Lakhasly

Massive changes in the business environment drive the need for knowledge networking.Siemens' Information and Communication Networks Division is a global provider of telecommunication solutions, active in more than 100 countries.Since mid-1990s, however, the market environment has undergone a massive transformation and the Siemens ICN business model has been superseded by wholesale market change.New competitors arrived at the scene while the pace of innovation was upped by the introduction of new technology such as IP networks.The company's traditional business used to be quite simple and straightforward: it dominated its home market by means of a close relationship with a regulated national telecom monopoly.Deregulation within the sector led to new types of players in the telecom market, who often cherry-picked the most interesting segments of the value chain.Siemens used this position to sell integrated products to other national telecoms around the world.

Massive changes in the business environment drive the need for knowledge
networking.
Siemens’ Information and Communication Networks Division is a global provider of
telecommunication solutions, active in more than 100 countries. The company’s traditional
business used to be quite simple and straightforward: it dominated its home market by means
of a close relationship with a regulated national telecom monopoly. Siemens used this position
to sell integrated products to other national telecoms around the world.
Since mid-1990s, however, the market environment has undergone a massive transformation
and the Siemens ICN business model has been superseded by wholesale market change.
Deregulation within the sector led to new types of players in the telecom market, who often
cherry-picked the most interesting segments of the value chain. New competitors arrived at the
scene while the pace of innovation was upped by the introduction of new technology such as IP
networks. New kind of customers were less interested in “buying boxes” from Siemens, but
were far more focused on complete solutions fitting their specific needs, including consulting,
financing, systems integration and other services. This shift from a pure product business to a
stronger service focus and solutions approach increased the complexity and knowledge intensity
of Siemens’ business.
The company was forced to rely more than ever on the front lines of the organization, who are
more knowledgeable about the latest developments. Sales people had to act more and more like
consultants. Skills like business analysis, business development, network planning, outsourcing
and so on were suddenly in high demand, albeit dispersed globally. Solution selling had become
an important value-adding activity.
Doing this right meant identifying best practices quickly, sharing them on a global scale and
making sure that they were reused for profit in similar settings.
The idea of ShareNet as “global knowledge sharing network” was born.