potential implementation issues. Delivers project on time, on budget and in accordance with original requirements. Creates and maintains documents to facilitate monitoring of project progress.

S1 identify project risks and define action plans to mitigate

S2 define a project plan by breaking it down into individual project tasks

S3 communicate project progress to all relevant parties reporting on topics such as cost control, schedule achievements, quality control, risk avoidance and changes to project specifications

S4 delegate tasks and manage team member contributions appropriately

S5 manage external, contracted resources to achieve project objectives

S6 optimise project portfolio timelines and delivery objectives by achieving consensus on stakeholder priorities

Programing

B.1. Application Development

Interprets the application design to develop a suitable application in accordance with customer needs. Adapts existing solutions by e.g. porting an application to another operating system. Codes, debugs, tests and documents and communicates product development stages. Selects appropriate technical options for development such as reusing, improving or reconfiguration of existing components. Optimises efficiency, cost and quality. Validates results with user representatives, integrates and commissions the overall solution.

S1 explain and communicate the design/development to the customer

S2 perform and evaluate test results against product specifications

S3 apply appropriate software and/or hardware architectures

S4 develop user interfaces, business software components and embedded software components

S5 manage and guarantee high levels of cohesion and quality

K1 appropriate software programs/ modules

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S6 use data models

S7 perform and evaluate test in the customer or target environment

S8 cooperate with development team and with application designers

Risk Management

E.3. Risk Management

Implements the management of risk across information systems through the application of the enterprise defined risk management policy and procedure. Assesses risk to the organisation's business, including web, cloud and mobile resources. Documents potential risk and containment plans.

S1 develop risk management plan to identify required preventative actions

S2 communicate and promote the organisation's risk analysis outcomes and risk management processes

S3 design and document the processes for risk analysis and management

S4 apply mitigation and contingency actions

Service Management

C.4. Problem Management

Identifies and resolves the root cause of incidents. Takes a proactive approach to avoidance or identification of root cause of ICT problems. Deploys a knowledge system based on recurrence of common errors. Resolves or escalates incidents. Optimises system or component performance.

S1 monitor progress of issues throughout lifecycle and communicate effectively

S2 identify potential critical component failures and take action to mitigate effects of failure

S3 conduct risk management audits and act to minimise exposures

S4 allocate appropriate resources to maintenance activities, balancing cost and risk

S5 communicate at all levels to ensure appropriate resources are deployed internally or externally to minimise outages

Systems Architecture and Protocols

Systems Engineering

B.6. Systems Engineering

Engineers software and/ or hardware components to meet solution requirements such as specifications, costs, quality, time, energy efficiency, information

S1 explain and communicate the design/development to the customer

S2 perform and evaluate test results against product specifications

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security and data protection. Follows a systematic methodology to analyse and build the required components and interfaces. Builds system structure models and conducts system behaviour simulation. Performs unit and system tests to ensure requirements are met.

S3 apply appropriate software and/or hardware architectures

S4 design and develop hardware architecture, user interfaces, business software components and embedded software components

S5 manage and guarantee high levels of cohesion and quality in complex software developments

S6 use data models

S7 apply appropriate development and/or process models, to develop effectively and efficiently

Technical Support

C.1. User Support

Responds to user requests and issues, recording relevant information. Assures resolution or escalates incidents and optimises system performance in accordance with predefined service level agreements (SLAs). Understands how to monitor solution outcome and resultant customer satisfaction.

S1 effectively interrogate users to establish symptoms

S2 analyse symptoms to identify broad area of user error or technical failure

S3 deploy support tools to systematically trace source of error or technical failure

S4 clearly communicate with end users and provide instructions on how to progress issues

S5 record and code issues to support growth and integrity of online support tools

Outsource Management

D.8. Contract Management

Provides and negotiates contract in accordance with organisational processes. Ensures that contract and deliverables are provided on time, meet quality standards, and conform to compliance requirements. Addresses non-‐compliance, escalates significant issues, drives recovery plans and if necessary amends contracts. Maintains budget integrity. Assesses and addresses supplier compliance to legal, health and safety and security standards. Actively pursues regular supplier communication.

S1 foster positive relationships with stakeholders

S2 negotiate contract terms and conditions

S3 apply judgement and flexibility in contract negotiations compliant with internal rules and policies

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Unit Testing

B.3. Testing

Constructs and executes systematic test procedures for ICT systems or customer usability requirements to establish compliance with design specifications. Ensures that new or revised components or systems perform to expectation. Ensures meeting of internal, external, national and international standards; including health and safety, usability, performance, reliability or compatibility. Produces documents and reports to evidence certification requirements.

S1 create and manage a test plan

S2 manage and evaluate the test process

S3 design tests of ICT systems

S4 prepare and conduct tests of ICT systems

S5 report and document tests and results

Web/Internet Development

B.4. Solution Deployment

Following predefined general standards of practice carries out planned necessary interventions to implement solution, including installing, upgrading or decommissioning. Configures hardware, software or network to ensure interoperability of system components and debugs any resultant faults or incompatibilities. Engages additional specialist resources if required, such as third party network providers. Formally hands over fully operational solution to user and completes documentation recording all relevant information, including equipment addressees, configuration and performance data.

S1 organise deployment workflow and product roll-‐out activities

S2 organise and plan beta-‐test activities, testing solution in its final operational environment

S3 configure components at any level to guarantee correct overall interoperability

S4 identify and engage expertise needed to solve interoperability problems

S5 organise and control initial support service provision including user training during system start-‐up

S6 organise population of data bases and manage data migration

S7 collaborate to modify 3rd party code; support and maintain modified software

K6 web, cloud and mobile technologies and environmental requirements

Security

E.8. Information Security Management

Implements information security policy. Monitors and takes action against intrusion, fraud and security breaches or leaks. Ensures that security risks are analysed and managed with respect to enterprise data and

S1 document the information security management policy, linking it to business strategy

S2 analyse the company critical assets and identify weaknesses and vulnerability to intrusion or attack

S3 establish a risk management

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information. Reviews security incidents, makes recommendations for security policy and strategy to ensure continuous improvement of security provision.

plan to feed and produce preventative action plans

S4 perform security audits

S5 apply monitoring and testing techniques

S6 establish the recovery plan

S7 implement the recovery plan in case of crisis

5. Responses from Company Best Practices

Desktop and empirical research undertaken by this study confirms that the telecommunications sector is challenged to maintain and develop the appropriate workforce skills required to face constantly changing business requirements within a highly competitive environment.

