By Juan Manuel González, Research Manager, Buenos Aires Office

Alcatel-Lucent recently held a very interesting industry analyst conference in Half Moon Bay, California. Many analysts representing several firms and regions attended this conference.The focus of this meeting was Alcatel-Lucent's Enterprise Business which comprises the areas of voice and communications, contact center (Genesys) and network infrastructure.

During the meeting Alcatel-Lucent's Enterprise key executives shared their view of the company's performance in 2010 and their expectations for 2011, among other several relevant things. In addition, new technology developments were announced and introduced to the analyst community.

The most relevant findings of the conference are provided here.

1) Key Messages from Company Overview 2010:

• Integration of the business and team (ALU + Genesys) completed. Henceforth, one single identity - Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise
• Profitable 2010 - Strong momentum starting in Q3
• Regional Highlights: Asia Pacific keeps growing strongly, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) growth during Q3, turnaround forecasted for the Americas?
• Partners: Progress with global alliances and growing investments in regional partners.

2) 2011 Strategy:

• Pillars: Alcatel-Lucent has developed its strategy for this year based on four key points:
  • Building their identity and culture
  • Getting the word out
  • Transforming the way they sell (more indirect focus and strong incentive for sales force to push strategic solutions)
  • Focusing all their actions towards growth
• Aggressive release schedule for 1H 2011:
  • WFO
  • Social Engagement
  • Conversation Manager
  • Visual Communications
  • OpenTouch–first offerings
  • My IC Smart Deskphone
  • Data Center –Top of Rack

3) Main Products Announcements

• New SIP Architecture: Alcatel-Lucent revealed OpenTouch, its SIP-core next-generation multimedia communication solution. It is expected to become available during the second quarter of 2011.
• Visual Communications: Alcatel-Lucent is bringing to the market a broad array of video products and solutions, including:
  • Video collaboration solutions: board room video, my IC phone video, my teamwork UC video, interactive whiteboard, and workgroup video
  • Visual broadcasting solutions: digital signature, video portal, IP TV, web TV, and corporate TV
  • Visual customer service: video interaction, video messaging, visual IVR, and video contact center
• Social Media Solution: Genesys Social Engagement

4) Most Important Facts Impacting Latin America in 2011:

• New Leader: John Carr, a former Genesys executive in Europe and the Americas, was appointed the new VP for ALU Enterprise in Latin America. Mr. Carr's last appointment was as a regional head within the U.S. sales team. However, he bring experience within Latin America, as he was sales manager for Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America in the past, reporting to former CALA VP, Alejandro Migliora.
• New Management Structure: Several regional managers will be reporting directly to Mr. Carr. The selected team members and their main responsibilities are as follow:
  • Sergio Valencia: Focus on Mexico. Appointed as Director of Mexico Operations (including eBD Business within the country)
  • Marcelo Raris: Focus on Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Paraguay) Appointed as director for this region (also including the management of the eBD Business in Argentina)
  • Jorge Silva: Selected as Director for the Andean Region, Central America and the Caribbean
  • Lourinaldo Silva: Confirmed as Country Director for Brazil
  • Luis Arriagada: Based in Chile, he was designated as Regional Manager, of the telecom team (part of the global telecom team). He will be handling the relationships with carriers across Latin America
  • Luis Valdez: He was designated as Regional Manager of the financial team (part of the global financial team). He will be managing all the interactions with main banks in Latin America.
• Priorities for 2011: The top three priorities for Alcatel-Lucent within Latin America have been already set. The first is to drive growth in Brazil (double digit growth rates are estimated in every line of business). Plans to expand current presence there and to increase the local team and the infrastructure are already in place. Secondly, Mr. Carr expects to fully integrate and execute both lines of business (after last year's amalgamation of ALU and Genesys) within the region, especially sales operations, to drive cross-selling opportunities. Finally, a major aim for this year is to improve e-Business and Distribution (eBD) performance in Argentina and Mexico where it remains an Alcatel-Lucent owned company. Unfortunately, the eBD 2010 performance was not encouraging, which deeply affected Alcatel-Lucent operations in Mexico and Argentina.
• Growth: While double digit growth rates are projected for Alcatel-Lucent's business in Brazil, the overall growth estimated for Latin America is also relevant. According to Mr. Carr an improvement of approximately 12-14 percent is to be expected.