Enterprise connectivity player BICS strengthened its leadership with the immediate appointment of Surash Patel as MD, ending a search commenced in February when parent company Proximus Group’s chief Guillaume Boutin took over on an interim basis.

BICS explained Patel (pictured) has a strong background in B2B leadership, in particular around software-as-a-service (SaaS) and broader strategic transformations. The executive joins from Proximus’ digital identity services unit Telesign, where he was credited with spearheading growth in the triple-digit range while VP for EMEA.

Boutin recently told Mobile World Live Proximus is employing BICS, Telesign and another division, Route Mobile, to provide it with international scale and opportunities while maintaining its core telecoms service provider business.

The executive said the trio of businesses are already contributing around 30 per cent of group revenue.

Boutin said Patel’s “leadership and experience in fostering growth within the B2B communications industry make him ideally suited to lead BICS”.

“He will play an important role in the next phase of our Proximus international activities”.