However, interaction with companies involved in this research illustrated that many different strategic and operational approaches are deployed to develop a highly skilled labour force.

To provide stimulus for the application of practical solutions to address telecommunications skills challenges, the following chapters provide specific examples of good practice from a variety of companies. An overview of these practices, as described by company representatives, covering the three sub-‐topics of this study, can be found in the annex.

5.1. Recruiting competent talent for the future

With regard to expectations of young recruits, interviewees mentioned the importance of readiness to learn and also geographic mobility, plus flexibility to changing job requirements. Sector affinity (enjoying telecommunications – digital natives), and English plus one or two further national languages, are also seen as important. In one organisation the capacity to integrate into the company culture was stressed, in another, the importance of working in teams, creativity and entrepreneurship.

Many representatives commented that, taking into account, the nature of current skills gaps, the entry age for their company is around 25+ with most preferring graduates with some professional experience. However, Deutsche Telekom, which broadly applies the German VET system, currently employs approximately 3,500 apprentices per annum with an average entry age of around 18. In Sweden a trainee program, around the use of copper and fibre technologies, is specifically designed for an entry age of 18-‐24 years.

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5.1.1. Training new graduates by job rotation: Discovery (Vodafone)

Starting as a small mobile operator in Newbury, England, Vodafone has grown over the past 30 years into a global business with more than 400 million customers. Vodafone today operates in around 30 countries and partners networks in over 50 more.

The Discovery program aims at training new graduates. It is learning by doing for high potential graduate students (master degree in ICT or business administration), based upon job rotation. The participants spend

• 1 month at a dealer shop • 1 month in a call centre • 6 months fulfilling two different assignments in different departments

The Discovery program provides the trainees with i) a wider comprehension of how the company works, ii) an opportunity to learn on the job and acquire different skills, iii) an opportunity to quickly develop an internal network.

During the program the graduates participate in a structured learning program. At the end of the program they are assigned to their final position. Subsequently, they may opt for going abroad for an international experience for one year and they are then considered ready for a managerial position in a business or technical role.

In summary, the program allows new graduates to obtain an excellent training on the job, to develop an early internal network and to gain a comprehensive understanding of how company processes work. In addition, new graduates are encouraged to develop a strong sense of belonging and attachment to the brand.

5.1.2. Supporting a diverse employee structure: Open Mind (Telenor)

Telenor Group is one of the world’s major mobile operators with 176 million mobile subscribers. The Telenor Group has mobile operations in 13 markets and a further 17 markets through ownership of i Vimpel Com Ltd.

Telenor has created the two-‐part program “Open Mind” to support a diverse workforce structure and customer base. The program aims to provide participants with the opportunity to gain valuable experience to strengthen their chances of gaining access to a working life, through relevant work practice and training. The program runs in Telenor Sweden and Telenor Pakistan, the company is currently investigating application of the initiative in Bulgaria.

One element of the Telenor Open Mind initiative consists of a job training program offering people with physical or mental disabilities a unique chance for employment. The program consists of an initial period of three months of computer training and coaching to enable participants to feel more confident and goal-‐oriented. This is followed by 21 months of work training for Telenor. After completing the program, three out of four are offered permanent jobs at Telenor or elsewhere.

Another element of the initiative, named Telenor Open Mind Integration, is for immigrants from outside of Europe but resident in Norway, providing job training in Telenor. Telenor is convinced that a healthy company mirrors the plurality of the job market. Improving inclusion in working life of immigrants who have problems gaining a foothold in the employment market, and getting valuable international experiences and competence in return, makes this a win-‐win situation for employers, participants and society as a whole.

The project is a huge success. By actively embracing workforce diversity, Telenor has benefited by reaching new customer groups. Telenor OpenMInd has broadened the recruitment base and facilitated new and different competences into the workforce.

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Telenor stressed that it is critical when starting such a program that senior leadership is 100% behind the program and that it becomes a part of the business strategy and company culture. Viewing the program as a goodwill gesture will not bring the benefits experienced such as engendering innovation within a creative working environment.

In summary, taking diversity seriously and addressing it in the workplace brings business benefit to the company by helping to better understand customer needs and creating a more innovative environment.

5.1.3. Multi-‐stakeholder collaboration: Trainee program (Ericsson & Skanova)

SEKO, the Swedish Service and Communications Union represent 121,000 members across nine industries and are focused upon working for good wages and conditions of its membership.

Ericsson Local Services is Sweden’s delivery organization for implementation, field and managed telecommunications services. Ericsson LSS carries out assignments in the installation, service and maintenance of fixed and mobile telecommunications networks and fibre networks. Skanova is TeliaSonera’s netcompany fully owned by TeliaSonera. Empower is a service company that builds, installs, maintains and repairs electricity and telecom networks, maintains power plants and factories and delivers ICT solutions. Relacom AB is a leading technology services provider offering strategic solutions to the telecommunications, power and M2M markets. Eltel AB is Northern Europe's leading Infranet company specialising in planning, building and maintaining society's critical electrical and telecommunication networks. The objective of the labour office “Arbetsförmedling” is to facilitate matching between jobseekers and employers. Special priority is given to jobseekers that, for various reasons, experience extra challenges in finding employment.

Engaging the above organisations, a collaborative program was launched against the background of a joint investigation into resource and skills needs, primarily of technicians, engineers and designers. The driving force was the urgent need to replace large numbers of retiring technicians and net designers during a period when the need for new skills was growing.

Despite a need to recruit new employees at various levels of technical expertise into the telecommunications industry, Sweden suffers from relatively high youth unemployment. In the past several companies had tried in various ways to solve the skills shortages relying upon their own resources.

By joining forces it enabled the rapid development of a training program and the appointment of a trainer. The shared goal was to match young unemployed with companies needing employees with new skills.

The six-‐month program aims at teaching both copper and fibre technologies. Whilst the employer and trade union define the training content and suitable candidate profiles, the employment agency identifies appropriate local candidates. An external school is responsible for delivering classroom training. To urgently react to the skills gaps identified, the program was designed and implemented within a few months. Two hundred people were trained in 18 months and approximately 190 of these are employed today.

In summary, cooperation between companies, unions and government agencies is one key to address global competition, together with a serious commitment to quality and excellence. The evolving digital environment requires new roles and skills and multi-‐stakeholder collaboration can support business and employees to succeed in the long term.

