• Ericsson has revamped its business division line-up and management team
• Digital Services and Managed Services divisions have been merged
• Head of Europe and LatAm, Arun Bansal, is leaving the company
• A new Enterprise Wireless Solutions unit has been created to focus on the big new growth area for the mobile tech vendor

With an eye on where Ericsson’s future growth lies, the Swedish vendor has created a new business division, Enterprise Wireless Solutions, as part of a broader revamp of its business and executive team that sees new blood join the top table and some big names step down.

The move makes sense, as it sends a clear message that Ericsson is just as focussed on the networking and tech needs of enterprises as it is on the needs of telcos: It also gives the company and CEO Börje Ekholm something new on which to focus in what has been a challenging year for the vendor.

Ericsson has been talking up its prospects in the enterprise technology sector for some time, especially since it acquired indoor/private wireless network technology specialist Cradlepoint for $1.1 billion in 2020, and that particular business unit is at the heart of the Enterprise Wireless Solutions division, alongside Dedicated Networks (private wireless networks). (See Ericsson has its eyes on the enterprise prize.)

George Mulhern, currently CEO of Cradlepoint, will be Senior Vice President and head of Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions, working closely with Åsa Tamsons: She will continue in her role as Senior Vice President and head of Business Area Technologies & New Businesses which will “continue to focus on developing new business solutions to accelerate growth across Ericsson’s core and enterprise businesses – building on the successful model established to incubate new growth businesses, such as Dedicated Networks and Cradlepoint,” notes the vendor.

And when the $6.2 billion acquisition of Vonage is completed, which should happen within the next couple of months, it will become part of the new division, which comes into being on 1 June. (See Enterprise ambition drives Ericsson’s $6.2 billion swoop on Vonage.)

“With this change we are taking important steps in our journey to execute on our strategy. The new Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions will provide the focus and conditions we need to thrive in the enterprise market and secure the next wave of success for this business. We are also excited to continue to invest in new businesses for our long-term growth through the proven model established in Business Area Technologies & New Businesses. I want to extend a warm welcome to George as he joins Ericsson’s Executive Team,” noted CEO Ekholm in the official announcement.

The restructuring process also involves the merger of two current divisions, Digital Services and Managed Services, which will be combined to form Cloud Software and Services. One way of looking at this move is that Ericsson has put all of its problem children into the same room, as both divisions have struggled for consistent growth in recent years, and Digital Services has been a long-time loss-maker. The vendor’s current head of Product Area Networks within the Networks division, Per Narvinger, has been put in charge and will join to Executive Team.

That Executive Team will soon look quite different. As well as Mulhern and Narvinger, Moti Gyamlani will also be a new name at the top table as he steps up from head of procurement to be head of a new group function called Global Operations, which will “simplify and digitalize overall ways of working.”

Stepping down from that team will be the current head of Managed Services, Peter Laurin, who had previously announced his intention to leave the company, and the current head of Digital Services, Jan Karlsson, who will “drive the development of the Global Network Platform.”

Also leaving is Arun Bansal, currently Executive Vice President and Head of Market Area Europe and Latin America, who has quit for a job elsewhere (as yet unannounced) and is stepping down immediately. He has been with Ericsson since 1995 and has been in his current role for the last five years: An acting head of Europe and LatAm is to be announced soon.

All the details about the various changes and revamps can be found in this announcement.

CEO Ekholm will be hoping this reshuffle will give Ericsson a new lease of life and help it to now only re-focus on some key areas of new growth (in addition to its core mobile networks division) but also help the company to move on from and/or shake off some of the problems that have bedevilled the company in the past year, mots notoriously, of course, the Iraq payments scandal that is still set to cause the company some as yet unquantified problems in the near future. (See   Impending Iraq punishments overshadow Ericsson’s investment strategy.)

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV