Telkom’s Dr Mmaki Jantjies on driving innovation in an evolving digital age

Summary

In this episode of 'Real World Strategy Dialogues', Heather Orton interviews Dr. Miky Yanis, the Group Executive for Innovation and Transformation at Telkom. They discuss maintaining growth amidst challenges in the information and communications sector. Dr. Yanis shares insights on leveraging innovation for resilience, Telkom's R&D initiatives with universities, and the importance of digital inclusion. She emphasizes the social impact of their work, supporting education, and empowering communities, highlighting the company's commitment to innovation and talent development for a more inclusive South Africa.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The importance of resilience in business is highlighted, especially in the face of unpredictable challenges like infrastructure failures and skills deficit.
• 💡 The establishment of an Innovation office at Telcom post-pandemic to drive future-looking strategies and leverage innovation for business renewal.
• 🤝 Telcom's long-standing R&D partnerships with South African universities, fostering a collaborative approach to technological advancements, including AI.
• 🏆 The celebration of 25 years of Telcom Research Centers of Excellence, emphasizing the company's commitment to academic collaboration and talent development.
• 🌟 Dr. Miky Yanis's role in driving strategic growth through research, development, and innovation, including her leadership in digital inclusion for women.
• 🚀 Investment in SMEs and the development of products like 'Ease', which focuses on translation and transcription in South African languages for improved customer service.
• 🤖 The integration of AI in various customer-centric solutions, such as chatbots, to adapt to the evolving needs of a diverse customer base.
• 🏆 Recognition of the social impact of Telcom's innovation, supporting education and community development, and empowering SMEs for broader economic growth.
• 📚 The full lifecycle support of education within South Africa through Telcom's initiatives, from high school programs to postgraduate support.
• 💼 Strategic imperatives for success include nurturing talent, fostering a culture of innovation, and being customer-centric in business practices.
• 🧘‍♀️ Personal strategies for navigating significant responsibilities involve leveraging community support and collaboration, which aligns with South African values of unity and collective progress.

Q & A

What is the main theme of the 'Real World Strategy Dialogues' episode featuring Dr. Miky Yanis?

The main theme of the episode is maintaining growth in a constantly changing environment within the Information and Communications sector.

What challenges has the Information and Communications sector faced recently according to the episode?

The sector has faced challenges such as infrastructure failures like undersea landslides or load shedding, skills deficit, and the need for local and international investments.

What role does the Innovation office at Talcom play in the company's strategy?

The Innovation office at Talcom was established to help the business leverage innovation to look forward to the future and address key challenges, ensuring the company remains relevant.

How does Dr. Miky Yanis describe the importance of the Innovation office's structure and technologies?

Dr. Yanis emphasizes the importance of the Innovation office's structure and technologies by highlighting its collaboration with South African universities and investments in SMEs to produce products like 'Ease', which focuses on translation and transcription in South African languages.

What is the significance of Telcom's partnership with South African universities in terms of R&D?

The partnership has resulted in the Telcom Research Centers of Excellence, which have been funding and working with academics on key technology issues for over 25 years, contributing to the development of the Telco landscape.

How does Telcom's investment in SMEs reflect its commitment to the country's economic growth?

Telcom's investment in SMEs, having worked with over 2,600 of them, shows its belief in SMEs as the backbone of the country, creating employment opportunities and fostering innovation.

What is the product 'Ease' and how does it relate to Telcom's use of AI?

The product 'Ease' is a result of Telcom's partnership with an SME and its data science team. It focuses on translation and transcription, particularly for South African languages, showcasing Telcom's use of AI to enhance customer service.

What initiatives has Telcom taken to support education and skill development in South Africa?

Telcom has invested in educational interventions in math and science, supported honors, Masters, and PhD graduates through its centers of excellence, and offered undergraduate merities, contributing to the full life cycle of the education system in the country.

How does Dr. Miky Yanis view the role of talent and culture in driving innovation at Telcom?

