Andrew has been with Telstra for ten years. Before taking on his current role four years ago he ran Global Accounts for Telstra International along with Sales and Marketing in the USA for Telstra Inc.
He brought significant industry experience to Telstra, having previously worked as Director of Sales Operations and Regional Vice President of Sales for Prism Communication services; worked for Nortel managing the relationship between Nortel and SBC through the acquisition of Pacific Bell and SNET; and prior to that held multiple sales and sales management positions with Nynex Meridian Systems.
Married with two children, Andrew is a member of USAT (USA Triathlon) and enjoys fitness, competition and travel.
What is your role at Telstra International?
As President and CEO of Telstra Inc – the Americas region of Telstra International – I am responsible for the Telstra business in North and South America. The team in the USA is spread across the country but the majority are based in our corporate HQ in the Trump Tower on Wall Street in New York City.
What are the key challenges you currently face?
There is a perception that large global providers or Integrators can create cost savings or efficiencies for Multinational Corporations (MNCs) with ‘whole of IT’ outsourcing offers; these include not only WAN but also a host of other IT and managed services. What we are hearing from customers is that these outsourcing deals aren’t delivering what is promised. The biggest challenge we currently face is fighting the perception that these providers are trying to create in the market. WAN services are at the core of an MNC’s IT strategy and these outsource deals tend to minimize the importance of it. The WAN and the management of the network is where we offer the greatest value to our customers. Fighting the perception of commoditization of the WAN is a tremendous challenge. With any challenge comes opportunity though. We are able to win a lot of MNC customers at the end of those outsource agreements once they have lived through the pains associated with letting go of control of their own IT infrastructure.
What do you think will be the biggest changes affecting the industry over the next few years?
The next 12 months will see further industry consolidation due to stalled economic recovery and erosion of the wire line market, resulting in the emergence of ‘cellco’ dominance. Over the next three years I believe that all global communications services will evolve to on-demand usage-based and alternative charging models, based on the cellco style and cloud services. The challenge for carriers is converting what are fixed costs to us into a usage-based service.
What are your trend predictions for the next year?
As MNCs become more comfortable with cloud-based services, the MNC WAN space will see continued price pressure, along with greater security outsourcing. Fixed-mobile convergence will become a reality with the emergence of global and regional cellcos and MVNOs.
In addition, Ethernet-based WAN services will evolve rapidly through state sponsored broadband initiatives and local access fibre builds. The maturation of Ethernet interoperation standards will cultivate partner-based global/regional WAN solutions, which in turn will gain acceptance by MNCs.