Fernando Usera arrived in South Africa to take over leadership of the local Communications and High Tech group.
Previously he has worked in his native Spain, as well as in Italy, Morocco, and Latin America among others, focusing on the communications industry.
Usera is energised by the challenge of emerging markets and sees South Africa as ripe with possibility. The South African communications market, he says, is at an inflexion point, with all the opportunity that implies. The global convergence of wireless and wireline technologies, combined with the success of those Internet companies that survived the dot-com crash, is changing the landscape of the industry.
New devices and services to maximize their usefulness to end customers, business and government are constantly in development, and the business model is never static.
The traditional South African wireline market is likely to experience something of a shake-up given the entry of the second network operator onto the market. "Creating competition in this market is really healthy," Usera observes. "The wireline market will change as new products and technologies are introduced to customers." In his view, one of the big opportunities here is the ongoing digitisation of the network environment.
Usera expects the Soccer World Cup to play a significant role in the industry as the broadcast and media industries gear up for this global event.
Usera intends to grow Accenture's client base in the Communications and High Tech industries, particularly focusing on helping companies deal with—and capitalize on—the challenges raised by the inflexion point. Outsourcing will be a key strategy for companies in this industry, he believes, and here Accenture can play a key role. Another role will be to leverage Accenture's global expertise in business processes generally and the communications industry in particular to help local players reach for high performance.
Still without his family thanks to the exigencies of moving schools from the northern to the southern hemispheres, Usera has degrees in science and business from Spanish institutions. As an aficionado of emerging markets, Usera defines himself as an optimist with a healthy dose of passion for what he does.
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