Dr. Yanis believes that innovation demands great talent and a culture that supports and encourages out-of-the-box thinking. She highlights the importance of HR initiatives like design thinking courses and the restructuring of the organization's culture to align with the company's goals.

What personal guiding principles does Dr. Miky Yanis employ to navigate her significant responsibilities?

Dr. Yanis relies on her passion for empowering South Africans, the support of her community, and the principle of collaboration, which she believes is key to achieving impact both personally and professionally.

How does the 'Telom Lion Den' initiative contribute to fostering a culture of innovation at Telcom?

The 'Telom Lion Den' is an innovation challenge that allows staff members to pitch their ideas to the CEOs of the businesses. It disrupts the traditional culture and empowers employees to contribute to the company's innovation efforts.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Maintaining Growth in ICT Sector

The fourth episode of 'Real World Strategy Dialogues' hosted by Heather Orton on Busch discusses the challenges and strategies for maintaining growth in the Information and Communications sector. The guest, Dr. Miky Yanis, Group Executive for Innovation and Transformation at Talcom, shares insights on leveraging innovation for future readiness. Key topics include overcoming infrastructure issues, addressing skills deficits, and securing investments. Dr. Yanis highlights the establishment of the Innovation office post-pandemic to drive strategic growth through R&D and innovation initiatives, emphasizing the importance of resilience in uncertain times.

05:01

🤖 Leveraging AI for Digital Inclusion

In this segment, the dialogue focuses on Telcom's strategic approach to innovation, particularly in artificial intelligence, to ensure digital inclusion and address societal challenges. Dr. Yanis discusses the company's long-standing R&D relationships with South African universities, the establishment of Telcom Research Centers of Excellence, and investments in SMEs. She mentions the development of a product called 'Ease' for translation and transcription in South African languages to improve call center services. The conversation also touches on internal innovation challenges that encourage staff to propose customer-centric solutions, many of which involve AI, reflecting a commitment to adapt to customer needs and contribute to social and economic development in South Africa.

10:02

🌟 Social and Economic Impact through Innovation

The conversation delves into the social impact of Telcom's initiatives, emphasizing the company's role in education and talent development. Dr. Yanis outlines the success of partnerships with universities that have led to the graduation of thousands of students, the support of SMEs, and the Telcom Foundation's educational interventions in math and science. She also discusses the importance of talent and culture in driving innovation, the introduction of design thinking courses, and the restructuring of the organization to align with customer-centric innovation. The segment concludes with a personal reflection on the guiding principles that drive Dr. Yanis in her role, focusing on empowering South Africans and ensuring that services and innovations are inclusive and relevant to the average citizen.

🧘‍♀️ Balancing Personal and Professional Life

In the final paragraph, the discussion turns to the personal side of strategy, exploring how Dr. Yanis maintains balance amidst her significant responsibilities. She emphasizes the importance of community support, including family and friends, in achieving personal and professional goals. Dr. Yanis shares the African idiom about the power of collective effort and how it has influenced her approach to collaboration and innovation. The conversation concludes with a reflection on the importance of community and support networks in achieving impact, both personally and professionally.

Keywords

💡Innovation

Innovation refers to the process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay. In the video's context, it is central to how the company is adapting to challenges and maintaining growth within the information and communications sector. The script mentions the establishment of an 'Innovation office' to leverage innovation for future-proofing the business.

💡Resilience

Resilience in this context is the ability of a business to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties. The video discusses the importance of resilience in the face of challenges such as infrastructure failures and skills deficit, which the company has had to overcome to maintain growth.

💡Digital Inclusion

Digital inclusion is the degree to which all individuals and groups in a society have access to, and are able to use, information and communications technology. The script highlights Dr. Yanis' focus on digital inclusion, particularly for women, as a way to democratize access to quality services and improve education and health outcomes.

💡R&D Relationships

R&D Relationships refer to the collaborative ties between a company and research institutions, often universities, to advance knowledge and technology. The script describes Telcom's long-standing relationships with South African universities, funding 'Telcom research centers of excellence' to work on topical issues within technology.

