In this interview with Paolo Murri, Responsible for Business Development & Open Innovation at the TIM Group, he talks about his vision of Alaian and other aspects of the alliance.

What does Alaian mean to you?

An opportunity to be constantly in touch with the edge of innovation of the telecom industry, with the greatest advantage – compared to other hubs or events – of sharing with colleagues in the same industry views, plans and practical experiences.

How would you define Alaian in one word?

Innovation-ship: I made it up. It’s a ship, a boat, where we telcos are altogether navigating a complex sea, with the same goal of bringing innovation to our customers.

What does your telco contribute to the overall alliance?

We are rapidly changing as an operator, coming from a major transformation and building a new future for our Company. As such we can bring our latest experience on how to best focus on innovation that builds growth.

And we can also bring the creativity and style of our network of innovators in Italy and Brazil!

Highlight a key telco technology for you today

ideas: which out of the core verticals are you focusing on? What’s the next big thing in the telco industry?

5G. Its full potential has yet to be seen. As we know, it enables new use cases, business models and opens up new OTT-telco cooperation thanks to the (Open Gateway) APIs.

AI: a game changer for many industries and certainly for telcos.

Cybersecurity. AI brings an increasing need of cybersecurity, to an extent that I am afraid we’re not yet prepared to even imagine.

Why is it so important to innovate, and what role does innovation plays in your company?

In the coming years we will see further acceleration in innovation and digitalization of our customers’ lives, which will bring them an overwhelming variety of opportunities as well as increasing risks on many fronts. In this evolving landscape, we telecom operators can play a crucial role.
We can on one hand simplify our customer’s digital lives and journeys by helping them select the best and most reliable services in a seamless and easy way, while on the other hand protect them from the emerging cyber risks that they are progressively more exposed to.

We’ll be doing so in many different ways, competing with players from other industries. It will be key to do it better than them, so that we can differentiate and make our solutions unique. In this context the contribution of innovation will be absolutely key.

What does an alliance like this offer the entrepreneurial ecosystem? 

Alaian provides potential scale: an opportunity to access international markets with over a billion customers.

What would you say to startups who want to be part of the alliance? 

It’s a great opportunity to expand their impact on a global scale by accessing an extended ecosystem of innovation. Startups and innovative companies will benefit not only from TIM’s distinctive assets but also from the chance to expand their offerings into new markets, creating synergies with other strategic partners and advanced technological resources.