Alcatel-Lucent

By Christel Heydemann, VP Corporate Human Resources & Transformation, Alcatel-Lucent

I just returned from the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Mexico, as I was invited to attend the Young Global Leader event with an energizing group of 280 young leaders coming from 59 countries, with very diverse backgrounds in politics, business, arts, social entrepreneurs or civil society.

Several debates with young global leaders including the opening session with Klaus Schwab and the closing meeting with Presidente Calderon of Mexico indicated the dawn of a new era. The Human age or the new era of Talentism, in which access to talent is replacing capital as the key economic differentiator.

In his opening keynote to Young global leaders, Klaus Schwab refered to his blog “The end of capitalism…what’s next ?” and restated his conviction: “it is fair to say that capital is losing its status as the most important factor of production in our economic system. As I outlined in my opening address in Davos, capital is being superseded by creativity and the ability to innovate — and therefore by human talents — as the most important factors of production. If talent is becoming the decisive competitive factor, we can be confident in stating that capitalism is being replaced by “talentism.” Just as capital replaced manual trades during the process of industrialization, capital is now giving way to human talent.”

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Marie Thérèse Royce, Senior Director International Public Affairs for the Americas

By Marie Thérèse Royce, Senior Director International Public Affairs for the Americas. Marie was in Haiti following the earthquake and provides us here with an  update about a new submarine cable which will accelerate Haiti’s recovery and growth.

I was working 400 miles away from Haiti, the day of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that caused significant damage and loss of life more than two years ago.  As the weeks passed, I was invited to be a part of a delegation, convened and hosted by the U.S. Chamber’s Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC), who met with leaders from the Haitian government and leading NGOs during a trip to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.  I represented Alcatel-Lucent to Haiti as part of the delegation. Our group of companies worked to gain a better understanding of the Haitian leadership’s redevelopment priorities and sought to engage in long-term recovery activities such as in-country relationship building and international volunteerism.

It became clear that access to information and communication networks is now an essential part of the basic infrastructure needed for socio-economic development. After the recovery, the country was an illustration that ICTs are nearly as important as access to clean water and transportation.

Alcatel-Lucent is now giving the country a further boost by installing an undersea cable which will connect it to the global economy through broadband services.

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Participants to the closing panel of the BASD RIO+20 preparation event

By Philippe Richard, VP Bell Labs in charge of green strategy.

Last week in the Hague, a Rio+20 sustainable development conference exposed need for ICT’s enablement potential to be heard. Further to this, it is clear that long-term results need to allow for technology investments that yield OPEX savings, versus short term CAPEX deals.

The key points were:

• During this Rio +20 business consultation, ICT’s role as an enabler for low carbon economy across industries was incorporated into the conference agenda at the last minute. While ICTs were mentioned in the opening statements, the role and value of ICTs were not clearly identified until the end.
• As a member of the closing panel, “Road to Rio and beyond”, I offered examples of how Alcatel-Lucent’s ICT solutions contribute towards the much needed, low-carbon economy, including perspectives relative to national energy consumption patterns, how GreenTouch™ illustrates a successful co-creative platform and how, ultimately access to broadband must be a top public policy priority for inclusive global sustainability.
• The overriding theme was the need for business to work with policy makers and how regulation was needed to improve efficiency of the world economy.
• I stressed the fact that ICT is a mandatory enabler if we want to succeed in time. This also requires ICT to be more and more efficient as it has to be more and more ubiquitous (internet of things, cloud, etc.).
• You can read the BASD closing panel summary (PDF) or see my presentation (Slideshare)

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Last year the European Commission, as part of its Digital Agenda for Europe Key Action 12, called for industry volunteers to help establish a framework for measuring both the energy intensity and carbon footprint of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Accurate measurement is an essential first step toward identifying appropriate solutions.

As part of its commitment to environmental responsibility, Alcatel-Lucent joined a consortium with BT and Cisco to pilot test three measurement methodologies, using them to evaluate a wholesale Internet service offered by BT. Through the pilot tests, Alcatel-Lucent is contributing to the standards and helping demonstrate their usability. Gabrielle Giner – Programme Manager, Environmental Sustainability at BT explains what prompted her company to ask Alcatel-Lucent to join the pilot study. We discuss the importance of establishing industry-standard assessments and the role that ICT can play in enabling a low carbon economy.

For more information about this project at Alcatel-Lucent, you can contact Tom Okrasinski, Eco-sustainability Program Manager.

By Wendy Zajack, Director, Corporate Communications, Alcatel-Lucent (follow her on Twitter: @wendyzajack)

Yesterday was International Women’s Day. I will admit that before this year I am not sure I knew this day existed. Of course as a woman – I will mark the occasion by celebrating women. I will also mark the occasion to celebrate the men who celebrate woman. And above all else, I will celebrate our differences – our different perspectives, our different skills, our different talents – because the more we can learn to honor our differences the less our gender, our profession or where we live matters.

Let me give you some context. First, I am a woman who works in a decidedly man’s industry – telecommunications. I work in job function – communications that is usually a safe haven for women however in many companies is run by a man (at Alcatel-Lucent this is happily not the case). Second I am a mother of two boys and a girl (so I have a vested interest in seeing both sides succeed). Third I have the pleasure to lead a communications team that is almost evenly split between men and women – 3 women and 4 men). We are a highly united team, we support each other, we build on each other and most of all we respect and listen to each other. I think that has been the key to our success.

In the end it isn’t about being a man or a woman it is about respecting the value we all bring to the table. It is about accepting these differences and channeling this energy – sometimes conflicting – into something positive. I have heard before that true innovation happens where various disciplines intersect. Knowing that each of us brings something special to our jobs – our unique perspective based on who we are, our lives, our skills, our genders, our nationalities and convergence of these view points has the potential to bring change.

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