GO: strategy for the future

To maintain this momentum, GO invests heavily in its workforce. Following a number of restructuring initiatives, the focus has shifted towards aligning all employees to a single vision. Michaelides said that at the heart of his company’s work ethic is a drive towards clarity: “A clear strategy for the team comes first, so that everybody knows what to do across the board and what the company’s objectives are.”

He added that this was backed up by the right platform which not only made operations easy to monitor, but also ensured more openness, he said: “We have a performance management system that we review on a constant basis; we have made it transparent so that everyone can see what needs to be achieved, alongside the incentives for doing so.” This performance framework is backed by a number of wide ranging initiatives which are targeted to develop employees professionally and also create the right working environment where work feels like home.

Another important development is a 360 degree reward and recognition system. Michaelides stated that it is his pride and joy to see GO employees recognising best practices and outstanding work of their fellow co-workers through online tools that the company developed. Recognised employees are then short listed and formally rewarded on a quarterly basis. Interestingly, the majority of employees being recognised last year were females, showing how GO manages to create the right environment where both genders can excel.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, clear performance objectives, investment in reward and recognition, improved employee wellbeing and more openness in communications across the board have led to significant improvement in employee satisfaction scores over the past three years. 

Competitive Edge

The constant market pressure from other national and international players in the Maltese market  has only meant that GO has rolled out a range of innovative solutions to maintain growth, aside from its substantial programme of on-going investments, including the transformational fibre optic rollout.

Michaelides said: “We have a program to identify areas for operational efficiency, either through cost reduction, modernising networks, or by optimizing processes. GO has, for some time, been managing costs very carefully. During 2014, the cost of sales, administrative and related costs, excluding items of unusual nature, size, or incidence, declined by 3.3 per cent to €99.1 million (2013: €102.4 million). This was due to a decline in wholesale costs and the continued focus on managing costs, naturally without compromising customer experience.

“The numbers clearly show that GO’s strategy of innovative marketing coupled with operational efficiency are bearing fruit. The Company’s profit before tax amounted to €20.3 million, up from €15.6 million in 2013, an increase of 30 percent. Operating profits increased 21 percent from €18 million in 2013 to €21.8 million. Normalized operating group profit for the year amounted to €24.3 million, an increase of 17.3 per cent.’’

The company is also in the process of increasing the level of automation within its operations in a move that will not only save a significant amount of money, but also enable customers to interact with GO in a completely different way: “We are moving towards an e-company, which will revolutionise how customers obtain services and pay for them.”

Providing solutions to Malta’s business community accounts for a significant part of GO’s revenues, which is not only testament to the trust placed in the company, but also its significant capabilities. Michaelides noted: “Investment across the years has made sure that the business network has always been the best, supplemented with the largest account management team in Malta.” 

Diversification

GO has also initiated investments in three new data centres, in addition to current large data centre clusters, which house its own equipment as well as the critical systems of various reputable international customers. In fact, GO’s subsidiary BMIT is now the largest and most reliable data centre in Malta, and this has obvious benefits for operators who require expert hosting and colocation services. There has also been a network-wide programme to improve the quality and speed of its broadband service.

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