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5.1.4. Rapid product development through start-‐ups partnering: Blue Start (Portugal Telecom)

Portugal Telecom is a global telecommunications operator with a diversified business portfolio covering fixed line, mobile, multimedia, data and corporate solutions. The company has a significant presence in Portugal and Brazil and across many international markets such as Angola, Namibia, Cape Verde, East Timor, São Tomé and Príncipe.

The blue start program was instigated by Portugal Telecom to reduce the time to market for innovative products and to complement in-‐house engineering/ product development knowledge and competences with external sources. With many legacy systems and associated system development processes Portugal Telecom recognised the need to become more agile in a fast moving business environment. The solution was to embrace and partner SME start-‐up companies to benefit through synergies of fast and nimble alongside the capability of Portugal Telecom to apply disciplined scalable processes and offer valuable mentoring supported by a marketing capability.

Starting in 2012 the structured program of inviting start-‐ups to work alongside Portugal Telecom, has received over one hundred applications to participate. Two way knowledge transfer and disruptive ‘outside of the box’ thinking have produced richer and more innovative outcomes.

In summary, active collaboration between Portugal Telecom and the engagement of many SME’s has achieved invaluable knowledge and skills transfer that benefits all partners.

5.2. Training and reskilling (particularly 40+)

Several companies interviewed have a relatively aged workforce, and some of them perceived this as a problem, although others not. Early retirement was once a common human resource instrument but the majority of organisations interviewed have now minimised the use of this policy. Many conclude that this is costly and that older employees have valuable experience that needs to be retained. The perception of age being a learning challenge is influenced by the history of the company. For example, it may be speculated that a PSTN businesses moving from copper to fibre would find reskilling an older workforce challenging but this depended, to some extent, on the planned timeframe for technology change. In addition, organisations differ in terms of an embedded learning culture.

Several organisations do not differentiate between age groups when discussing an individual’s readiness to learn, commenting that all learners differ in their preferred learning style, whilst others state that age could have an effect upon willingness to learn new concepts. A more commonly accepted view was the existence of different learner types that should be addressed by offering different learning pedagogy to provide similar learning outcomes, regardless of age.

An interesting trend could be observed in a new, more systematic approach, which deliberately mixes working and learning teams of different age groups to bring mutual benefit to the individuals and the business. The majority of companies interviewed have policies for the internal skills development of their employees, which are directly related to the strategic business plan.

External recruitment is often limited to senior specialist profiles with specific expertise currently not available in the company. As an interesting alternative to the classic options of recruiting, developing internally or outsourcing; a relatively small company specialising in IS Security (100 employees) has just been purchased primarily to fill the skills gaps of a larger corporation.

The following highlights represent interesting good practise in the development and up skilling of the workforce.

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5.2.1. Expert career development: Professional streams (British Telecom)

British Telecom (BT) is a worldwide telecommunications provider based in the United Kingdom employing a total of 90,000 personnel. Represented in 170 countries, BT manages a complex infrastructure of copper and fibre optic integrated networks providing voice, data, video and broadcast television. It is a major supplier of voice, Internet broadband and packaged services.

The transition from a public to private sector company, accompanied by phenomenal technical advances have led to significant challenges in maintaining and developing the skills of the technically orientated workforce. The ever-‐accelerating changes in the skills profile of the workforce are a constant theme to be actively managed. Business and management structures in BT, like many large corporations, are in a constant state of flux as they adapt to meet new business and technical challenges.

To address the skills challenge BT has introduced a new concept of ‘professions’. Technical staff traditionally faces a long-‐term issue that they are unable to progress their careers unless moving into management for which they may not have an interest or the requisite skill set. This is unsatisfactory for both the employee and the company and can result in lost motivation and lost productivity. To address this issue the ‘professions’ consisting of four streams, Technical, Business, Customer Satisfaction and Leadership have been established and faculties within BT, in house, Academy for skills, support each. Career pathways accompany the ‘professions’ so that employees can readily navigate a route through their chosen profession.

In summary BT have made a strategic decision to ‘go back to basics’ and take active steps to manage the careers and skills development of their extensive workforce.

5.2.2. Boost and bind ICT talent: Bologna@Telekom (Deutsche Telekom)

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies, present in around 50 countries and with some 143 million mobile customers, 31 million fixed-‐network lines, and more than 17 million broadband lines. Deutsche Telekom provides fixed-‐network/broadband, mobile communications, Internet, and IPTV products and services for consumers, and ICT solutions for business and corporate customers.

The lack of experts in ICT, the increasing attractiveness of academic training and the need to bind talents were the reasons to implement “Bologna@Telekom”, the part time study program of Deutsche Telekom in collaboration with universities. The naming of the program was deliberately intended to show, that the Bologna process is also running within a corporate human resources environment.

Bologna@Telekom offers different Bachelor and Master part time courses related to business demands. All courses (today 26 Bachelor and Master courses) are suitable to the target group of employed people so that working, learning and living are in balance. A corporate policy, negotiated with social partners, ensures a 50% funding of the tuition fees and 10 days of extra leave per year. So Bologna@Telekom is a programme with co-‐financing of education between employee and company.

Continuous evaluation of the program provides feedback from beginners, experienced students, leaders and graduates providing a complete overview ensuring best quality for the company’s employees.

The main impacts of the programme are, that

• Employees demonstrate extensive autonomy and flexibility to graduate • A low program disruption rate (10%) • 50% of the graduates are also successful in entering the next career step • The overall satisfaction rate is 8 from 10 points

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In summary, Bologna@Telekom is a valuable program to Deutsche Telekom ensuring employability in selected job roles, developing talent, fostering self-‐responsibility of employees and sharing investments in education. It also enhances the lifelong learning aspect of the company’s skills development strategy, enabling continuous development of employees from initial vocational education and training (VET) to a higher education (HE) degree (“from a trainee to a senior expert”).

5.2.3. Formal recognition of competences acquired at the job (TDC)

TDC is the leading Danish provider of telecommunications solutions and Pay-‐TV with market leadership across all segments in the domestic market. In all other Nordic countries, TDC is the main challenger in the Business market.

To recognize learning at work, the company offers employees with lifelong practical experience, but limited formal accreditation, credit for competences acquired on the job. The formal recognition of professional competences and knowledge gained during everyday work, must match the standards of training/education for which the credits are applied. Credits are awarded by the Danish public education system whilst the company provides, funding and time off to complement skills with required courses. This initiative is focused upon technical competences.

In summary, collaboration between public education system and the company enables employees to get their competences acquired at work systematically recognized.