💡SMMEs

SMMEs stands for Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises, which are crucial for economic growth and job creation. The video mentions investments in SMMEs, particularly a partnership with a data science team to produce a product for translation and transcription services in South African languages.

💡Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The script discusses AI as a key technology in Telcom's strategy for the evolving digital age, with examples of leveraging AI in chatbot experiences and translation services.

💡Customer-Centric

Being customer-centric means organizing a business around the needs and wants of its customers. The video emphasizes the importance of remaining customer-centric, with strategies and innovations aimed at serving customers from rural to urban areas and adapting to their evolving needs.

💡Social Impact

Social impact refers to the effects or changes created by an organization, project, or initiative on the target social groups and the society as a whole. The script highlights the social impact of Telcom's initiatives, such as supporting education and empowering communities through partnerships with universities and SMMEs.

💡Talent

Talent in a business context refers to the pool of skilled and capable individuals within an organization. The video discusses the importance of nurturing talent, with initiatives like design thinking courses and the 'Telom Lion Den' for staff members to pitch innovative ideas.

💡Strategic Growth

Strategic growth is the planned expansion of a business, often involving a series of deliberate actions to increase revenue, market share, or profitability. The script illustrates strategic growth through research and development, innovation initiatives, and partnerships with educational institutions and SMMEs.

💡Community

Community in this context refers to the support network of individuals who share common interests or goals. The video emphasizes the importance of community in achieving personal and professional goals, with Dr. Yanis discussing the support from her family, friends, and the broader South African community in her endeavors.

Highlights

Heather Orton hosts the fourth episode of real-world strategy dialogues focusing on maintaining growth in the information and communications sector.

Dr. Miky Yanis discusses her role in driving strategic growth through research, development, and innovation at Talcom.

Telcom's purpose is to connect customers to a better life, facing challenges like infrastructure failure and skills deficit.

The establishment of the Innovation office at Talcom post-pandemic to leverage innovation for future readiness.

Investment in R&D and relationships with South African universities to foster technological advancements.

Dr. Yanis' background includes being South Africa's representative to the W20 and G20, focusing on digital inclusion for women.

Telcom's partnerships with SMEs, including a venture for language translation and transcription in South African languages.

Investment in AI to enhance customer-centric services and address challenges faced in South Africa.

The social impact of Telcom's innovation, including support for education and community benefits.

Dr. Yanis' passion for digital inclusion and democratizing access to quality services through digital innovations.

Telcom Foundation's educational interventions in math and science, and support for SMEs.

The importance of talent and culture in driving innovation within the organization.

The Innovation Challenge that encouraged staff to propose solutions to customer-centered problems.

Dr. Yanis' guiding principle of ensuring the average South African benefits from the organization's innovations.

The significance of community support in achieving a balanced life and professional success.

The conclusion of the dialogue emphasizing the importance of curiosity and asking better questions for strategic growth.

Transcripts

[Music]

