“ Arqiva is undergoing a massive business and digital transformation and we ’ re a strategic partner in their journey ,” states Anand Birje , Sr . Corporate Vice President and Head of the Digital and Analytics practice at HCL Technologies . He explains that its partnership with telco Arqiva started in 2018 and has remained strong ever since . “ HCL was chosen as a prime partner for its smart metering implementation programme , which was , to my mind , one of the largest of its kind in the world at that time .”

Clive White , Chief Technology and Transformation Officer at Arqiva , states that this initiative was highly ambitious . “ We were looking to modernise all of our infrastructure and core systems and , very importantly , make good on the realisation of our integrated future ,” he says . Achieving this meant placing data at the centre of the company ’ s operations to acquire the desired “ single point of truth ”. Arqiva ’ s highly progressive attitude and culture meant that it needed a partner with shared values in order to execute this vision . Following a thorough search for the right collaborator , “ HCL came out on top .”

More than simply providing tech , Birje claims that HCL ’ s synergistic culture has enabled it to determine the best course of action for Arqiva , such as ‘ sprint developing ’. Speed to market is paramount for the company , confirms White . Arqiva ’ s enhanced agility also had an unprecedented benefit during the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic : “ We established a digital workplace very early on ; Arqiva was able to pivot the business overnight to working remotely for all our teams , apart from the operational teams and field engineers .”

From making the right technology investments to supporting enterprise-wide digital change , Birje emphasises that any transformation is more akin to a never ending journey of discovery than a linear process . “ HCL is looking forward to undertaking that journey with Arqiva ; there ’ s a massive transformation coming in the next few years .” White considers that , as the company shifts from being a ‘ data managing ’ to a ‘ data-driven ’ organisation , the possibilities for reinvention are likely to be significant , both for Arqiva and the market it operates in . “ I think we are creating self-serve opportunities the more we reach out to our customers with portals , dashboards and data interfaces . We ’ re going to broaden those core business processes and expose our customers to as much of that as we can .”

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