5.2.4. Virtual expert forum: Orange Expert (Orange)

Orange is a major world-‐wide telecommunications operator, present in 30 countries, 12 of them in Europe, the group currently serves more than 236 million clients. Under the brand of Orange Business Services the group provides telecommunication services to multinational companies in 220 countries.

The Orange Expert program includes a set of aims to recognise, enhance and develop workforce technical expertise. Recognising the value of strategic expertise, Orange has created a focused program that identifies and secures the intellectual capital of a group of technological experts. By increasing the visibility of these professionals and focusing on their continued development, the program opens up a new career path to outstanding experts who may choose to avoid a management career. At the same time, Orange aims to spread their knowledge and skills to the wider workforce and to enhance their careers.

The main characteristic of the Orange Expert program is the classification of seven communities composed of 500 internal experts covering strategic domains of the Orange Group. Each of the communities is led by an Orange Expert referent and is sponsored by a top management representative.

For each community, the Orange experts advise the executive committee and give high value-‐added input by making recommendations and providing solutions to complex problems.

The Orange experts hone their skills by interaction with each other and using existing company resources such as development advisors, HR, line management and the Orange Expert Referent. Once or twice a year the experts participate in seminars to exchange information and enhance their leading edge knowledge.

In summary, through the concentration of expertise and identified important technical domains Orange Experts contribute directly to the Group’s strategic plans. The Orange experts provide technical guidance to both executive management and the wider technical workforce.

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5.2.5. Peer to peer coaching: Internal trainer (Telefónica)

With a presence in 24 countries and a client base of over 315 million, Telefónica is a world leader in telecommunications. The company has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America where it concentrates the largest part of its growth strategy.

Combining the ongoing requirement to maintain employee skill levels in a fast evolving technological environment with the need to establish cost-‐effective training plans, Telefónica has developed and implemented a very successful program of skills rotation using highly qualified internal staff as experts to train other employees within the company.

There are many benefits from a number of different perspectives. From the company’s viewpoint, the training is fully aligned to company business strategy and education plans and can be performed in a highly agile way. Employee skills can be updated quickly and when the need occurs. From the employee viewpoint, satisfaction in education experienced has significantly increased with peer-‐to-‐peer training. The opportunity to become an internal trainer provides a development opportunity for technical professionals who become agents and stimulate the company’s overall transformation strategy.

The trainer’s collective is regulated in an agreement between the company and the union and contributes to the continuous evolvement and effectiveness of the training function. Trainer’s activities are defined by three complexity levels (basic, medium, advanced) and by method (classroom presence, e-‐learning and virtual environment). Trainers act as teachers and curriculum content developers. To fulfil the trainer role, professionals are trained in pedagogics and receive additional knowledge development. Focus is given to digital abilities, with training provided in the use of digital tools and web 2.0 functionality.

A global school for internal trainers has been established to consolidate knowledge and information and to facilitate project collaboration using innovate methods including digital learning methodologies.

Today, internal trainers impart 90% of training in Telefónica. Satisfaction ratings for education and training are 8, from a maximum of 10. The contribution of the internal trainer to the company’s digital transformation is very significant with 11,600 trainers worldwide participating in the Global School including the provision of the virtual classroom. The trainers collective in Telefónica Espana consists of 2.000 experts participating in continuous training activities within the classroom, virtual classroom and content development.

In summary, the internal trainer provides a fundamental pillar in the training of Telefónica staff and the establishment of several collective agreements has supported this strategy. New training models, continued training and social learning play a major role in the training of employees and in Telefónica the internal trainer will continue to play a major role for today and in the future.

5.3. Attracting more women into ICT employment

The ICT domain is traditionally male dominated, a fact that most interviewees agree hasn’t changed significantly in recent years. All company and trade union representatives stated that they would like to increase the number of females within the workforce. The motivation is a shared acceptance that an improved gender balance has positive business impact.

In the past, several companies established internally imposed but unachievable target quotas for female employees in technology roles. This has been generally replaced by less rigid policies which now encourage the hiring of female staff and this revised approach is having some impact on gender ratios. However, some organisations are still contemplating how to address the issue. Conversely, a few of the interviewed companies have mature and successful programs in place to maximise the female workforce, including within technology areas. Regardless of the approach

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there was unanimous agreement that, for a variety of reasons, females feel less attracted to technology than males.

Systematic programs are in place in several companies to attract more women into leading positions, not necessarily technology-‐oriented. This is proposed to have a domino effect on all aspects of business including skills development and the recruitment of young talent.

Additionally, an arising opportunity can be perceived, which brings together the expressed need for more female representation with the emerging need of e-‐leaders to influence customer insight, product psychology and other attitude oriented skills needed within the telecommunications industry.

Nevertheless, there is a still strongly perceived need to address gender balance at an earlier stage and the following case “Capital Filles” provides a good example.

5.3.1. Attracting female candidates: Capital Filles (Orange)

Orange is one of the major world-‐wide telecommunications operators. Present in 30 countries, 12 of them in Europe, the group currently serves more than 236 million clients. Under the brand of Orange Business Services the group is a world leader in the provision of telecommunications services to multinational companies.

Feminisation within technical fields is one of the pillars of the group’s gender equality policy, but Orange faces a crucial lack of female candidates. Women represent 36% of the total workforce, but only 13% in the fast growing network activities and 25% in IT or R&D. However, the company is convinced that gender mixed technical teams are a key performance enhancer.

In contrast, girls from underprivileged areas (poor suburbs and rural zones) are more and more frequently left without career opportunities because of cultural factors, lack of role models, negative stereotypes and because they aren’t aware of technical employment opportunities. Yet often the girl’s school academic results are far better than boys.

The program “Capital Filles” was created as to address the above two complimentary problems. During the 3 years of high school, Orange employees explain to targeted audiences that technical fields offer significant career opportunities for women. For this purpose, the company engages with:

• meetings in high schools to understand the business world (seconde – 15 years old) • meetings to discover the opportunities offered by science, technology, engineering, and

mathematics (STEM) topics (première – 16 years old) • in “terminale” (17-‐18 years old), individual mentoring for girl volunteers by a female

employee working in a technical environment (a Capital Filles “godmother”) with 2 objectives : help to successfully pass the baccalaureate exam, design a career with an apprenticeship

In the first year excellent feedback was received from teachers, girls and godmothers. As a result Orange decided to maximise the impact with Orange CEO, Stéphane Richard, personally chairing the initiative. Eight new companies joined the program as it was extended to cover twenty educational regional academies.

