Challenge:
Truphone’s roots were associated with a very early-market innovative travel SIM card proposition, offering low-cost roaming to travellers but this offered limited scope for organic growth. With a change in strategic direction, initiated by the founder, and new leadership being appointed, Truphone needed to enhance its operational capabilities to support expanding into new markets, whilst capitalising on its core network and relationships with local mobile operators to offer primary, rather than secondary, mobile services to consumer and enterprise customers.
Truphone’s related challenge was to secure additional investment, requiring demonstratable evidence of top-line growth supported by reliable systems, business operations, repeatable processes and governance.
Solution:
Piran was appointed to provide interim programme management support. The role included strategic programme management working closely with the executive management team, plus the day-to-day management of the billing and operational sub-system development activities, customer care, operations, and project management teams.
During this time, we put in place new light-weight governance arrangements, appropriate for Truphone’s innovative culture, establishing a programme management office to co-ordinate delivery activities and the regular reporting of progress, risks and issues.
A product gate process was also put in place to ensure new business and consumer-focused products and services had organisation-wide buy-in, with established checklists and deliverables per gate, with the objective of reducing the time to launch new markets.
Outcome:
During Piran’s engagement, Truphone launched new MVNOs and product offers in multiple markets including Australia, Spain, Netherlands and Hong Kong, and entered into a strategic relationship with an Indian mobile operator.
Truphone subsequently obtain significant investment from the Minden Fund backed by R.Abramovich.
