Written by Nick Johnson, Head of UKTIN, for Business and Industry.co.uk as part of the Guardian's Digital Transformation Campaign.
Leading a telecoms startup has striking similarities to raising a family. From a baby’s first steps to your first customer, there are many parallels.
It takes a village to raise a child, and any sensible business leader would tell you the same: without collaboration, taking a product to market is incredibly difficult — and almost impossible. Product companies such as Apple may design their chips, but they invariably partner when it comes to manufacturing. It’s just too hard to do everything well.
Friction in relationships damages UK telecoms
Partnerships themselves can be tricky. Like families, everyone thinks they can do what you do — and naturally, this can cause friction in relationships: every link in the chain is fraught with the danger that the chain will be remade without you in it.
Delivering telecom innovation is a huge task. The sector is known for being complex; and customers, understandably, only expect the best. Indeed, the need for organisations to embrace advanced connectivity and digital solutions has never been greater — to operate more efficiently, deliver more effective services, become more agile, reduce risk, ensure worker safety and manage energy consumption.
When partnerships misfire in the world of telecoms, everyone suffers: an unstable or fractious supply chain can throttle the extent to which organisations can realise their digital transformation ambitions.
We’re bringing together the whole of the UK telecoms sector in a way that hasn’t been done before.
How to transform your UK telecoms business
Thankfully, the UK Telecoms Innovation Network is here to help. Publicly launched in April 2023, we aim to support an effective pipeline of innovation and capability. We’re bringing together the whole of the UK telecoms sector in a way that hasn’t been done before — enabling new partnerships, helping to smooth frictions and ensuring companies can access funds to conduct research and develop new solutions.
We believe a thriving telecoms ecosystem will put UK organisations in the strongest position to embrace the power of digital, benefiting our economy and our society.
