Will have to be more selective in our projects

It is one of the major shipyards of Stéphane Richard for 2011. The Director General of France Telecom stated himself to employees of the company at its wishes, January 11: should be France Telecom found the path to innovation. To do this, the leader has commissioned the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), to investigate the process of innovation in the group. And the consultants, who work on the subject a few weeks ago, will make proposals to improve the effectiveness of research and development. This reflection should lead, end of March, the Organization of General States of R & D in France Telecom. The goal Define a clear roadmap for the researchers of the group.

Last year, in 2009, the incumbent operator has invested EUR 862 million in innovation, representing 1.9 of its turnover. In all, near 3.100 employees based in France worked in R & D and innovation in late 2009. It is much more than its competitors. By contrast, Deutsche Telekom has spent 200 million euros in R & D in 2009. However, "it is not to spend less but better", said a source in France Telecom. Because force is of the main innovations in the digital are not output the laboratories of the telecom operators in recent years. The most innovative companies have undoubtedly been developers of Internet services, like Google, and manufacturers of terminals, such as Apple or BlackBerry. Will have to "be more selective in our projects." It may not work on hundreds of different topics. It will have to focus on the usability of services, their simplicity and the intuitive nature of the technology. "Finally, we must be faster and more agile with regard to the placing on the market of innovations", according to a framework.

Organization crumbled

In practice, the organization is today considered internally as being complicated and fragmented. Several entities coexist. The Orange Labs are scattered around the world, from Beijing to Amman from San Francisco. Historical sites in R & D are based in Brittany and Issy les Moulineaux. The main marketplace, based in Châtillon, Ile-de-France, marie R & D and marketing and is intended to be a plant to innovations for the group. Finally, Orange Valley is a kind of sensible start-up be at the forefront of the new uses.

Everything will be delivered flat. The idea of the Technocentre seduced in the operator, but clearly not that of Orange Valley. The existence of this structure, which cost 40 million euros per year, could be challenged in the spring. On the Orange Labs Boston and Seoul were already closed last year.

The site is not new, but socially risky. In 2008, 325 positions of engineers had been removed in France. And the wound open by autumn 2009 suicide crisis is not yet fully closed among the employees of the operator. Stéphane Richard is to proceed smoothly. "R & D has already been redirected with a drastic reduction in the budgets allocated to basic research", said a trade unionist. "Today, the R & D must respond to the needs of the customers", admits the latter. The time is therefore not to panic among the staff representatives.