You could be forgiven for believing that providing cutting edge communications and technology services in remote locations presents something of a quandary . How can a business remain profitable when it is making significant investments to stay ahead of the curve in markets with limited scalability ?

While the global telecoms giants are reluctant to properly penetrate the likes of the Isle of Man and Channel Islands , this is exactly what Sure and Sure International has been doing for 120 years , and with notable success .

The company delivers mobile , broadband , fixed line , data centre and enterprise solutions , including cloud services and igaming hosting , to more than 100,000 consumers , corporate and public sector customers , connecting islanders and island businesses to each other and the rest of the world . Sure also has the global might of parent Batelco to back up its local knowledge following the acquisition by the Bahrain-based company in 2013 .

The frenetic speed of change , combined with sparsely populated remote jurisdictions , is a fascinating and exciting enterprise that CEO Eddie Saints oversees every day . He explains : “ It poses a real challenge for us alongside the speed at which technology is changing . When technology becomes obsolete you have to refresh networks , which is what we are having to do every year .”

“ We have had to be clever ,” adds Chief Technology and Information Officer Cyrille Joffre . “ Historically we have been quite innovative because we are constrained by the domestic market and its size . It ’ s a small volume but you can

114 October 2016

Business Chief Europe Magazine October 2016 | Page 114

Channel Island telecoms provider Sure International is putting people at the heart of its innovation drive , from customers and strategic partners to its own staff and surrounding local communities