Consulting Category: Growth Strategy
Protected: Helping a UK data centre player uncover risk and opportunity in a strategic carve-out
Supporting a leading GCC operator in developing the business case and a partnership blueprint for global hyperscalers
Case study overview
• A leading GCC telco wanted to gain a deeper understanding of the cloud market and sought assistance in constructing a business case for partnering with hyperscale cloud providers
• Board and C-level executives wanted to know which hyperscalers they should prioritize for partnerships and for what kind of services and offerings
• Engaging STL Partners, the company tasked them with developing a comprehensive business case for a pre-engaged hyperscaler, aiming to quantify the partnership’s ROI over a five-year period for approval by the finance team
Additionally, STL Partners conducted an evaluation of sixteen global hyperscale providers to pinpoint priority services and deliver final recommendations on the most appealing partnership opportunities
Example deliverables
What was the approach?
STL devised a four stage project to frame the client’s thinking and form a comprehensive five-year hyperscaler partnership strategy
• Aligned on the mission and goals for each of the business units
• Built the business case for a pre-engaged hyperscaler and quantified the partnership’s ROI
• Provided an overview of the cloud market in the region and developed a partnership blueprint for 16 global hyperscalers
Finalised strategic recommendations and priority hyperscaler partnerships for each different business unit
Key results from the project
16 global hyperscalers evaluated, 3 priority partnerships identified, 12x identified increase in enterprise revenues by 2025, 105 MN revenue in partnership with one hyperscaler in Y5, 30+ group-wide stakeholders aligned.
Example deliverables
Building a growth strategy for an EMEA data centre business
Case study overview
– An EMEA data centre company wanted to outline a 5-year growth plan, making use of their unique asset base of data centres, enterprise cloud platforms and networking capabilities.
– They particularly wanted to understand the impact of edge computing on their strategy, evaluating both opportunities and risks that it will create
– Key questions the C-level team had included what would their future customer base look like, what partners they should work with and how any new strategic directions should be communicated to customers and to internal company stakeholders
– Ultimately, they wanted STL to produce a tangible and practical growth strategy, leveraging our unique industry expertise in edge, cloud and data centres
Example deliverables
What was the approach?
Six-phase approach:
1. Scoping – STL built an understanding on the client’s existing proposition
2. Market evaluation – Forecasting of the whole market and evaluation of client position
3. Opportunity deep dive – Voice of the market programme to evaluate short and long-term growth areas
4. GTM assessment – production of GTM document including competitor analysis, commercial strategy, capability roadmap and partnership recommendations
5. Executive readouts – delivery of strategy readouts to key client executives
6. Messaging – provide guidance on key messaging and positioning strategies including testing with existing customers
Key results from the project
- 40+ voice of the market interview programme
- 1 TAM SAM SOM forecast produced
- 10+ board and executive team members involved
- 4 growth areas identified
- 1 messaging and positioning document
Example deliverables
Creating and marketing a new blueprint for telco automation with Rakuten
Case study overview
Rakuten is a greenfield telco who has exhibited many industry-firsts in rolling out a cloud-native, highly automated network before spinning out Rakuten Symphony to bring this expertise and technology to other telcos
– Rakuten wanted to capture some of the key lessons that they have learnt and broadcast them to the market
– Rakuten therefore asked STL Partners to work with internal stakeholders to create several thought leadership reports focused on cloud-native and automation in telco networks and promote them via a webinar and infographic
Example deliverables
What was the approach?
– Carried out a market sizing exercise to estimate the number of cloud-native telco edge sites commercially deployed globally
– Drafted the 1st thought leadership report in the programme looking at the deployment of cloud-native telco edge sites globally
– Created an infographic highlighting the key findings from the 1st thought leadership report
– Conducted interviews with internal Rakuten Symphony stakeholders to learn lessons from their own mobile network rollout
– Drafted the 2nd thought leadership report in the programme highlighting a new blueprint for introducing automation to telco networks, as well as outlining the key benefits that telcos will experience
– Hosted a webinar to promote the 2nd thought leadership report
Key results from the project
– 2 thought leadership reports written and promoted
– Over 600 downloads across both reports
– 1 webinar promoting the reports which had 436 registrants and 115 live attendees
Example deliverables
Identifying opportunities for growth in digital health
Case study overview
STL Partners helps our clients to identify, define and prioritise strategic opportunities to grow their revenues. We work collaboratively with key stakeholders to formulate new growth ideas and evaluate them based on our clients’ core objectives and capabilities. This approach brought together key decision makers within the organisation and created alignment.t.
See how we supported a Tier 1 operator to:
- Assess key trends in the healthcare market and in digital health;
- Evaluate key lessons from other operators’ healthcare strategies;
- Identify and prioritise strategic initiatives and develop a roadmap for growth.
Consulting services overview
Get in touch to find out how we can help you:
- Analyse market trends and dynamics
- Conduct market sizing and forecasting
- Prioritise initiatives for new growth
STL Partners’ deep insight and knowledge of the market support used in shaping our healthcare strategy, and their approach drove collaboration across our team. Overall, STL over-delivered.
