My First Decade at Huawei
I joined Huawei Morocco more than ten years ago. Over the past decade, I have had many unforgettable experiences working with the delivery and maintenance team. In retrospect I have assumed several positions such as wireless engineer, TL (Team Leader), TD (Technical Director), SPM (Service Project Manager) and PD (Project Director) while having my fair share of challenges, surprises, risks and preventive actions in various domains and products, such us energy, core network, application & software, and wireless. I have benefited from opportunities of meeting different people from different backgrounds, cultures and mindsets from all over the world. With these people I tried to capitalize on the opportunity to enrich my knowledge in the fields of cyber security implementation, project delivery, and customer relationship management.
More than a decade ago when it just started expanding its business in Morocco, Huawei recruited more than 30 engineers in a short time. While immediately achieving massive growth in the market, the company was faced with some new challenges. At that time, I often took a taxi to work. Whenever I got in, I would tell the taxi driver: "Take me to the Huawei office, please." Looking confused, the taxi driver usually stared at me and replied: "Where is it?" Such reactions from the taxi drivers denoted that our company was mostly unknown to the majority of people outside the high-tech field. Today, however, almost every local taxi driver knows about Huawei because our office, together with our brand, has been considered a city landmark, especially after Huawei’s smart phones started to emerge on the local market.
During that period, we went out for a meal occasionally after making a successful project delivery or achieving some outstanding results. As I have to admit, my first challenge in a Chinese restaurant was facing a bowl of rice while awkwardly using chopsticks instead of a spoon or a fork. Luckily though, with the help of my Chinese colleagues, my struggle in the beginning ended up polishing my skills in using chopsticks. Recollecting this experience, I realize that the use of chopsticks calls for just a little practice – as goes the proverb, "practice makes perfect."
In such a pleasant working environment as Huawei Morocco where we have established friendships with people around us, a solidly united team has been built in an effortless and natural team-building manner. We all understood that it was important to break down the barriers in work-related matters and show more care for our teammates. We should know our coworkers on a personal level by learning about their interests outside work, such as their families and upcoming major life events. Once, one of our teammates was expected to have her birthday on the coming Monday. To give her a surprise, we had planned a small birthday celebration in advance. We wrote our blessing words on cards and brought her some chocolates as gifts because she had once admitted that she was crazy about chocolates. On the morning of her birthday, with everything placed on her desk, we were waiting for her to get in. What a look of surprise and joy on her face when she came in and saw the gifts! She was excited with happy tears, speechless and choked as we were singing “Happy birthday to you.” She had by no means expected this warm and delightful surprise that was carefully arranged by us. This atmosphere in the office has been a great factor for productivity. Such a friendly relationship among team members has facilitated our efforts to achieve more project targets in the spirit of “one team, one goal.”
Playing the piano
Prioritizing Responsibilities and Results
Working as a Service Project Manager (SPM), my top priority is to strictly comply with the cyber security and privacy protection regulations. We have always compared each single service operation to a smooth takeoff and landing of an aircraft. Any changes in a live network must be approved and authorized by our customer. Besides, in rigorously following the customer-centric policy, we respond quickly to our customers’ requirements. We also try our best to ensure the stable operation of the customer's network and business continuity even under extreme circumstances. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic when the situation changed from bad to worse, many critical measures were taken by the government to control the outbreak of the virus, including lockdown and national curfew. Our maintenance team tried all possible means to guarantee the smooth running of customer business and the effective operation and communication in some hard-hit areas. Therefore we, as a united and dedicated team, stood side by side with our customers to further consolidate our ties both in business and in livelihood.
Looking forward, ICT will continue to evolve, while more and more new business scenarios will emerge, which require more open and transparent communication and closer collaboration among people worldwide. It is therefore the duty of every Huawei employee and partner to support and maintain the network and service operations for our customers. We are ready to accomplish our mission, anywhere at any time.