welcome to the fourth episode of real

world strategy dialogues powered by E

paon right here on

busch. I'm Heather Orton your host and

today we are exploring how to maintain

growth in a constantly changing

environment within the information and

Communications sector joining us today

to share her insights is Dr miky yanis

the group executive for Innovation and

transformation at talcom driving

strategic growth through research and

development and Innovation initiatives

she holds a PhD in computer science from

the University of war in the UK and is

an adjunct associate professor in

information systems for the University

of the western cap she was South

Africa's representative to the w20 and

the G20 focusing on digital inclusion

for women she's an NRF South African

rative scientist a world economic for

Global youth leader and he a member of

the South African Youth Academy of

scientists welcome

Maki very good morning and thank you so

much for me that the talcum purpose

statement is to seamlessly connect

customers to a better life and in the

last year or two there have definitely

been some headwinds in achieving this

failure of infrastructure such as

undersea landslides or load shedding

leading to connection blackouts the

ongoing skills deficit and a continued

need for local and international

Investments being just a few examples of

what the sector has had to Grapple with

when you never know what is going to

happen next how do you look at the world

ahead and think about what is to come

thank you so much Heather for that

question I think uh the last year

enabled us um to reflect as a as a

business on the importance of our

resilience and I think it took us back

to just after the pandemic which was

actually when uh the Innovation office

was established to help the business

think carefully about how it can

Leverage Innovation uh to enable it to

look forward uh to the Future on some of

the key challenges that we face as a

talal and uring that we're able to renew

ourselves as a business and remain

relevant even in the years to

come I really liked what you said around

their sort of renewing and and using

Innovation to do that in the EC Outlook

survey last year over half of the CEO's

respondents are planning to

significantly invest in Ai and 2third

believ that AI is the Force for good how

are you building a strategy for the

evolving digital

age let me just start by unpacking The

Innovation office how we're structured

and some of the technologies that we've

um been able to build that came out of

the Innovation office uh first things

first is that Telcom has a very long

history of R&D relationships with South

African universities so we've been

funding what is called the Telcom

research centers of excellence um over

about 20 5 years we celebrated 25 years

last year and that is a relationship

with over 13 years in South Africa um

where we work with academics on key

topical issues um within technology some

of these include artificial intelligence

as well so we really believe in the

collaborative brain power that comes

with working with researchers within um

these areas um and so the other aspects

of the Innovation office was our

investments within smmes in one of the

ventures we partnered Within smme

our data science team partnered within

smme to produce a product called ease

which essentially looks at translation

and transcription looking at South

African languages I think for us a lot

of our call centers when people call in

um they'll call switch between English

and and the South African languages and

for us we were saying but how do we

ensure translation that is able to um

consider South African languages and

we've heavily invested within that area

um with with our data science team so

there's very many examples of how we've

leveraged artificial intelligence in

chatboard experiences but all of this

are grounded in ensuring um that we

constantly adapt to the customer needs

that were able to serve the customer um

from rural to uh urban areas as a

company and I think that third aspect of

our Innovation office was more inward

looking where we ventured into an

innovation challenge that allowed staff

members to come up with different

solutions to customer centered problems

uh where we awarded them over 1.2

million um as part of prize money but we

invested in the ideas that came and some

of those were also on artificial

intelligence so there's a theme and

thread of artificial intelligence as a

capability to power up how we remain

customer Centric um and are largely led

by the needs of the customers and

serving them um not just from a

commercial lens but serving and solving

some of the ptin in South African

challenges that we

face and I know that we did a piece of

work for you where we looked at the

impact of your Innovation and and what

really impressed me was was the the

social impact that you had you know the

the fact that just by supporting people

through education then allowed the

communities to also be benefit from that

and I've also read that you are

passionate about digital inclusion and

continuously looking to harness the

power and scale of digital Innovations

to democratize access to quality

services improve education uh health and

the success of small businesses and be

more inclusive for women how are you

building synergies between your passion

and your vision for

Telcom look I think Heather um Telcom

has always been a a central part of of

the heartbeat of South African business

and beyond that and I think this is what

draw me actually to to join Telcom the

success of our Partnerships with the

university has enabled us to actually

graduate over

3,200 honors Masters and PhD students so

so that's a byproduct of our investment

into R&D that we were able to actually

change the Talco landscape not just

investing in R&D but investing in the

talent and the capability which today

actually Powers up not just Telcom but

the Telco sector as a whole our ability

to also invest and partner with smmes

