Irish BSS vendor Openet has nailed a high profile addition to its board of directors in former Ericsson CFO and CEO Jan Frykhammar.

Long-time CFO and super-sub CEO in the period between Vestberg and Ekholm, Frykhammar has pretty impeccable credentials in the telecoms vendor world. He was eventually purged in Ekholm’s changing of the guard and the only knock you could have on his experience is that pretty much all of it was acquired at Ericsson, so he may be a tad institutionalised.

“We are delighted to be welcoming such an accomplished and well-respected telecoms leader onto the board of directors,” said Openet CEO Niaill Norton. “Having been an invaluable member of the executive team at Ericsson, Jan has in-depth insight to the changes needed for vendors and operators alike during this period of industry transformation.

“With digital now a critical requirement, all BSS vendors must adapt their business models to put the evolving needs of operators first, and develop a profit model that is symbiotic. This, unfortunately, is far from the broken model we have today. With Jan on-board, I hope we can continue to disrupt the industry and provide operators with an alternative approach to digital BSS.”

“Openet is making real strides in supporting operators with a new fresh way of thinking around digital transformations, and I am privileged to join the company’s board of directors at such a critical point in its growth,” said Frykhammar. “Having worked in the telecoms industry for almost 30 years, I hope to support the great Openet team to deliver on its high growth aspirations as well as defining winning strategies.

“Openet’s message of changing the game is right. The industry needs to change and I look forward to working closely with Niall, and the whole Openet team, to continue to drive disruption through innovation and delivering value for customers and stakeholders.”

To be honest we’re still not sure how much value Board Directors actually add. They seem a bit like Executive Producers of films – brought in mainly for the cache of their name and reputation rather than what they will contribute on a day-to-day basis. But that may not always be the case and if we give Openet the benefit of the doubt in this instance, Frykhammar could be a significant addition.