Sofrecom is a worldwide group specialized in consultancy and engineering, 100% subsidiary of the Orange group. It has been present in Algeria for 16 years. Mrs Marianne Brunat, CEO of Sofrecom Algérie since November, 1st 2018, picks up on the ambitions and the strategy of the Orange Group’s subsidiary in Algeria in this interview.
N’tic Magazine: You have been freshly appointed head of Sofrecom Algeria. Is there a new redeployment of Sofrecom in Algeria?
Marianne Brunat: It is clearly our desire. Sofrecom has been operating in Algeria for 16 years, with a rather modest development of IT. My recent appointment to head this subsidiary, along with my Sales Director functions of the Group, aims at launching an ambitious development similar to what we have done for our subsidiaries in the rest of the Maghreb, with today more than 600 people in Tunisia and 450 people in Morocco. Our ambition is to contribute and to take part in the digital transformation of Algeria by capitalizing on our history and our experience in the African markets. Sofrecom has indeed been present for more than 50 years on the African continent and contributed to the transformation of the telcos sector together with the local players.
N’tic Magazine: What dynamic do you plan on instilling to your company in Algeria?
MB: The aim is to roll out all the business lines of the Sofrecom’s Group: strategy consulting and marketing, transformation of networks, consultancy and IT integration and digital transformation. We are also studying the opportunities of developing nearshore activities and the setting up of a digital bootcamp. Sofrecom has developed an end to end approach which associates skills, from Design Thinking to Agile project methods, by promoting expertise around DevOps with the cooperation of all its teams on the continent. To this end, we are regularly looking to expand our teams with transverse talents. One of the ways to do it is youth training and support in obtaining a first job. Talent training is a key challenge in order to address the new digital issues. Sofrecom wishes to play an active role in it. We are developing partnerships with engineering schools and higher education institutions for that purpose. We regularly organize events aiming at making the students contribute to innovative projects.
The current actions of our regional teams are fully involved in this will, throughout the identification of business as much as university local partnerships, the expansion of our presence at the side of the key actors of the sector and the active participation in local events.
N’tic Magazine: How do you evaluate the Algerian market?
MB: Algeria is a high-potential, but also very complex market. On the one hand, the digital momentum has really started, with a rich and dynamic ecosystem and a market expressing strong needs. On the other hand, the financial, legal and regulatory constraints do not make development and investment easy.
N’tic Magazine: You work in the field of the digital transformation of companies and organizations. Are there in Algeria real opportunities for Sofrecom?
MB: Yes! And these opportunities could be a real acceleration vector for the digitalization of the country. We have already proved that our support in high speed broadband network deployment helps secure the timeframes and minimize costs. We also have started working with public and private players on the digitalization of their services and their customer relationship. Quality of service, fixed-mobile convergence, mobile financial services and portability are also topics on which we already organized workshops.
