Introduction and Review of Company
Emirates Telecommunication Corporation, more commonly known as the brand Etisalat, is a multinational telecommunications company based in the United Arab Emirates. The company has been operational for 40 years and had operations in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company’s operations generated global revenue of $14.08 billion and profits of $44.9 billion in the year of 2015.
Etisalat is the thirteenth largest mobile network provider in the world, providing a customer base of over 160 million people with telecommunication services. The company provides internet and mobile services in eighteen countries in three different continents. Etisalat is the biggest carrier of international calls in both Africa and the Middle East. In 2008, the company had established 500 roaming contracts that covered 186 countries(Cole, 2013). The service is available on BlackBerry, 3G, and recently 4G platforms.
The history of the company can be traced to 1976 when Emirates Telecommunication Company was established as a joint-share company between a British corporation and local investors. The company, International Aeradio Limited was eventually bought out by the UAE government which held a 60 percent stake and publicly traded the other forty publicly(Cole, 2013). This move by the government was finally followed by legislation being passed mandating the company to not only operate but also regulate the telecommunication networks in UAE. These laws adopted in 1991 served to establish the company's monopoly in the region. Etisalat's operation grew exponentially after 2001 as it was able to offer mobile services in the form of Ufone.
The company began branching out in neighboring Islamabad and has since expanded its network to cover 1186 countries with the brand enjoying popularity in the Middle East and Africa. Etisalat is now ranked as the 140th of the top 500 companies in the world and is considered the sixth most powerful company in the Middle East(Etisalat, 2014). The company’s financial might and is only second to the oil companies of the region.
Etisalat employs 76,000 employees in its various branches worldwide(Etisalat, 2014). The company has several business units in its operations. These include a training and consultancy service, data clearing house and a call center. These departments act to provide clients with the best telecommunication services possible. The company is also a major investor in several international companies. The international investments include Mobily, PTCL, Etisalat Egypt, and Canar in Sudan, Etisalat Nigeria, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Morocco. These units of the company expand its global outreach and the revenue generating power the company possesses.
This case analysis is written without the writer having any prior employment in the company mentioned above. The company’s vision is a world where people can reach each other regardless of matter and space. The mission statement of Etisalat is to extend people’s reach.
Performance measurement is a process through which a corporation can collect study and report information that pertains to an individual, group or the whole organization(Hahn, 2015). The process involves close analysis of an organization and its strategies to establish whether the performance is at par with the company's goals and mission. Through performance measurement, a company can monitor its progress and ensure that any drop in the same is handled before it escalates.
Performance Measurement in Etisalat
The programs that have been set up to measure performance aim at assessing the competitive scope of the company's improvement. The measures are aimed at coming up with customer satisfaction rates that translate to increased customer subscription. Etisalat's focus on customer satisfaction has seen the introduction of better voice network rates and an increased investment into the internet provider services. The company has seen its web platform raised from the initial GPRS service in 2008 to 4G launched in 2015. The new faster internet option is set to increase the number of people subscribed to the company's network.
The performance management program in Etisalat is focused on collecting data in the countries where the network is used. The data gathered is based on the number of subscribers concerning the competing networks in the country. Data is collected from customers about what should be improved to keep the company at the forefront of telecommunications solutions.
Link between Performance Measurement and Etisalat’s Strategies
The performance measurement policy is linked to the organizational strategies of increasing its outreach to people around the globe. A customer-based approach to telecommunication ensures that the services provided by the corporation will aim to benefit the customer’s experiencing leading to increased subscription and customer loyalty to the brand. Etisalat is able to give customer-friendly services that are cheap and fast, making it a popular brand in the countries of operations. Through performance measurement and the goals set after the process, Etisalat was able to record a 7 percent increase in subscription in all its countries of operation("Intelligent Energy, Etisalat in portable device collaboration," 2013). This increase in customer base is indicative of the focus the company has taken in its management policies.
Challenges
Human Resource Department
The large multinational company has several employees in the eighteen countries where it is based and even more in the countries in which the network operates. The staff includes engineers, managers, accountants, promoters and even licensed sales persons. The employees are managed under the various human resource departments in these countries which eventually report to Innovative HR in Abu Dhabi. Innovative HR is the main personnel managing team that deals with handling employees, job description and solving work related issues. The main focus of this department is the well-being of the staff and respect for workers’ rights and privileges.
The Human Resource department in Etisalat incorporates strategies that are replicated in the various branches of operations. The human relation policies made in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh are reproduced in Etisalat Nigeria, Etisalat Academy, and all other departments across the globe. The HR policies are also in line with the standing labor laws in the various countries and systems from bodies such as KHDA and DHRF.
Who handles Performance Management?
Performance management in Etisalat is handled by a team led by the executive manager of performance management. Currently, Rami Youssef is the executive manager of performance management and works with a team to come up with performance measurement policies and goal setting.
The executive manager of performance management is tasked with developing and implementing frameworks to measure effective performance. There is also a need for documentation of procedures used to measure the performance of the corporation. Some of the other responsibilities of the manager include assisting in setting and allocating sales goals and working with the human resource department to make sure that the enterprise performance cascades down and is integrated with employee management.
Common Problems Faced
Etisalat is a telecommunication company and therefore faces problems that are common to the industry. The problems include operational costs, keeping up with development in ICT and financial troubles.
Operational costs in the telecommunication industry are extremely high because of the costly materials needed to establish a communication infrastructure. The need to reach more people globally has seen the mobile service provider delve into foreign markets such as Africa and Asia. These markets require an advanced telecommunication network set up to ease the transmission of messages across distances. Cables, Network stations, and aggressive marketing in these countries bring a big dent in the financial kitty of the company.
