Strong culture and simple priorities — Telenor Myanmar’s journey through uncertainty
Seldom has Peter Drucker’s famous quote “culture eats strategy for breakfast” proven truer than during the past year. At Telenor Myanmar, we have focused on fundamentals — our purpose, our values and our culture — to set direction for 2022.
Telenor Myanmar opened its doors and network to customers in 2014, ushering in an era of rapid digitalization and strong growth. Connecting people to what matters most, and thereby empowering societies, has been central to our commitment for nearly eight years. We entered 2021 with a clear ambition to go “digital first” both internally and in our interaction with customers, taking clear cues from the accelerated digitalization of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation in Myanmar as it evolved through the year, however, led us to reprioritize. Throughout the past year we have followed a simple set of priorities that will also set direction for 2022: stay safe, keep promises, and maintain focus.
Stay safe: Only people who feel safe can perform over time
We have nobody to lose. No KPI is so important that it is worth risking the health or safety of our staff members, partners or customers. In an uncertain and unpredictable environment where risk can evolve quickly, we have made a clear decision to always err on the side of caution. It means we carefully evaluate the safety and security situation around our stores before they open and have a low threshold to close down, while always striving to improve our digital availability. It means we make our best efforts to help customers stay safe online through awareness and knowledge building. We take steps to maximize security around our network tower sites , by notifying customers and communities around unsafe locations, and by setting up a reporting mechanism to register irregularities around telecoms infrastructure. As many companies in Myanmar, we’ve set out to offer vaccinations to our employees, currently having covered 99%. But our care and concern extends beyond direct staffers — we’re now vaccinating family members and indirect/vendor staff as well.
Keeping promises: Maintaining availability and connectivity nationwide
We also take pride in keeping customers connected, delivering on the promises made when customers pick up a Telenor SIM card. During the pandemic, and as the overall security situation has deteriorated, digital communication has become essential for so many parts of everyday life. In times of crisis, people turn to core services like voice and SMS. Our network, which is built on a foundation of solid voice coverage, has provided customers with the reliability they need. At the same time, our significant investments in 4G connectivity and our 2020 launch of 4.5G further improved our data experience. This has been important to enable critical business applications for videoconferencing and rich communication, or to offer secure access through encrypted communication services. Where regulatory conditions have made it difficult to access data, we have made efforts to offer alternative and cost-efficient ways to communicate, for instance through group SMS solutions or by offering data packs that are both flexible and long-lasting. Despite the many challenges we face, our network teams are working tirelessly around the clock to keep the network running smoothly.
Maintain focus: Directing our attention on what we can influence
The sale of Telenor Myanmar announced in July 2021 means that we as an organization are likely to experience some changes during 2022. The commitment to serve customers, however, will not be impacted. The transaction requires regulatory approval, and has also been subject to significant rumors and speculations. As a team we have made the conscious choice to focus on the matters we can influence, which is our business continuity, our customer service and our commitment to the market and communities we serve. Maintaining focus also means we have continued to innovate and bring new products and initiatives to market. Our MyTelenor app continues to attract and engage customers, not only to manage their subscriptions but also to play games, stream TV series or educate themselves. During 2021 we launched a series of empowering products, including the job portal , an edutainment classroom for young learners. Our education portal Telenor Classroom has so far attracted more than 1 million learners. We intend to continue innovating for customers and the communities we serve in 2022.
An enduring culture of readiness, resilience and responsibility
Our culture is one of readiness, resilience and responsibility. It is made and maintained by our people. So even though 2022 will be a year of change and transformation, the qualities that are deeply ingrained in our way of working will remain. Our readiness fuels our resilience and our ability to weather any storm as a team. Over the past years, we have worked more cross-functionally and collaboratively than ever, united by a strong sense of shared responsibility.
Going into 2022, we will continue to drive our three priorities of staying safe, keeping people connected, and giving undivided attention to operational continuity and service excellence. We will stay on the path towards leading Myanmar’s digital evolution, and on the forefront of innovation. Our digital products and services will continue to enable and empower the communities they reach. Thank you for trusting us to keep you connected. Stay safe!
/Jon Omund
Originally published at https://www.telenor.com.mm.
