LinkedIn·Wednesday, 26 August 2026·11h ago

𝟯𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀. What started as a problem that needed solving grew…

Telenet group

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𝟯𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀. What started as a problem that needed solving grew into a 27-year career as an engineer in 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽’𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗯. When I first walked into Telenet in 1999, I wasn’t applying for a job. I was working for Banksys and had been asked to investigate why payment terminals stopped working after customers switched to Telenet. Johan Gabriëls witnessed firsthand the arrival of telephony, internet and digital television. Innovations that felt revolutionary at the time but seem perfectly normal today. Yet for customers, the most important questions never changed: Does it work? Is it easy to use? Does it help me move forward? Those same questions were at the heart of the 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝗺. It was a space we built ourselves in the early 2000s to test new products. Literally ourselves. We laid the flooring, installed the cameras and set it up to look like a real living room. Behind a one-way mirror, we watched how people used new products. Where they struggled. What felt intuitive and what didn’t. In many ways, we were already doing then what we do today: looking at services from the customer’s perspective. 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘇𝘇𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱, 𝘄𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻: 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀. We were only a few hundred colleagues, and everybody knew everybody. Looking back on 30 years of Telenet group, I don’t think first about the technology. I think about the people. That’s why one sentence perfectly sums up three decades of Telenet group for me: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁: 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. Swipe through the carousel to discover Johan’s story.