The results in 2013-‐2014 included the running 111 workshops, with 587 girls accompanied by a godmother. 25% of 2012 Capital Filles girls started an apprenticeship which is twice more than the French national statistic and it is likely that STEM career starters have been similarly affected.

Companies participating in the initiative found that educational stakeholders changed their perception about the business world and specifically about the partners of Capital Filles. The talent

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pool is gradually increasing, directly from the initiative and as a result of positive publicity. A positive impact on the Godmothers is an increased respect and engagement with their employers.

In summary, Capital Filles is a very powerful program that Orange wants to expand across their footprint, taking into account local conditions. The pilot country is Romania.

5.3.2. Supporting female participation: Global mentor program (Ericsson)

Ericsson is a global telecommunication privately owned company with approximately 116 000 employees worldwide, 22% female and 78 % male. The group management team is composed of 4 females and 10 males.

The global mentor program is one of the initiatives that Ericsson has taken to fulfil the Diversity and Inclusion policy. The Ericsson approach is based upon a commitment and belief that diversity and inclusion enable a networked society, they comment that they recognise the power of their people and recognise that diversity and inclusion make them stronger.

Amongst the diversity policies, the biggest gap was found to be the gender distribution. A goal was set to achieve at least 30% females at 2020.

To reach this target an initiative was started to assign at least one female with higher management potential to a member of the Senior Ericsson Leadership Team, as mentors. This gives the members in the Ericsson Leadership team a personal commitment to the diversity and inclusion program of the company.

In 2013 Ericsson strengthened its approach to diversity by forming a global diversity and inclusion council. The council is comprised of business leaders representing regions, business units and group functions across the company. The role of the council is to review, approve and monitor activities addressing diversity and inclusion. It reports its progress to the CEO and executive leadership team twice a year and the board of directors as appropriate. In addition there are planned to be regional and local level councils mirroring the global agenda, but with local priorities and activities within their scope.

In addition, Ericsson collaborates with a variety of partners such as TechWomen and Girls in ICT to engender the next generation of women in ICT.

In summary, Ericsson is committed to diversity and inclusion enabling the networked society. Diversity and inclusion makes Ericsson a stronger and more successful company.

6. Conclusions and recommendations

Skills need identification and subsequent training and development is not a simple task with a single answer. This is why this research project was developed to explore skills challenges and underlying business issues. The reality is that numerous business variables and infinite employee skill profiles, require detailed analysis and a developed management system to ensure that employees maintain current and projected skills and capabilities to keep pace with ever changing business needs. It is often said that the most important asset that a company possesses is the skills of its workforce. If this is accepted, even partially, then significant attention and investment is required to maintain the value of this asset. Many organisations have excellent examples of good practice in the continuous development of staff as exemplified in this study. The European telecommunications industry as a whole could benefit by sharing these examples and finding a way to continue sharing good practice to their mutual benefit.

A common theme for skills enhancement emanating from discussions with stakeholders is the essential need for co-‐operation, communication and engagement. Although the following five

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recommendations are specific, behind each lies the underlying need to bring different parties together to gain from a mutually beneficial combination of resources and know-‐how. Regardless of organisation size, core business or nationality, working with selected partners is perceived as motivational to employees, productive to employers and capacity building for partners.

6.1. Multi-‐stakeholder engagement

Telecommunication skills development does not take place in isolation. Recruitment sources, education institutions and cultural background influence suitable strategies and approaches to skills development and the likely effectiveness of an education and training pathway. It is often highlighted that there is an apparent disconnect between national education systems and the skills and knowledge required by high tech industry. Counters to this viewpoint are the very positive stories that are available from disparate organisations brought together under the umbrella of a common initiative. These positive and motivational experiences are not only highlighted by good practice shared in this report but also by many from other industries such as engineering, the motor car sector and many more. As an example, within the United Kingdom there are 18 Sector Skills Councils who work with employers, trade unions and educational institutions to define skills needs and skills standards in their industry. Representing industries from construction through to health, they aim to develop high quality skills standards that support productivity and profitable growth.

Collaboration between industry, government, social partners and schools/ college/ universities sharing different but complementary goals is a proven strategy. It is therefore a strong recommendation of this report that multi-‐stakeholder engagement and co-‐operation is continued and expanded at European and National levels to maximise the use of shared resources and knowledge bringing benefit to all parties involved.

See, for examples, 5.1.3. Trainee program from multi-‐stakeholder collaboration (Ericsson & TeliaSonera), 5.2.2. Bologna@Telekom (Deutsche Telekom) and 5.2.3. Formal recognition of competences acquired at the job (TDC), and further examples from the company good practice overview in Annex C.

6.2. Social dialogue

Trade unions have demonstrated their capability to engage with and support the skills development of the telecommunications workforce. Skills partnerships have been formed with social partners as either a collaborating or coordinating body and are featured in several case studies. Components contributing to the welfare of trade union members include job satisfaction and continuity of employment. Employees feel more empowered and in control of their destiny when fully trained to fulfil the requirements of their job role now and in the future.

Social partners often span many organisations and have an overview of good skills practices and knowledge of the apparent skills gaps of their membership. Given their track record, their potential influence and their experience in partnering skills development initiatives, it is a recommendation of this report that consideration is given to continuing and expanding engagement and/or initiation of skills development projects based upon agreed business and individual skills needs.

See, for example, 5.2.5. Peer to peer coaching: Internal trainer (Telefónica), and further examples from the company good practice overview in Annex C.

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6.3. Young talent engagement

Attracting young talent to a technological industry would seem on the face of it a straight-‐forward task, after all young people are at the forefront in using mobile telephones, computers and tablets. However, this familiarity with technology can also bread apathy and an acceptance that the devices they have become used to are readily available and that the ICT industry is boring and only suited to ‘technological freaks’. This negative perception of ICT formed at an early age is difficult to counter in adolescence and is not necessarily gender specific. Within the case studies of this report it can be seen that some organisations have recognised this challenge and introduced programs to introduce young and older school children to a more enlightened view of employment within the telecommunications industry. Lecturing alone does not achieve the desired result, more in depth engagement over a period is required to fully engage and nurture trust between industry mentors and school pupils. A strong recommendation is that if the telecommunication industry is to achieve its aim of employing the best of young talent then it needs to address potential candidates at an early stage and communicate the many varied and interesting roles that exist in the industry.

See, for example, 5.3.1. Attracting female candidates: Capital Filles (Orange), and further examples from the company good practice overview in Annex C.

