We’d like to give you the chance to meet key members of the KPN International team. Rutger Gerritz is our Vice President of Product Management.

Rutger joined KPN International as head of Product Management in 2006. He is responsible for the development and management of the overall international data portfolio.

We asked Rutger about what makes KPN International different and about the trends and innovations which influence product development.

You can also download the interview as a pdf-file at the bottom of this page.

Rutger, from your product management perspective, how do you ensure real differentiation for KPN International?
The telecommunications market is massively competitive, and in some ways, the Dutch market is the most competitive in Europe. For KPN International to be successful, we have moved beyond a ‘me too’ position: if you offer the same as everybody else, you can only compete on price – and that’s not ideal for us or for our clients.

A key differentiator for us is that KPN International is a fully integrated business unit of KPN. KPN is very solid in terms of its financial position and our clients value this constancy. This is reflected in a very high degree of client retention – we have minimum of churn of just a couple of percent.

Thanks to the fact that we have a really reliable mother ship, KPN International can offer a more dynamic and responsive service than many of our competitors. Internationally, we are still a ‘challenger’ and that means we have to be more agile to compete against the global giants.

Agility is not just a state of mind, however. We are organized around our clients by market and requirements, rather than around our own business lines - all major clients get a dedicated management team. Couple this with short lines of business communication and transparency, and you get a formula for exceptional responsiveness. We also emphasize customer intimacy. This, I believe, is where our real differentiation lies.

Telecommunications is changing constantly. What do you see as the key changes and how do these influence KPN International products and services?"
Although the telephone was invented back in 1876, the telecommunications industry as we know it today is still relatively young. For me, the most significant trend today is about behavior. Until recently, the industry was obsessed with technology and the picture it painted for its clients was far too complex as a result.

Infrastructure is the foundation for the way we live and work. People are used to getting water, gas and electricity at home ‘on tap’. We are not there yet with telecommunications services.

Today, we see a shift from a technology perspective to a vision based on quality and scope of service. Transparency also becomes a critical factor in a market that is rightly starting to insist on clear total service cost and ease of management. We see a shift from complex platforms to more scalable and flexible solutions in which end-to-end service and service level guarantees matter to our customers.

Telecommunications is the foundation for all business IT services, and as the business scope expands, transparency and service definition become even more important. Bear in mind that for the IT community, this now means enabling voice as well as data services.

Listening to clients is central to product management. What are some of the most interesting things you’ve learned from clients recently?
I guess the hottest topic at the moment is convergence, especially for our enterprise clients. People have a strong feel for the potential and the promise of convergence, but are challenged by practical application and management.

Customers look to convergence as a means of lowering TCO, of achieving greater flexibility, and ultimately as a way to simplify service management – but these are all tough issues.

What becomes very clear is that a solution which really works for the client must be designed around their specific requirements. Deciding when to change from the heritage infrastructure is also a serious discussion point.

Clients have also been keen to talk about the KPN acquisition of Getronics, and we are already beginning to see some important developments here. It’s early days, but the breadth of service from desktop to network with a single point of accountability is stimulating genuine interest.

KPN International is clearly excited by its Next Generation VPN. What do you think is going to make this product a winner?
A combination of factors makes the Next Generation VPN compelling. For our clients, the fact that KPN have a single platform is significant, as this means we can carry a combined IP and Ethernet service in a way which is really cost-efficient. This differentiates us from competitors which operate their services over different platforms. With the Next Generation VPN service, our clients are guaranteed universal availability and flexibility. Our state-of-the-art Juniper equipment plays an important role in this.

We have a lot of experience in this area – we have been providing carrier Ethernet since 2000, and this gives us a depth of knowledge which is pretty much unmatched. We have actually exceeded analyst forecasts of market adoption of these services.

But perhaps most importantly, I’d go back to the question of client focus. For the quality, cost and performance to meet client expectations, the service must be crafted to suit the individual client, and our consultative approach means that we get this right. We stick to our promises.

Can you give us an idea of what’s on the horizon at KPN International – what are the trends which are going to define your product mix over the next couple of years?
When organizations look to their telecommunications service providers, they are increasingly seeking benefits in terms of workforce productivity. Any proposal will need to show how it will help the workforce improve their working relationships with customers, colleagues and partners.

Telepresence is going to become much more part of the fabric of the way we all do business. We do have webcams and multi-party teleconferencing already, but it will get much better and less costly. It is going to move rapidly from the slightly scratchy novelty it is today to a real high-performance reality. It’s a nice example of a collaboration platform reducing travel cost and time.

Another example of workforce productivity is mobility which will become the norm. The ability to participate fully in business from pretty much any location is just around the corner.

Globalization is also a major trend as the marketplace transforms from a national to a global business. At KPN International we ensure support for our clients around the globe. We do that using our own EuroRings network, our international sea-cables and our partners’ networks. We also utilize the Infonet portfolio of which KPN is a license distributor in the Netherlands.

Exponential growth in bandwidth is particularly important in our wholesale business, and so we continuously invest in capacity wherever we see profitable business opportunities.

All these developments are going to make our clients much more demanding, and not just in terms of function, value and performance. KPN International will develop ever higher and more comprehensive standards of service management.

International partnerships are important for KPN International. How do partnerships impact the development and marketing of your services?
Partnerships are vital to any telecommunication provider and will become even more so for KPN International as we develop further. With our strategic partners SingTel, Telefonica and Sprint we can cover the world in a way that assures end-to-end quality.

We are a major European telecommunications player, and offer worldwide coverage through a carefully selected and sustained group of partnerships. This provides our clients with the advantage of a one-stop-shop and exceptional local expertise.

Our customers don’t just expect us to team up with the strongest partners geographically: we also team up to deliver specific solutions such as our KPNcare monitoring service or WAN acceleration.

I see the ability to integrate your own core skills and business with complementary partner services as becoming the most successful model for future business.

What’s the best thing about your job?
KPN International is a dynamic company with real client focus, and for me, that’s the best possible combination. In my job I am given the power to develop a new strategy and set up the planning and execute - and that is important for me.

I also enjoy working in an international environment. For example I have recently been in contact with a client whose business has rapidly expanded to include operations in the Netherlands, China, Poland and Turkey. For us to be able to work together to understand their ambition and strategy, and then to provide a single point of accountability for all their telecommunications needs is hugely rewarding. The fact that we consistently achieve high customer satisfaction ratings proves that we are taking the right approach.

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