We sat down with Jonas to learn more about his extensive experience in the broadband and telecom industry, his unique insights from the Swedish market, and which industry trends we should watch.
Welcome Jonas as a Genexis Group board member. Can you tell us a little about who you are?
I’m super excited to be on the board of Genexis Group. I’m currently the CEO and President of Proact IT, a Swedish tech company. I’ve been CEO for over five years, and we help big enterprise customers in Europe with their IT infrastructure. Although we are in a different part of the tech industry, we share a similar journey as Genexis. We want to grow, develop our offering to our customers, and become more global.
Before that, I worked for several years at Telia, a large Swedish telecom company, running the consumer business. I’ve also worked at Nokia, where I had a chance to experience its peak as a market leader and its journey after the iPhone entered the market. Understanding how disruptive technologies can turn a big company upside down in only a few years is fascinating. I also spent many years at Microsoft, particularly Microsoft’s headquarters outside of Seattle. And then, like any engineer from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), I did my first couple of years at Ericsson.
How can you leverage the broad experience you described to your position as a Genexis Group board member?
I’ve always been passionate about the telecom business because it is ultimately a consumer business. But it’s also very technical, and many things are happening on the market. I can draw upon my years of experience in the telecom industry, and I know the challenges and opportunities a major telecom company must manage.
Genexis is in an interesting position because it delivers things into people’s homes. Genexis says that “they bring the world to everyone’s homes.” The products need to work for the end user. They must be appealing from a design perspective, easy to use from a usability perspective, and deliver a quality experience regarding the broadband connection.
At the same time, we provide business-to-business (B2B) products to large telecoms, and you need to understand how to drive that kind of business, which is very different from the consumer business.
Jonas
Hasselberg, Board member, Genexis Group
It’s an exciting challenge to have one foot in the consumer business in terms of experience and the other in the B2B business in terms of how
you sell and get your products out to the market.
There is an opportunity to provide operators with the technology and products that enable them to bring more value to the consumer than just the connection itself.
Another aspect I can share with Genexis is the value of a product’s go-to-market strategy. Throughout my career, I’ve had different roles, from product manager to business development to business leadership. Telecom companies spend a lot of time and effort in developing fantastic products, but often, the go-to-market strategy is underestimated. Just as important is selling and marketing products to customers. If customers have ten other products to select, your product really has to add value.
What are some interesting industry trends to watch?
Sustainability is essential and will only increase in importance. Genexis is already in a great position, and sustainability is already one of our strengths. As the Genexis Sustainability Report 2023 shows, we have had major achievements, and ambitious targets are set.
Another trend is globalization. But it’s more about anti-globalization, particularly in reference to large tech companies from China that can potentially access networks and other infrastructure. We need to navigate carefully around it. Being a local European provider can be an advantage. We already touched on the trend of finding added value for operators, and it’s much more complex than you would think. I also see
increasing EU regulations regarding how we describe and report on products, materials, energy use, and supply chains. I expect to see more about cybersecurity, quality, customer experience, and home automation. These are areas where we can help our customers.
Thank you, Jonas!