6.4. Intercompany cooperation

In a fiercely competitive environment the idea of sharing information or know-‐how with other telecommunication companies can appear an anathema. Understandably, protection of intellectual property and plans for product announcement within a fiercely competitive environment mean that cooperation between companies can be viewed with suspicion. However, as many industry sectors have discovered, knowledge, skills and competence are common requirements and by coming together in the field of education they are able to leverage a common perspective to influence government, the education system and each other to common benefit. Again there are good examples in this report of organisations sharing and working together to share knowledge and skills to mutual benefit. Some companies have a well-‐developed internal education and training system that could be deployed by others to facilitate better use of scarce resources.

Consequently, this report recommends that consideration be given to the establishment of a formal cross company association or committee dedicated to the development of telecommunication professional skills development across Europe.

See 5.2.3 Blue Start rapid product development from Portugal Telecom as a prime example, and further examples from the company good practice overview in Annex C.

6.5. Common skills and job profile language

The language of education, skills, knowledge and competence is by no means universal. Confusion often arises when referring to a skill; the way in which different organisations refer to a particular skill will vary between different companies and between companies and educational establishments. There are many ways of differentiating types of skills with terminology such as ‘soft skills’, ‘hard skills’, technical skills, leadership skills, communications skills and many more possible categories. This is further complicated by the use of industry specific terminology such as ‘copper or fibre skills’. It is easy to underestimate the outcome of this lack of clarity when using terminology that is familiar to one party but misunderstood by another.

When organisations co-‐operate in specific projects they expend time and energy communicating and ensuring that they are working together to achieve common aims. This can be seen when

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companies engage with particular colleges or schools and they are forced to come to a common understanding on the type of education or skills development required.

A potential solution to the use of disparate terminology is the adoption or creation of an industry specific skills management structure such as the European e-‐Competence Framework. The report authors are not suggesting that the e-‐CF is the only tool that could be used in this capacity merely that it provides an example for consideration and it is recommended that a tool is selected or developed to bring clarity to skills needs within the telecommunication workforce. Furthermore the creation of a shared definition of relevant telecommunication role profiles, similar to the European ICT Professional Profiles11 based upon the e-‐CF, may be a valuable construct.

See 4.2.2. Detailed skills related to the e-‐CF for more detail.

11 See: www.ecompetences.eu / ICT Profiles

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Annex A: Reports used in conducting the PEST analysis The reports and primary sources used in conducting the PEST analysis include but are not exclusive to:

• Employer Skills Survey (City University Business School 2000 -‐ Note background

information) http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/15170

• Technology Insights 2012 (e-‐skills UK 2012) https://www.e-‐skills.com/research/research-‐publications

• What Skills And Jobs Are Hot In Telecommunications (Telco Exec 2013)

http://telcoexec.com/insights/recruitment/item/379-‐what-‐skills-‐and-‐jobs-‐are-‐hot-‐in-‐telecommunications/379-‐what-‐skills-‐and-‐jobs-‐are-‐hot-‐in-‐telecommunications

• 2020 Vision The Decade Ahead (Telecoms.com 2014)

http://www.telecoms.com/17954/2020-‐vision-‐the-‐decade-‐ahead/

• Telco 2015 (IBM Global Services) http://www-‐304.ibm.com/easyaccess/fileserve?contentid=190711

• Telecom Industry Trends In The Next Decade – (Huawei 2010)

http://www.huawei.com/en/about-‐huawei/publications/communicate/hw-‐080991.htm

• Reshaping Telco Organisation To Meet The Industry’s new Challenges (McKinsey & Co 2011) http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mckinsey.com%2F~%2Fmedia%2Fmckinsey%2Fdotcom%2Fclient_service%2FTelecoms%2FPDFs%2FReshaping_telco_organizations.ashx&ei=rWl7U8TkOITfOePzgaAG&usg=AFQjCNG5Pam1sv9ZNWzB1r08RTX70BXUWg&bvm=bv.67229260,d.ZWU

• ETNO Response To European Commission Green Paper (ETNO 2013)

https://www.etno.eu/home/positions-‐papers/2013/276

• The New Deal Driving Investment In Europe’s Telecoms Infrastructure (McKinsey & Co 2012) http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mckinsey.com%2F~%2Fmedia%2Fmckinsey%2Fdotcom%2Fclient_service%2Ftelecoms%2Fpdfs%2F05_a%2520new%2520deal_driving_investment_in_europe_telecoms_infrastructure.ashx&ei=m2p7U__4Eon8OerTgKgF&usg=AFQjCNGUXRTccNP_ldVJaduUp3_gwqmfew&bvm=bv.67229260,d.ZWU

• Mobile, Social And Cloud Change The Future Of Telecom (Forbes 2012)

http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml

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Annex B

FITS: Filling the ICT skills gap in the Telecommunications sector of the future

QUESTIONNAIRE

A. General:

1. Company headquarters location:

2. Company geographic coverage:

3. Core business areas (by relative weight %):

• Public Switched Network (PSTN) provider

• Cellular Mobile Network provider

• Internet Service Provider (ISP)

• Other Services Provider

4. N° of employees:

5. N° of employees working in ICT Professional functions:

6. Position of interviewee:

Note on privacy: Are we allowed to mention your company by name in the FITS project report?

• Yes, you can mention me in direct relationship to best practice documented • Yes, you can mention the company generally in the acknowledgement part • Please treat fully confidentially and keep the company name anonymous

B. Skills today and for the near future

1. What are the main business and technical trends that you observe in your business core

area?

2. What are the most critical skills gaps and skills mismatches to be addressed for the ICT Professionals within your company today?

3. Do you see challenges in closing them? If so, which ones?

4. How do you think digital technologies will influence the future of the telecommunication industry?

5. How do you expect, technology changes, to effect skills requirements?

6. Considering the new digital trends, how relevant now and in the near future are technological versus managerial/ business skills?

7. What strategies are you undertaking to obtain the required balance between technical/ managerial skills? Examples are training, recruiting, outsourcing ….

8. Are there strategic and operational approaches to fill the future skill gaps that you find worthy of sharing as good practice?

9. About Human Resources Planning

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a. What approaches are taken to compare existing and future skills?

b. Are you using frameworks or other structured approaches? Which ones?

c. Would an overarching framework commonly used across ICT stakeholders help development and recruitment

10. Do you collaborate within external partnerships to ensure a competent workforce? If so, what do you find worthy of sharing as good practice?

