Companies excel through a diversity of views, says Melita Business’ Malcolm Briffa

When Melita hit the Maltese scene with its revolutionary cable-television service in 1993, it changed the way a nation consumed the audiovisual medium once and for all. It opened our islands to a world of new content, but perhaps most remarkably improved on picture quality no end. It is this emphasis on quality and innovation that continues to characterise Melita’s operation today, which has established itself as a leading telecommunications player, with cross-sectorial interests.

“Today the company operates across multiple channels, including telephony, fibre internet and 5G mobile connectivity as well as television, providing a full complement of services which cater for all the needs of private as well as corporate clients,” says Malcolm Briffa, Chief Officer Business and IoT, who has been at Melita for the past 14 years, and for almost eight years, leading the company’s B2B arm, Melita Business.

“Melita Business today has moved away from merely offering off-the-shelf products to clients. The company is in an optimal position to also offer custom solutions on a number of aspects of telecommunications, no less how best to design and set up technical network infrastructure, depending on the company requirements.”

This way of assisting businesses stems from a drive to be at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, together with an openness for bringing specialised expertise on board.

“The economic landscape is constantly changing, and Melita Business is keen to stay at the front of innovation. That is why we often partner up with expert companies and entities depending on the projects at hand, in a spirit of collaboration. This ensures that we continue offering the best products on the market. This is certainly the case with the Internet of Things (IoT) where the applications of the product are virtually infinite,” Malcolm expounds.

IoT is the technology where objects create a network of communication that allows for better management in a variety of sectors.

“We have seen IoT being used in the oddest of places, achieving some really remarkable results. For example, it can enable farmers monitor their cattle and their daily dairy yield through IoT, improving their efficiency while taking better care of their livestock. Breweries may improve the way they serve their network of pubs, as through IoT, they could better understand, predict and cater for consumption patterns. Each of these applications meant that we needed to have an intimate understanding of the specific sectors to reach the desired goals, and our openness to learn and partner was certainly an asset for us.”

Melita Business invests greatly in its people to remain relevant. Here, Malcolm shares what helps make the difference that has resulted in a better service to clients.

“Firstly, we are great believers in representation. It may sound like a buzzword that many businesses are quick to jump on, but we truly believe in the value of diversity which gives us a wider understanding of our markets. It is useless to have a company which is composed of one single cohort of people, as they will likely only understand their own point of view,” Malcolm explains.

“That is why, at we make sure to bring on board as wide a variety as possible of people from different backgrounds who automatically bring with them new cultures and perspectives that help expose us to our ever-changing realities.”

Moreover, Melita Business operates an open strategy where plans are created to take into consideration as many voices as possible.

“This continues building on the first point, as it would be counter-productive to have such an interesting melee of diversity in our teams, only to restrict the actual strategic processes to the few. Our open strategy allows us to take feedback from all units and departments within the company, be it technical, customer care or IT, and factor it in when planning our future strategy and execution. This philosophy opens us up to ideas that a smaller group of managers might have missed out on. And it makes perfect sense because our people are on the ground, meeting our clients and getting first-hand understanding of what they feel about our performance,” Malcolm continues.

Open strategy is becoming increasingly important for Melita Business, yielding particularly strong results when creating partnerships or across business services such as the Data Centre, Cloud, IoT.

“Moreover, when operating such an open attitude, you need to also be prepared for dissenting views, which are often just as useful as positive feedback, if not more so. Too many times we see companies being taken aback and reacting badly when faced with unfavourable feedback. Once again, this is not a cosmetic process, and the genuine grassroots feedback which may criticise the operation of the company may actually hold the key to growth and improvement.”

When eyeing future growth, the organisation has a strong focus on sustainability, and not only in the area of carbon neutrality and reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Malcolm explains, “We want our business decisions to be sustainable in the broadest sense, to make a positive, long term contribution, be that considering our clients’ future profitability or planning for the next generation in family businesses.”