| dc.description.abstract | “We love innovations, we love scale-ups”: Liaison Management Team.
KPN is market leader in the field of internet and telephony and have become so big by continuing to
innovate the latest developments. Within the strategic plan of KPN they have included that they keep
the focus on innovation through KPN ventures and the Liaison Management Team (LMT). Through
partnerships with disruptive start-ups and scale-ups, KPN can stay ahead of the competition and
continue to make an impact in a changing society. This report will shed insight how KPN and the LMT
is functioning as a business, analyses what the biggest bottlenecks are regarding innovation, proposes
and argues those solutions and gives some recommendations.
As an intern within the LMT, I am responsible for identifying opportunities to innovate, suggesting
start-ups that could help with this, following up on the follow-up steps and ensuring that all involved
stay up-to-date. To this end, the various departments, here referred to as hunting grounds (HGs), are
divided among the various working interns within the LMT. Through collaboration with the business
owner (BO), the person responsible for innovation within the HG, we arrive at possible connection
points for the LMT during discussions. It is important for the survival of this team that the LMT
continues to make an impact in the form of new innovations through collaborations with start-ups.
Recently, the number of interns working has become somewhat fewer resulting in less impact being
made. This report examines where the most gains can be made now that will allow the LMT to make
even more impact.
First of all, the problem was further explained by means of the five whys method. This led to
hypotheses that were tested by means of a questionnaire to the BO’s we spoke to. In addition, a
previously used questionnaire from last year was also used. Based on the results of both surveys, the
problems were identified. From this, the following problems emerged that the LMT could benefit for
when solved: First of all, the LMT needs to be seen more as a (real) part of KPN. Due to the image of
the interns and not always providing the right connecting parties, not everyone takes the LMT
seriously enough. This is also evident in that BO’s see the LMT primarily as fun inspiration and a way
to have more time for other tasks. In the recommendation section some ideas and solutions are
proposed that will result in a more professional team like consisting of more permanent employees.
Secondly, the LMT needs to make sure that they know more about what is going on with the HG and
BO and vice versa that the BO also knows how things are going at the LMT. For an intern it takes lots
of time to get a feeling of how the business is really run. By having a list with all the platforms and
products that are in place with additional information would definitely help the LMT in finding
opportunities. Transparency is also an important part of innovation and is extensively explained. | |