C. Recruiting competent talent for the future

1. What percentage of new emerging skills required are;

• Recruited externally %

• Developed internally %

• Outsourced %

2. Do you have company-‐internal strategies/ initiatives to enable recruitment of competent talent for the future and would you regard this as worthy of sharing as good practice?

3. What are the KPI’s that you apply to measure success?

4. What do you expect from young recruits (language, mobility, ….)?

D. Retraining and reskilling existing employees, particularly an older workforce

1. Which age distribution applies to your company/ ICT Professional workforce? (rough percentage)

a. 18+

b. 30+

c. 40+

d. 50+

2. What are your company-‐internal strategies to retrain and reskill at work, particularly staff 40+?

3. What KPI’s do you apply to measure success?

4. Do you think that “traditional” training is a good solution or do you plan or practice different and innovative ways of training and learning? Which changes do you see in reference to such methodology changes? (f2f, eL, social Learning, mobile learning, informal learning,…).

5. What challenges do you see in the acceptance of new learning methods?

6. Does age play a part in people’s readiness to learn?

7. Does training need to be adapted for different age groups, for instance older people?

E. Supporting females to undertake technical training and reskilling whilst at work

1. What percentage of females do you have in your company/ ICT Professional functions?

2. Do you have company wide/ ICT Professionals specific gender equality policy and related strategies that aim to increase the current percentage of women in your workforce?

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3. Do you have successful company-‐internal initiatives supporting females to undertake technical training and reskilling whilst at work?

4. What KPI’s are applied to measure success?

5. Do you have work-‐life balance policies inside your organisation?

To FITS project group external interviewees:

I am interested in receiving the FITS final project report YES / NO.

I am interested in being invited to the FITS final conference

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Annex C: Overview of company best practice

Interaction with telecommunication companies and trade unions involved in this research illustrated that many different strategic and operational approaches are deployed to maintain and further develop a highly skilled labour force.

To provide stimulus for the application of practical solutions to address telecommunications skills challenges, the following provides an overview of good practices as described by company representatives, covering the three sub-‐topics of this study.

1. Good practices on recruiting competent talent for the future

• Work on brand image from internships to enhanced external image (Deutsche Telekom, TDC, Orange)

To compare favourably with recruitment competitors from ICT brands such as Google, IBM and SAP, for example, by using existing employees as ambassadors.

• Trainee program supported by the development of multi-‐stakeholder collaboration between the employer, trade union, employment agency and an external education facility (Ericsson)

This program was created to fill the retirement gap and to attract young people to the sector, leveraging upon multi-‐stakeholder collaboration. The six month program aims at teaching both copper and fibre technologies.

• Development of Talent Pipelines for volume positions (Deutsche Telekom, TDC, Telefónica)

• Use of Linked in (several companies)

• Discovery (Vodafone)

A learning by doing program for high potential graduate students (master degree in ICT or business administration), based on “job rotation”. Participants start in a shop, followed by a call centre and then in the department where they will start to work, but in a different office. Finally students start working in the office originally designated when recruited. Subsequently successful students can opt to go abroad for a one-‐year international experience preparing them for a future management position.

• Talentum (Telefónica)

Talentum globally seeks to ensure that the company recruits young people through a variety of entry routes including Internship programs, graduate programs, apprenticeships and students from the dual education system in Germany. The Talentum program dedicated to younger talent aged under 30, is regarded as an important investment in the company’s future.

• Fibre plan (Orange)

The Fibre plan (“Plan fibre”) was launched in 2014 to close the skills gap: 1000 young people are to be recruited and trained to work in the company. Passing experience from older to younger employees is an important part of the concept. The work and training contract is signed between the partner university, Orange and the young recruit.

• Think Big Schools (Telefónica)

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The Think Big Schools Programme is a work skills day for young people 14 – 18. It’s about generating ideas to help solve community issues. The delegates work in teams within a business working environment. They undertake various roles for example, graphic or a product designer using technology to bring their ideas to life. The activity is primarily an application (‘App’) development exercise that encourages young people to think how they present and communicate their ideas. The focus is on developing competences, looking at key business skills such as creative thinking, teamwork, digital skills, producing content, and presentation of ideas.

Over the next three years 50,000 young people across Europe between 14-‐18 will take part in Think Big School; 12,000 within the U.K. The programme provides young people with a new type of work experience based on practical business and digital skills, run by O2 employees on O2 sites.

• SAPO Codebits attracting talent (Portugal Telecom)

Portugal Telecom manages the development of SAPO, the largest web project in Portugal that requires a technical team with above average leading edge skills. To support finding and recruiting suitable staff, a technology event was established called SAPO Codebits; an intensive 3-‐day (24hours a day) event for programmers, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs of the web world. The event is free but subject to approval based upon a personal resume and a limit of 1000 attendees. Attendees participate in a very special experience with talks, workshops and a 48 hour coding event. Participants are exposed to SAPO’s top technical team and this serves as an attraction to join the team but also from Portugal Telecom perspective, an opportunity for early recruitment assessment.

2. Good practices on training and reskilling (particularly 40+)

• Expert career development: ‘Professional streams’ (British Telecom)

To address the skills challenge BT has introduced a new concept of ‘professions’. Technical staff traditionally faces a long-‐term issue that they are unable to progress their careers unless moving into management for which they may not have an interest or the requisite skill set. To provide an alternative route, the ‘professions’ consisting of four streams, Technical, Business, Customer Satisfaction and Leadership have been established and faculties within the BT, in house, Academy for skills, support each. Career pathways accompany the ‘professions’ so that employees can readily navigate a route through their chosen profession.

• Learning on the job, coaching on learning process (Deutsche Telekom)

The company is working with learning coaches to support reflection of learning and definition of learning aims. The coaches are more pedagogic than technically oriented and support the employee in creating a basis of learning consciousness. Questions raised include, how do I find information and knowledge when needed, in a continuously evolving working environment?

• Master “m ICT Technology and Innovation“ (TDC)

The master program launched by the company in cooperation with university (Aalborg University) was initially addressed only to TDC, the company invited other companies to join and would like to see 50/50 participation.

• “Growth“ Initiative (TDC)

Within the "Growth" initiative, 18 people in managerial and top strategic key positions of the company meet to develop new product ideas and to provide a strategic lead in

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innovation. This year a strategic link was established between the master program participants (who are more technically oriented) that led to a seminar with the growth team.

