In a move to further decentralise its organisational structure, the Singtel Group has announced that its Australian subsidiary Optus will directly oversee its Optus Enterprise division with effect from 1 July 2022. This move to transfer the management of this division to Australia will effectively give Optus more operational autonomy and direct accountability.
Singtel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said, “Since our strategic reset a year ago, we’ve been evolving our operating model to stay relevant and maximise shareholder returns and this is another step in that direction. By adopting a decentralised opco-driven structure, we can empower our businesses to exploit commercial synergies and capabilities to drive growth. This is all the more important in today’s volatile macro-economic environment where business units need greater independence and agility to better navigate the market.” He added, “Optus has been part of the Singtel stable for two decades and a leading player in the Australian consumer market. Given the hyper digitalisation that enterprises are currently experiencing, this is also timely as Optus can focus on advancing its growth as a B2B player.”
Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said, “This change is about delivering better outcomes for all our customers, whether they are consumers, small business, enterprise customers or wholesale customers. With a more unified and collaborative approach across Optus, we will be able to better meet the localised need of our business customer and bring solutions to market more quickly. Importantly, we still will be able to leverage the insights and global reach of Singtel, while having the autonomy to make decisions quickly.”
Optus’ enterprise business revenue was A$1.21 billion in the financial year ended March 2022.
Decentralisation underway
This decentralised organisational structure was first adopted in 2021, when ICT arm NCS was spun off from Singtel’s enterprise business and recast as a B2B digital services champion in Asia. The move has facilitated the transformation of NCS as well as its regionalisation. NCS has since expanded into Australia, a market that is key to its strategic growth. It has also diversified from its public sector client base and seen digital revenues jump to almost half of overall revenue in the last financial year.
Yuen said, “With NCS scaling its business in Australia, we expect the combined synergies and capabilities of NCS and Optus to be mutually beneficial as both companies respond more easily to the specific needs of that market.”
CEO appointed for regional data centre
In 2021, the Group set up another new company under this decentralised model – a regional data centre business that builds on Singtel’s data centre operations in Singapore. Today, the Group announced the appointment of Bill Chang as CEO of this venture, with effect from 1 July 2022. Chang will assume this position in addition to leading Singtel’s enterprise portfolio as CEO, a role he has held since 2012.
Chang said, “I’m very excited to lead the regional data centre growth business for the Group. This leverages our world class data centre expertise, excellent digital infrastructure and track record as Asia’s leading network connectivity provider to offer an integrated proposition to enterprises. With companies racing to digitalise and transform their business models and processes in the wake of the pandemic, and consumer lifestyles getting ever more digital, the growth in data traffic and demand for data centres will be unrelenting. We’re well-placed to capture the exciting growth opportunities across this region.”
Singtel Group’s long-time business associates, Telkom in Indonesia and Gulf and AIS in Thailand are among the business’ first partners.
The regional data centre business and NCS were identified as new digital growth engines under Singtel Group’s strategic reset announced in May 2021.