wreck

The announcement of the departure of Chema Alonso de Telefónica, advanced by Adslzone just before Mobile World Congress and already confirmed by Alonso in A video posted in your LinkedInmarks the end of a unique journey. The hacker turned into a senior executive leaves behind A wake as peculiar as his outfitbetween recognizable achievements and promises that remained on the horizon. Telefónica has also made this departure official In your official blog: The Board of Directors thanked Chema Alonso, to date Chief Digital Officer, its great impulse to the digital transformation of Telefónica during the last 13 years, as well as its leadership in the execution of the company’s Data-Centric platforms and the creation of the new relationship ecosystem with the industry and OpenGateway in its last stage. Chema Alonso will support Sebas Muriel with her technological advice in the transition. When Alonso entered Telefónica in 2012, after the purchase of his company Computer science 64 (then renamed Elevenpaths)it represented something unpublished: a technical root profile, away from the traditional MBA, ascending to the dome of a conservative multinational. His Appointment as Chief Data Officer In 2016 by José María Álvarez-Pallete, he symbolized the will to change in a mega-enterprise that needed to modernize desperately. Pallete was looking for insufflate an air of innovation in the Gray Ibex-35and for this he opted for a disruptive character even in his aesthetics. With his unmistakable blue hat and his scooter, Alonso broke the schemes of the traditional executive. His speech, full of anglicisms and references to digital transformation, intended to mark a before and after in the corporate culture of the operator. During his decade in The Great T.Alonso became the most recognizable public face of Telefónica’s digital transformation, Much more than any other manager except the president himself. He starred advertising campaigns and was the face of the teleco in corporate ads, such as An agreement with Microsoft. Image: Telefónica. Its undeniable communicative capacity (He came to have fun to El Hormiguero) and his technical domain allowed him to make bridge between two worlds usually disconnected: the technological avant -garde and the traditional telecommunications business. In his favor we must count initiatives such as the Global Data Unit, the development of Aura as virtual assistant – another singing is its implementation – and especially its role in the creation of the Telefónica Privacy Center, which advanced many of the concerns that the European RGPD. However, the deep transformation that promised its signing never materialized with the expected speed or range. Its main projects, announced with grandiloquence, translated into commercial results more modest than expected. Large projects, small results Alonso’s trajectory on Telefónica was defined by a series of ambitious initiatives that never reached the expectations generated. With three great examples: The fourth platform In 2016, Telefónica surprised the technological world when she announced her intention to create a system where Giants such as Google, Facebook or WhatsApp should consider the value of the operator’s clients data. The proposal, led by Alonso, proposed to create a mechanism where each user could decide whether he shared his personal information for free or if he demanded compensation. The announcement generated immediate headlines, but two years later, The so -called “Fourth Platform” – A Big Data infrastructure that should support this revolution – failed to materialize that initial vision. The project consumed important technical and financial resources of the company, but did not transform the relationship between operators and digital platforms as announced. Aura, the assistant who failed to connect In February 2018, Telefónica presented with great media deployment its response to Siri, Alexao or the Google assistant: Auraa virtual assistant with the launched simultaneously in six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Alonso personally headed the presentation of this technology that promised to revolutionize the interaction of users with the operator’s services. Chema Alonso during the presentation of Aura with Hololens. Image: Telefónica. To promote the adoption of the service, Telefónica invested in An expensive advertising campaign starring parish parrots that flooded televisions and advertising fences for months. Despite this investment in marketing, Aura did not achieve expected traction among usersbecoming a tool used by a minimum fraction of the huge customer base of the operator. Movistar Home, the device without a market The next step in the digital strategy was to make something tangible. Movistar Homepresented in 2018, it was a physical device that combined touch screen and smart speakers with integrated aura. Among its functionalities was the possibility of making video calls (outside the usual platforms for it) or controlling the smart bulbs of the house (also outside the most used protocols). Marketed at 79 euros, the device entered a market already dominated by the Amazon Echo and the Google Home, but with the disadvantage of offering a much more limited ecosystem and dependent on the Movistar universe, Meager in possibilities compared to Google or Amazon ecosystems. The Movistar Home. Image: Xataka. The value proposal was not convincing for consumers, who did not see reason to acquire a device whose functions could perform with the smartphone they already possessed. Or with the command of TV. His journey was very scarce. The Teleco tried to boost sales with several strategies, including increasingly aggressive promotions for customers and several media appearances. Particularly notable was the participation of Rafa Nadal, stellar figure of the sponsorship of Telefónica, promoting the device in the Andreu Buenafuente program. Not to mention a disturbing Spot Together with the then cyclists of the Movistar team, co -starring Alonso himself. However, not even the support of the best Spanish athlete in history or the great cyclists of the moment managed to arouse any interest in Movistar Home. The last thing we know about the project is that a year ago he announced his return … in the form of an app. Open Gateway: The most recent bet In the Mobile World Congress of 2023, when Alonso’s innovative cycle gave symptoms of being exhausted, Telefónica presented Open … Read more