has been such a great achievement for us

having worked with over 2,600 smmes uh

we really believe in smmes as the

backbone of the country and so being

able to work with young people who are

able to create employment opportunities

um not just innovate but also create

employment opportunities has been um

really fulfilling part of one of the

aspects of of my job so unearthing um

not just Innovation but the talent that

comes with that and using that Talent

within the organization has been great I

think Telcom is one of the few uh Telos

within the country if I look at our

Telcom Foundation which has um

educational interventions in math and

science and allows us as Executives to

um pay

projects that we can work on our

foundation does significant work within

high schools um uh investing in

mathematics and science and teaches

digital skills programs and we also

offer undergraduate merties and through

our Telcom centers of excellence we then

um support honors Masters and PhD

graduates and you can see that that this

is the full life cycle of our education

system within the country and further

than going on to supporting smmes so I

think this is one very strong fulfilling

aspect about how we're very deliberate

um on the social impact as well as the

economic impact that we have within the

country thanks Mikey my my next question

kind of Builds on that because it's it's

around what are some other strategic

imperatives that you feel you need to

get right to be

successful look I think um Innovation

demands great talent and I think um our

HR office has been very deliberate about

that we've had very Partnerships with

them in introducing uh courses such as

design thinking as a capability uh for

the business so I think Talent is a very

strong imperative around Innovation and

I think the culture restructuring the

organization to ensuring that the

culture speaks to where we're going as a

company um constantly being on the pulse

of our customers how customers

continuously evolve and I think the

Innovation Challenge was last year for

us a really great experience on being

able to disrupt our St members um to

also think out of the box which they

continuously do but it was really great

for us to see staff members coming up

with great ideas and having the

opportunity to pitching them to the CEOs

of the businesses uh through what we

call the telom lion Den that was really

great for us because it wasn't just the

disruption of culture it was the ideas

of the power of the staff members that

we have and these ideas are now being

implemented within the business and I

think these um uh uh capabil ities that

we've built within the business from an

innovation lens have been important for

us in trickling down across the group in

enabling and empowering the talcom group

to innovate both internally and

externally and ensure that we're

constantly uh speaking to where not just

the TCO sector going uh but where the

landscape of South Africa the needs of

the landscape of South Africa and being

able to meet

them shifting Focus to the personal side

of strategy I'm curious to know what

guiding principles will strategies you

employ to successfully navigate the

significant responsibilities of your

roles look I think for me it is the

passion that I've always had about

ensuring that um the average South

African is able to uh gain and grow I

think we have a a largely unequal

society as a country and I think for me

my perspective has always been if we

have um a skill and capability that we

can utilize to empower South Africa to

empower the South African and that has

been a key strategy in everything that I

do I think from a business land

perspective how we innovate how do we

think carefully about remaining relevant

within South Africa it is the average

South African and this Powers us and

drives us to say every service that we

develop everything that we innovate

should be centered around making sure

that whether it is a young South African

living in a rural area or a Township or

a suburb we need to be able to speak to

that South African because they are the

heartbeat of why we do what we do as an

organization suppose my question was

slightly more personal than that and and

if I give an example you know I I I

often find it challenging to find

balance in my life you know making sure

that I make that yoga class on a Monday

so I suppose it's it's what do you do to

make sure that you you feel balanced as

you're doing all these different

things oh Heather I think that's a

question that every woman with many

responsibilities are fac

and I think the community having a

community really matters so um

leveraging my poor parents I see my poor

parents because they've been quite

supportive in in in the Journey of life

with me um a very supportive uh partner

who is um always there to to to support

my many crazy Endeavors of Life uh but

being able to leverage a community of

friends of family um which speaks to us

as South Africans Oru being able to know

that um there is a community that you

can reach out to that you can tap into

and I think um I'll use the South

African idiom or the African idiom that

says if you want to go alone um you

won't go as far as if you go um together

or as a nation and I've held that quite

closely to me uh because the greatest

impact that I've had personally and

Beyond um my personal uh life has been

um collaborating with other people to be

able to achieve it so I think that

principle for me as a parent for me as a

partner for me as a daughter for me as a

community person person I've been able

to achieve what I've been able to

achieve through support from others and

that's that's a principle I hold quite

dearly to me and that concludes our

captivating conversation with Maki yanes

Maki thank you for sharing your

expertise and insights with us today and

the real world strategy dialogues from

both of us we hope that we have given

you something to think about until next

time stay curious and keep asking better

questions

[Music]