The development of ICT has been on an exponential rise in the past decade with new technology being introduced on a regular basis. Intense competition forces the telecommunication companies to adopt these new technologies lest they are left behind in the race for gaining the largest market share. Most companies invest in their research and development departments to improve the technology used in delivering communication services to the customers.
Financial troubles faced by the company include dwindling profit margins. In 2011, the profit margins fell by 24 percent to $1.6 billion from the previous year(Gazzar, 2015). Dwindling subscription in India also hit the company as a Supreme Court ruling in the country forced the company to exit the market, losing close to 500 million potential subscribers. All these challenges hinder the realization of full profit by the company and hurt its bottom-line.
Security is a major challenge for the group. Telecommunication services, which includes web-hosting and an ISP department requires top notch security to ensure the integrity of the clients' information(Gazzar, 2015). Etisalat invests huge amounts into IT security since it handles millions of users' information that are at risk of being hacked and accessed for malicious intentions.
Problem Addressed and its Details
This paper will address the problem of data security. During the forty years in which the company has operated it has been able to offer communication services that include e-Government offerings, e-mail, and DNS management. All these operations require a wide array of applications and manpower. The security of this infrastructure is therefore very crucial to the business operation of the telecommunication giant. The security of the data is not only crucial to the integrity of the system but to the welfare of the users as well. A person using Etisalat network to access the internet or make a call should have the right to privacy. A loss of privacy will demean the whole system of communication networks.
Solutions
Possible Solutions
A viable option for the company was to optimize security measures to accommodate for the expected growth of the outreach of the mobile network company. The security team depends on open source security tools to monitor the network. Vulnerabilities are exposed and through this, the team can identify and quantify the risks that they face.
Etisalat also could opt to install the primary defenses that include firewalls, anti-malware, anti-viruses and anti- intrusion systems. These programs are aimed at improving the security of the data in the network. The company can also develop its in-house software defense system that is better suited for the personalized protection of Etisalat's network(Qualys, 2016). This option has the advantage of automation of most of the protection measures required by the security team.
There is also need for conducting an audit on all the internet-facing services in the operations. The services include the e-Government, email, and internet support services. An analysis of the whole system would lead to easy identification of any fault in the network's security. The current auditing procedures are conducted manually in a time-consuming activity that involves a team of highly trained technicians. An automation of this process would greatly reduce the overhead cost and ensure efficiency in the process. Audits should regularly be conducted in a network as large as Etisalat's. This option is effective because constant monitoring will be achieved.
How HR Chose
The option that the company chose to implement is a program that made the process of surveillance automatic. This option had the benefit of being thorough and being less prone to infiltration. HR through the security department could be able to monitor all network information and ensure their security is intact. The automation is dome through installing Qualys, a program that combines several aspects of risk surveillance onto one platform(Qualys, 2016). The program enables the security team to conduct system checks on demand. The process is automated to run every ten seconds ensuring there is no opportunity for anyone to hack into the system.
Situation of the Problem
The problem of security is complex in nature and sensitive to many socio-economic aspects. As an Internet provider, Etisalat is in charge of handling a wide array of personal and sensitive information. The company offers communication solutions for individuals, corporation, and governments. The company has a duty to its clients to ensure the safety and privacy of any information transmitted via its network(Keller, 2013).
The integrity of personal information has become a serious area of concern in the digital world. Sensitive personal information such as bank and social media account information, personal content and other details are at risk of being accessed by malicious third parties that often carry out identity theft and scams. The importance of personal information has been in the limelight in such big cases like Apple vs. FBI where the first amendment is often the quotable policy.
Recommendations
The security should put up in-house firewall measures to protect the system from any outside interference. The communication network needs to be thoroughly studied and all possible loopholes covered up with the design of personalized anti-infiltration software.
The data transmitted across the network should be encrypted during transmission. A call or e-mail sent from one point to another does not have to travel as delivered. Encrypting and decrypting technology is available to ensure that intercepted messages cannot be deciphered. This process takes a few milliseconds, and transmission speeds will not be interfered.
Regular audits of the system’s security should be done. Upgrades should be made when necessary.
The security software for the company’s data should be designed to meet the specific needs of the corporation.
Regular security meetings should be conducted.
In-house software should complement the latest security programs.
References
Bayt.com. (2016). Rami Youssef - Executive Manager Performance Measurement at Etihad Etisalat - Mobily - Public Profile at Bayt.com. Retrieved from http://people.bayt.com/rami-youssef/
Cole, A. (2013). Analysis of Etisalat. Munich: GRIN Verlag GmbH.
Etisalat. (2014). Annual Report 2014. Retrieved from http://o2network.net/clients/etisalat/annualreport2014/egs.html
Gazzar, S. E. (2015, October 28). Etisalat boosts subscribers in third-quarter on strong UAE performance. The National.
Hahn, T. (2015). Cross-industry innovation process: Strategic implications for telecommunication companies.
Intelligent Energy, Etisalat in portable device collaboration. (2013). Fuel Cells Bulletin, 2013(6), 8. doi:10.1016/s1464-2859(13)70230-x
Keller, K. L. (2013). Strategic brand management. Pearson.
Keller, K. L. (2013). Strategic brand management. Pearson.
Qualys. (2016). Etisalat Secures Growth | Qualys, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.qualys.com/customers/success-stories/etisalat-secures-growth/
Appendix
Profile of Interviewee
Position: Executive Manager of Performance Measurement _ Etisalat
Duties: Management
Experience: 13 years working experience in the company
Specialties: Staff management, analysis, sales manager, performance management
Education: Masters of Business Administration- IE, 2014. Bachelor of Science and Management- AUST, 2005
Training: Strategic Planning, PMP Facilitation Program, Strategic Selling Skills.
Hobbies: Scuba diving and playing volleyball
Source: (Bayt.com, 2016)