• Ongoing training with use of blended learning (TDC)

Employees in TDC are trained and reskilled on an ongoing basis to take care of daily operations/tasks. Technical competences are the focus area, as new technological solutions and tools are constantly being introduced. The company combines internal education/on-‐the-‐job training with external courses, training and education and certification.

• Recognition of competences acquired at the job (TDC)

To recognize learning at work, the company offers employees with lifelong practical experience, but limited formal accreditation, credit for competences acquired on the job. Credits are awarded by the Danish public education system whilst the company provides, funding and time off to complement skills with required courses. This initiative is focused upon technical competences.

• Blue start rapid product development (Portugal Telecom)

The blue start program sets out to achieve close collaboration with small start-‐up companies to bring ‘out of the box thinking’ and enhanced innovation to their development process. The outcome was an invaluable knowledge and skills transfer that benefitted all partners.

• Virtual expert forum (Orange)

To provide experts with an opportunity for promotion outside of the classic management route, a virtual expert forum was created. Dedicated to specialisms such as Security, Architecture or Networks the forum facilitates information exchange. Recognition of an expert within the community can lead to a career promotion. The forum also generates a positive team spirit with experts enjoying a sense of comradeship.

• Peer to Peer coaching – skills rotating – „Profesor interno“ (Telefónica)

Telefonica has established a mature and successful system of rotating skills by deploying internal trainers. Most are aged 40+ employees who receive pedagogic training qualifying them to become an internal trainer. Internal training has proved to be more successful than external training courses resulting in a pool of 2.000 internal trainers only in Spain. To retain the status of an internal trainer, at least one training course per year must be performed. The increase in use of internal courses has led to increased quality and reduced costs.

• Customer orientated training for technicians is firmly focused on the skills changes required to move from copper to fibre (TeliaSonera)

• Mixed Age work and learning teams – systematic approach to streaming (British Telecom)

Mutual mentoring and learning between young and older employees is a feature of the company’s learning culture. Experience has shown that enhanced learning occurs, for all age groups, when young and old are encouraged and facilitated to share knowledge either in the classroom or more importantly in the workplace.

• Interdisciplinary work and learning teams – systematic approach to enhancing “Dual thinking” (Vodafone)

As an answer to the increased need for dual thinking and the combination of diverse competences (e.g. technical development know-‐how with customer insight and needs

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identification), the company deliberately constructs work and on-‐the-‐job learning teams with individuals having mixed skill and competence profiles.

• Mon itinéraire – my way (Orange)

The online tool, internally available to Orange employees, provides interactive information regarding current job positions, skills and training needs, courses available and current job offers, so that employees can take control of their own destiny.

• Manager training (Telefónica)

This program trains managers to become a social expert/ consultant and supports leading of teams in a more open working environment.

• Telenor Academies (Telenor)

This initiative brings high-‐level experts together to facilitate network and awareness building, shadowing, and the development of a living community of experts. It is a successful retention tool as experts enjoy the recognition they feel when meeting colleagues at similar levels of excellence.

• Talent Fair (Telenor)

The company’s Chief Officers participated in a structured workshop with their best experts. The outcome exceeded expectations and more than 30 assignments were identified that addressed new business requirements.

• Move to more web-‐based training (Telefónica)

This project involved exploitation of digital learning, using an Adobe connect provision to enable an internal trainer to link live with 120 students. The benefits were that the learning paradigm changed with students being able to collaborate and support each other rather than a one channel connection between the teacher and student.

• Bologna@Telekom (Deutsche Telekom)

This relates to part time study courses, financed equally by the company and employee. In 2009 the company commenced a program of part time study courses to expand the breadth of academic training offerings and support the employees learning journey. Employees can apply for a study course from a selected portfolio on passing a selection process, Deutsche Telecom pay 50% of the tuition fees and offer 10 days extra leave per year. 700 employees in Germany have participated in Bologna@Telekom.

• Talent Management (Portugal Telecom)

Portugal Telecom has structured a formal program to nurture the personal development of selected employees. Candidates for the program are selected initially from the company’s employee performance assessment process and if recognised, as having either 3rd line manager or higher technical capabilities, are entered into the advanced training program. This continuous specialist development includes participation at an assessment centre and company funded advanced educational programs such as MBA or Masters degrees. The talent management program has succeeded in attracting and preserving the very best talent.

3. Good practices on attracting more women into ICT employment

• Directed Career Consulting (Deutsche Telekom)

Recently, the company were successful in encouraging young female talent to join their workforce by exploiting the German dual Higher Education Program. The company

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suggested that some females might amend their choice of subject by moving from a non-‐technology orientated subject to a similar topic with a technology component (e.g. from economic sciences to business informatics).

• Global Mentor program (Ericsson)

The company has instigated a mentor program involving their global leadership team (GLT). Each GLT member is expected to mentor and support the career development of a higher management potential female.

• International women day (Ericsson)

This day celebrated in March included activities from around the world.

• “Girls in ICT” (Ericsson). The company actively looks to employ women.

• Employer branding (Orange)

Since March 2013, a new campaign focused on workplace equality has been broadly deployed on ‘Orange Jobs’, the career website of the company. The campaign visual has also been published in several local and international newspapers.

• “Capital Filles“ (Orange)

Collective workshops and one to one tutoring sessions are organized for female students from technical or professional-‐oriented high schools. The aim is to introduce girls to the wide range of jobs and activities available in a telecommunications environment. Volunteer female mentors, help to shape young female career plans. So far, 36 high schools and 438 female mentors have participated in the project.

• Code for best practise (Orange)

The code for best practise adopted by the company includes four principles; equal pay for woman, women in leading positions, women in technology jobs and work-‐life balance.

• Self-‐commitment to KPI’s (several companies, e.g. Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson)

In this specific example, the target is to achieve a 30% representation of females in management by 2015. As a consequence, Ericsson has established a rule that if equally qualified candidates, of different genders, apply for the same leading position, then the female will be given preference.

• Equality plan (Telefónica)

The company conducted an internal audit in 2012 and the results led to an "equality plan". Three main actions were targeted to address, the presence of women in leading positions, the presence of women in technology and the recognition that women take more responsibility for the family than men.

• Specific support to women returning to work in the ICT area after maternity leave (anonymous). This support includes, for example, reduced and family friendly work time and not expecting 100% delivery performance in the first few weeks of re-‐integration.

• Women in leadership program (several companies, e.g. Ericsson, Telefónica)

The program is dedicated to increasing female presence, in leading positions; importantly this direction is supported at board level.