Revenue by project type
- Turnkey 46%
- Consulting services 54%
The IT and telecom consulting market has been very good and characterised by many activities and strong growth that generate high demand for Cybercom's services.
Cybercom's development has been strongest in the expanding Öresund region, where Cybercom has offices in Malmö, Lund, and Copenhagen. Cybercom has also held its own in Stockholm during the year, despite tough competition. Market development in the UK has also been very positive.
Telecom industry players continue to invest with the purpose of expanding and taking market share. The result? A good market position for IT and telecom consultancies. International players invest in network expansion and development of new areas and services. In the Nordics, focus is more on optimising existing systems than on building new systems.
A few large companies that sign frame agreements with several selected consultancies now dominate the telecom market. Size, niche offerings, and an international presence are increasingly key factors for consulting companies.
Distinctions between IT and telecom - and who delivers what - are being redefined. Reduced calling costs force operators to find alternative revenue streams.
Together with more sophisticated technology, the result is convergence of telephony, broadband, and TV, and new types of content and services. For instance, music through mobile phones has grown quickly. TV through the telephone is also advancing, assisted by development of the DVB-H technology that adapts digital TV for mobile telephones.
Development of content and technology parallels an increase and diversification of the number of market players. Today, the combination of telephony, broadband, and television are delivered by traditional operators and by content-producing media companies such as MTG and net owners such as Teracom and Vattenfall.
The key to a fast-growing, online market is the transformation of traditional media and communication channels into IP technology. Players in the new media's value chain must quickly snap up new technologies to handle increasing online activity.
Access capabilities for mobile Internet are global and seamless. This has allowed for visions such as single sign on, always best connected, and 24/7 media consumption.
Today's customers require suppliers with global capacity and preferably 24/7 availability. Service, efficiency, and particularly competitive pricing are key issues. The trend shows that companies primarily choose outsourcing, e.g., for mature, standardised development and maintenance processes. This changes the role of Swedish and western European consultancies. It is difficult for them to compete over prices for standard services. Instead, they focus on the profitable specialist assignments and turnkey projects.
Cybercom has had offshore capacity since April 2006 via a joint venture in India, described in the Operations section.
Cybercom has several competitors in various market situations. Competitors range from large, global companies such as . . .
. . . to local companies such as:
Competitors also include many specialised consulting companies that operate on the international telecom market.
The IT and telecom labour market typically shifts a lot. And most companies will tell you that there's a skills shortage. Consulting companies have difficulties finding and retaining competent employees.
For instance, the IT sector in Sweden now lacks almost 9,000 persons, according to IDC, a business intelligence agency. Fewer applications to IT education programmes, combined with upcoming retirements, will escalate the problem within the near term.
Increased recruitment and professional development activities will occur in 2007 to fortify the company's position as an attractive employer that's capable of competing on the labour market.
Technical paradigm shifts drove IT sector changes in recent decades. The sector is now expected to enter a mature phase, and the service sector is expected to become more affected by economy-driven fluctuations. The good economic trend from 2006 is expected to continue in 2007.
Mobile communication represents the most growth in the industry and is expected to increase by 10-14% annually through the end of 2010. Growth will primarily come through large investments in the mobile networks of Asia, Africa, and Russia. The 3G network in Europe will also continue to expand gradually.
Operators' revenues will gradually move from voice traffic and SMS to other sources; this is due to several factors:
The ongoing merger of telephony, broadband, and TV, called triple-play, will include mobile telephony. The combined offer of communication, entertainment, and services will become wireless, i.e., quadplay or quadruple play. So new media is creating a new market.
Cybercom runs turnkey projects - providing solutions and application management and it provides specialist services - involving leading technologies. Cybercom delivers onshore or offshore; its offerings fall into four operation areas:
Cybercom offers expertise and consulting services in the telecom management and network areas. Cybercom has strengthened its international presence in 2006, primarily through its non-European ventures.
Cybercom's Singapore office has become a central point for Asia and Africa, particularly when co-operating with Millicom. International projects do operational audits to optimise the operators' businesses when setting up organisational models and process models. Tele2 and Teracom are key customers in Sweden.
Landline and mobile convergence parallels increased demand for consulting services. Operators want to offer the same or similar services regardless of which technology the customer uses to connect. This creates demands for new types of architecture and solutions that support implementation of IP-based services.
Cybercom has several training projects within IP multimedia subsystems (IMS). IMS simultaneously supports landline and mobile access that enables operators to easily develop and add new IP-based services. At Cybercom's facilities in Linköping, network simulators are developed to simulate traffic in 2G and 3G networks.
Cybercom's largest area of operation is in portals and mobile solutions. Using its extensive experience, Cybercom helps customers create new digital services and customer propositions that are delivered via the Internet or mobile devices. Customers include Sony Ericsson, Assa Abloy, and Reuters.
Many new players seek to supply content services for mobile phones, and a new market is now being created. These needs benefit Cybercom with its solid experience and extensive expertise in the area.
Cybercom won its first offshore project in 2006 - an agreement between Cybercom and Sony Ericsson for application management, development, and testing of Sony Ericsson's external web sites and corresponding functionality. The contract runs until 31 December 2008. Cybercom's commitment includes daily administration and participation in key development and testing projects.
During the year, Cybercom won several new portal development projects, including an internal purchasing portal for a UK company in the fashion industry. Cybercom also has several ongoing portal projects that are spread across several years.
Cybercom supplies the entire business process value chain for e-commerce. This is a market with strong growth in all segments. Integration of new or improved solutions for e-commerce parallels company's efforts to take market shares.
Cybercom partners with IBM and has sought-after competence in IBM's e-commerce suite. This partnership provides new, attractive customers primarily in the UK. Projects are for customers in industry, telecom, and retailing.
The areas of billing and business support systems (BSS) are becoming more standardised and module based, even if customer adaptations are always done. Within billing, Cybercom is a product partner with solutions that are integrated into other systems. TeliaSonera, Tele2, and Suntel in Sri Lanka are key customers. Cybercom is concentrating on widening its customer base for billing outside of telecom; in during 2006, it won a project to integrate billing solutions for e-invoicing systems.
New, better mobile telephone models require more sophisticated content functionality. Cybercom produces technical solutions and develops software with a series of new functions. This area is very competitive and demands fast product development. Cybercom has important projects with Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Ericsson.
Cybercom develops applications for customers outside the telecom sector. Examples include transaction cards, electronic locks, and systems for rescue services and surveillance. Projects are with customers such as Saab Tech and Assa Abloy.
Cybercom has a co-ordinating roll in the standardising work of the Open Mobile Services Interface (OMSI) Forum within device management. The aim is to create a common standard for all mobile telephone manufacturers when updating mobile telephone software.
Abort the reading The reading will start from the beginning if aborted.
Previous heading Rewind the reading to the previous heading.
Next heading Skip this heading and begin the reading the next heading.
Hear the text Have the text read aloud by your computer.
Log in Log in here to access comments created in an earlier session.
All comments Shows a list of all your annual report comments.
Send to a friend Send the annual report including your own notes to a friend.
Comments Click to activate the commenting function. When activated, double click in the text where you want to add a comment. Only you have access to your comments.
Print Create a printer friendly PDF-document of any or all annual report sections.
Help Usage tips and explanations to all annual report functions.
