Introduction Business concept, goals, and strategies

From its shareholders' perspective, Cybercom is charged with creating the right conditions for value development. This main task forms the foundation of its vision, business concept, objectives, and strategy.

Business concept

Through world-leading global delivery capacity, local presence, and close co-operation with customers, Cybercom strengthens its customers' operations using end-to-end solutions in which technology and reality meet.

Vision

Cybercom will successfully dominate its selected markets. Customers, employees, and owners will perceive Cybercom as holding a leading position.

Operation's objectives

Cybercom established these long-term objectives:

  • Become a well-known brand among customers, employees, and in the labour market.
  • Strengthen the company's presence on existing markets and continue to expand outside the Nordics.
  • Broaden the customer base; no individual customer will represent more than 15% of Group sales.
  • Offshore and nearshore services will represent a larger portion of sales.
  • Annual staff turnover will not exceed 10%.

Values

Satisfied customers

We understand that satisfied customers guarantee success.

Personal motivation

Cybercom…

  • Values a healthy, unpretentious workplace, characterised by trust, respect, professional pride, openness, and honesty.
  • Stands for job satisfaction, laughter, fun activities, and positive energy.
  • Appreciates the balance between family and leisure time, customer assignments and company activities - and the balance between hard work and good health.
  • Encourages initiative and expects employees to take responsibility.
  • Believes in one company - one culture - one team.

Profitability

Cybercom understands that only profitable companies:

  • Survive in the long term
  • Grow
  • Determine their own paths

Financial objectives

Cybercom established these financial objectives:

  • 13% long-term earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT).
  • 15% organic growth, average per year over a business cycle.

Objectives fulfilled in 2007

During the year, Cybercom:

  • Achieved up to 12% organic growth.
  • Reported an improved operating margin to 9.8%.
  • Expanded into China, eastern Europe, and Finland.
  • Widened its customer base and decreased dependence on individual customers.
  • In early 2008, no individual customer accounts for more than 15% of Group sales.
  • Reduced staff turnover.
  • Strengthened the company's position on its markets.

Strategies

Cybercom's customers have stringent demands, and customer satisfaction is key on a highly competitive market. This satisfaction ensures future sales and is a requirement for good profitability. So close co-operation with customers is required to better understand their needs and to meet their expectations.

The quality of Cybercom's proposition is closely tied to how customers are treated and services are delivered. While project quality is significant, Cybercom's employees and their knowledge, values, attitudes, and behaviours constitute its number-one success factor. Cybercom must always be able to offer its customers commercially sound solutions. So Cybercom continually develops its organisation to improve customer-related services.

Cybercom will achieve its established objectives by following a strategy focused on profitability and growth and by building a strong brand. These main strategies drive its operation:

  • Be fast-paced and focus on strong growth markets. The company must expand its operation to cover more market segments and geographic markets via organic growth and strategic acquisitions.
  • Strong focus on profitability and growth - in that order.
  • Focus on customers that have strategic operational needs for IT and expand in these areas:
    • Portals and mobile solutions
    • E-commerce and business support systems (BSS)
    • Embedded systems
  • Reinforce our reputation and attraction among customers, employees, and the labour market - via brand-boosting activities.
  • Form a decentralised Group organisation with short decision paths and global delivery capacity.
  • Recruit the best employees with the right attitudes.
  • Focus on service through expertise, concepts, and methods, and create lasting value for customers via close, long-term partnerships.
  • Internally and externally act as one company - one culture - one team.

History

Cybercom was founded in March 1995; its basic concept was to create an expert consultancy with the best consultants in the industry. Since its start, Cybercom has focused on growth. This has occurred organically and through strategic acquisitions. Cybercom was listed on the O list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange (now the OMX Nordic Exchange) in 1999.

Important events

1995

Cybercom is founded.

1996

The Stockholm office opens. Its first customers include Telia.

1998

The company has more than 200 employees.

1999

Cybercom works on mobile services. The company is quoted on the O list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange (now the OMX Nordic Exchange) in December 1999.

2000

Cybercom focuses on services aimed at the telecom and finance sectors.

2001

Cybercom establishes operations in Denmark concentrating on e-business solutions. The company has 300 employees.

2002

Cybercom establishes a presence in the UK by acquiring Stratum Project Management with operations in financial solutions and Reuters as its largest customer. Global application management responsibility for Sony Ericsson's portal is granted.

2003

Cybercom acquires Consafe Infotech and adopts a strong position for telecom services in the Öresund region. In conjunction with the acquisition, the JCE Group and J. Christer Ericsson become major Cybercom shareholders.

2004

Cybercom reinforces its position in the telecom market and in selected technologies. Among other things, the company is chosen as a partner in SIMS, an EU research project, for development of mobile services and 3G applications.

2005

Cybercom acquires Netcom Consultants, which operates in telecom management. The acquisition gives Cybercom an office in Singapore - and Millicom and Tele2, major international customers.

2006

Cybercom starts a joint venture with Datamatics Ltd in Mumbai, India. Cybercom phases out its operation in Norway in December 2006.

2007

Cybercom acquires Varchar, a Swedish IT consultancy, in January, which brings key customers in new market segments to Cybercom. Cybercom acquires auSystems' operations in Denmark, Poland, and Sweden from Teleca in May. The auSystems acquisition more than doubles Cybercom's sales and staff. See the "Acquisitions and disposals" section for more information on this deal. Patrik Boman takes over as CEO of the company in May. Cybercom signs an agreement to acquire Plenware, a Finnish IT consultancy with about 550 employees and operations in China, Estonia, Finland, and Romania - in December.

Cybercom’s strategic position

The model shows that Cybercom can earn money by either dominating a sector, i.e., positions itself to the right of the curve - or by specialising in a limited niche - a position to the left of the curve.

The dangerous position, in which margins are often narrower, is when the company is too big to be a niche player but is too small to be a sector leader. Today, Cybercom's core areas position the company either as a sector leader or as a strong niche player.

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