Co-founder & President, CEO at IT-Development, Patrick Coltel boasts more than 25 years’ experience as an executive in the telecoms field. Patrick Coltel was formerly head of a Business Unit in charge of field service with France Telecom. A graduate from the French National Institute of Telecommunications, his expertise covers the following areas: organization, business process management, building, deployment, and operation of telecommunication networks. Former positions include Logistics Manager with Orange Slovakia, CTO with Orange Netherlands, and COO with Cofratel.
1. Why did you set up IT-Development ?
The reason was based on my experience in the field and the various positions I held. Operators always have complex projects to manage such as the deployment and operation of a network in the fastest possible way, often from scratch. More and more, they have to replace existing pieces of equipment, deploy 3G or 4G networks, upgrade a network very quickly because an operator’s business is based on the fact that the coverage and functionalities are fully and swiftly operational in order to be able to sell quality services to the customers.
This means that they have to be able to manage a large number of sites (ranging from a hundred to tens of thousands) with the associated components such as staff, equipment, and contractors. To face this challenge successfully, they either need a very well organized Program Manager with several spreadsheets, or a proper tool which can take into account each site in a “live” manner, as well as all of the components and processes and thus have a global view – and no longer a fragmented one – of the project.
Therefore we have developed a solution called ClickOnSite to help operators save time by lifting possible blocking points, for instance, a contractor is delayed, a component is missing, or there is a lack of equipment on a given site. Thus we help them save money as well. Because of its flexible structure, IT-Development always has the ability to take its customers’ needs into account on a regular basis.
2. What is your vision of the market and evolution of our skills?
The crisis has hit all the market players. Decision cycles are getting longer and longer and projects can be stalled. However, once we demonstrate the merits of our solution to our customers, they can quickly support it internally, all the more so when it becomes clear that much time is wasted without it. Furthermore, we remain highly competitive vs. large integrators. Our data is exchanged in a timely manner so that the operator has a clear view of the network and consequently is able to provide the proper information to all the players and the management.
Although we’re focusing on the deployment of telecom networks, we are also working on an upgrade of ClickOnSite, our flagship product, so that it can take into account any needs in terms of Business Process Management, regardless of the type of business, for instance when opening shops in various sites with ClickOnShop. In fact, operators are often faced with recurring situations like finding a location, negotiating contracts, finding contractors, and so on. Our tools and solutions enable them to combine multiple processes that run simultaneously. We make it possible to save time on the implementation and enable the operator to focus on the blocking points.
3. What’s the game plan for IT-Development, in the medium to long term? In other words, what’s your dream scenario for the company and its customers?
It is not our intention to become a large group. Neither do we want to develop tools that would require us to manage labyrinthine systems. We want to keep our flexibility to be able to respond to our customers’ needs. We want to provide more and more services and enable administrators and end-users to take the lead over their processes by means of our tools so that we can provide more training and consulting services.
Our long-term goal would be to have all our users operate our workflow engine to serve corporate-wide needs, starting with the technical departments. Our vision would be to enable operators to implement more light-weight internal processes that would be better integrated into the real world, daily activities of all the players.
A presenter at a local radio station specializing in social debates in the Tours area, Patrick Coltel no doubt makes use of his listening skills whenever he meets ClickonSite users.