Manager, Strategy & Participations
Tier-1 operator
Assessing key trends in digital health
STL Partners researched the wider trends in society and in the healthcare market, particularly focusing on the role of technology and the increased adoption of digital health solutions. Our analysis explored:
- How the delivery of healthcare services is changing and the key factors driving that change;
- Key technology trends that are transforming the healthcare market;
- Different types of players in the global digital health ecosystem and the roles they play.
Example deliverables
Example deliverables
Evaluating key lessons from other operators
STL Partners produced nine different operator healthcare case studies using both primary and secondary research.
This included an in-depth analysis of two operators who have both made significant long-term commitments: TELUS Health and Telstra Health. Each case study evaluated the strategy, key challenges they faced, implementation approach, and level of success they achieved.
Our client leveraged these lessons when developing their own healthcare strategy.
Identifying and prioritising strategic initiatives
STL Partners led a three-day highly strategy formulation and alignment workshop at the client’s offices with key stakeholders within the organisation. This included:
- Presenting an overview of the key current trends in digital health and key learnings from other operators’ experiences;
- Conducting a SWOT analysis to identify the client’s strengths and weaknesses as context for evaluating strategic approaches;
- Identifying and defining a wide range of potential initiatives;
- Prioritising initiatives based on market attractiveness and the client’s ability to implement solutions;
- Defining a roadmap, success metrics and next steps based on the agreed prioritised initiatives.
Example deliverables
Assessing the value of edge in Industry 4.0
Case study overview
STL Partners works closely with clients to identify and evaluate potential growth opportunities that ‘move the needle’. We conduct detailed market analysis and landscaping to better understand their specific needs, market trends and dynamics as well as the ecosystem structure. This includes primary research with key players in the ecosystem, including end customers, to derive first-hand insights.
Through an extensive interview programme with enterprises and key ICT solution providers across target industries, we helped a global software provider to:
- Assess the market opportunity for edge computing and key trends within different industries, primarily in manufacturing and extractives (oil, gas and mining);
- Identify the needs for edge computing solutions and the driving forces behind them;
- Evaluate how different players within the ecosystem are currently addressing these needs.
Consulting services overview
Get in touch to find out how we can help you:
- Analyse market trends and dynamics
- Conduct market sizing and forecasting
- Prioritise initiatives for new growth
Assessing the market opportunity for edge
In order to understand the context for edge computing, STL Partners conducted research on the business challenges and trends in cloud and ICT within the target industries, which included:
- Key strategic challenges;
- Trends in, and attitudes towards, cloud and traditional on-premise computing;
- Level of maturity in edge adoption;
- Barriers hindering the wider adoption of edge.
Example deliverables
Example deliverables
Identifying key industry needs for edge
Our research also focused on understanding the significance of edge computing in enabling digital transformation and the extent to which different industries are currently exploring edge computing.
We identified:
- Business drivers for edge computing adoption;
- Key use cases within each industry;
- Value of edge computing in enabling these key use cases.
Evaluating the wider edge ecosystem and deployment approach
To understand the potential opportunities and role for our client, our interviews and research enabled us to provide valuable insights into the:
- Decision-making process for deploying edge solutions;
- Types of solutions and services where enterprises are seeking partner support;
- What factors enterprises consider when evaluating potential partners;
- Dynamics within the current edge ecosystem, including key players and their current roles.
Example deliverables
Quantifying the opportunity in the connected car market
Case study overview
New opportunities mean our clients explore new markets beyond traditional telecoms. To support them, we conduct primary research with suppliers and customers, to better understand the ecosystem and how it is developing. STL consultants are also skilled at sizing market opportunities and identifying the most attractive options for our clients.
Below we outline how we helped a global operator to:
- Understand the drivers of the connected car market;
- Calculate the addressable market, including potential revenues and operational metrics.
Consulting services overview
Get in touch to find out how we can help you:
- Analyse market trends and dynamics
- Conduct market sizing and forecasting
- Prioritise initiatives for new growth
Understanding the trends and dynamics in the connected car market
We conducted in-depth research, including interviews with OEMs and connected car solutions providers, to define and assess:
The key services being delivered in a “connected car” model (e.g. navigation and traffic services, infotainment, and so forth);
- How this varied by vehicle type (e.g. economy, mid-range, and luxury cars);
- How this varied by country and region (e.g. across the client’s key markets);
- How this varied over time (e.g. deployment and roll-out of new use cases).
Example deliverables
Example deliverables
Calculating the addressable market
Once we had defined the viable services being delivered over-the-air to a connected car, we developed a bottom-up model to quantify the:
- Number of connected car units globally;
- Annual and monthly data volumes from connected cars;
- Annual and monthly revenues derived from connectivity;
We did this by building and validating assumptions for data volumes per service per month, service penetration by market over time, and the price of data across different regions.