As maintenance leader, I understand that I should focus on the customer satisfaction, identify and solve any issues in a timely manner. Personally, when I started my role as SPM, I used the Huawei knowledge-based platforms (e.g. Support and iLearning) to enhance my technical skills in different products such as Transmission, Core Network, Application & Software, and Wireless. The solid knowledge that I have acquired from these platforms has facilitated my communication with different customer managers at the level of technical jargons used in every domain. In addition to contract preparation and fulfillment during work, we have also planned different activities in our off hours to build a friendly and close relationship with our customers. Since the majority of my customers’ key interface and contact persons are male, we tend to organize football games frequently, which appeal to them and contribute to enhancing our relationship.
A network incident is a problem that can annoy the customer and push us for a quick solution. When it happens, we are expected to recover the service in a short period. Such events are stressful by nature, and customers usually have a valid reason for being upset. Based on my experience, the lesson learned from this kind of situation is that the SPM should detach himself from the customer's tone of voice and remain calm. He should focus all his energy on solving the problem and be patient to guide others. Luckily, Huawei has in place a well-established and effective process and mechanism for escalation. The team behind SPM contributes efficiently to troubleshooting and implementing the solution. The role of R&D engineers is also of great importance, as they are greatly helpful in solving the problem.
Together with my teammates
Remaining Close to Customers, Listening to Them Attentively, and Understanding Their Needs
As a Project Director (PD), I am often asked by some customers: "What is the driving force behind Huawei’s fast growth?" I spontaneously reply that the supernatural power that pushes Huawei to develop quickly is customer satisfaction. Its operational mechanism, incentive mechanism, decision-making procedures, rules, regulations and corporate culture are all the secret ingredients in Huawei’s recipe of growth and success.
The PD functions as a ring-chain that connects Huawei to the customer. Based on my personal experience, this position requires a mature, skillful and experienced person who can satisfy both sides and has to maintain a balance of loyalty to our company and commitment to customers. It is an art. Customer satisfaction is the basic criterion for measuring our work. We can earn customers' trust only by providing quality services. The power of trust is infinite and inexhaustible.
Once, a customer had two MSCs (Mobile Station Controller) used to serve the whole traffic. Based on our periodic network health check, we realized that the two MSCs were not sufficient, which could slow and even disrupt network services. After an internal alignment with technical, management and account teams, we worked out a strategy to follow.
First, we started engaging with the customer by drawing the attention of their engineering and maintenance teams. I worked closely with both teams by clarifying and explaining in different workshops. Thus they were aware of the current risky situation and ready to communicate the issue to their top management.
Second, we proposed a customized solution that could ensure a stable and strong network and aligned it with the customer’s top management. After their internal consensus, they immediately made an offer to our sales team to expand the existing MSC’s capacity as an interim solution and considered adding one new MSC as a long-term one.
As a result, we helped our customer to address the critical pain points that they might face in the future if no action was taken to prevent them. In the end the customer considered our suggestions and showed their appreciation for our care for their network and our professional support.
In addition to the quality of delivered service, communication is also of great importance because it leads the customer to positively understand and evaluate our efforts. Good data need proper packaging so as to be well presented and organized, which also requires a proper governance model to communicate them to the right customer levels.
Needless to say, the customer always comes first as mentioned in our corporate core values. Let us work with them positively and professionally toward shared goals. In my point of view, a customer’s complaint actually means an opportunity of winning a loyal customer, as there are still expectations to be met beyond it. If we resolve their issues or fulfill their requests, we will be able to earn their trust and loyalty.
It is a right choice for Huawei to expand the PD goals and responsibilities to be aligned with the sales domain. That has allowed me to be involved in new solution preparation and introduction to customers as add-on sales service (AOS). This new challenge enriches my personal knowledge. I have learned the method for finding out customers’ pain points in their business, operations and networks, to diagnose the root causes, and to translate all these findings into a value proposition that is well targeted. With a challenging goal you will strengthen yourself more than you can imagine. As a result you will become more proactive at work and your dreams will come true.
Recalling my journey at Huawei, so far I have learnt that striving for growth is the only way to survive and to adapt to the continuously changing situation in the future. As frontline teams, we have to continuously learn to keep up with everything that is happening around us, be able to proactively optimize the operating model, help customers succeed in their digital transformation and be ready for the challenges to come.
My shining moments of receiving an award with team members
(by Abbou Mohamed)
[The original text is published in HUAWEI PEOPLE Issue 331 (Sep 29,2021)]