Ericsson shook up its leadership and reporting structure that will highlight a focus on cloud and enterprise markets, and also marks what its leadership claims is the next phase in the vendor’s long-simmering turnaround plans.

The business structure reorganization will see Ericsson merge its Business Area Digital Services and Business Area Managed Services operations into the newly formed Business Area Cloud Software operations. The vendor said the move will allow it to “capitalize on the convergence of cloud, software, and services,” which includes its cloud native 5G core and artificial intelligence (AI) work.

Per Narvinger, who is currently head of Ericsson’s Product Area Network group within the Business Area Networks division, will head up the newly formed division and also join Ericsson’s executive team. Narvinger has been a prominent Ericsson spokesperson for the vendor’s cloud and radio access network (RAN) efforts.

Narvinger will also replace Jan Karlsson, who is currently head of Ericsson’s Business Area Digital Services unit. Karlsson is leaving Ericsson’s executive team, but will report directly to CEO Börje Ekholm in driving development of the vendor’s Global Network Platform.

Ericsson is also forming a new Business Area Enterprise Wireless Solutions division that will merge its current Cradlepoint business and Dedicated Networks operations. This new division will focus on developing products and services for enterprises and oversee a dedicated go-to-market organization for enterprise customers that leverages Ericsson’s service provider relationships. This aligns with Ericsson’s increased push into private 5G networks.

Cradlepoint CEO George Mulhern will head up the new division and also join Ericsson’s executive team.

The unit change comes on the heels of Ericsson’s management stating it was “obviously attracted” to the “fast-growing sector.” That attraction would seem expected following Ericsson’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Cradlepoint in late 2020, which has shown significant traction, and its more questionable $6.2 billion purchase of Vonage late last year.

Outside of the division changes, Ericsson also announced that Arun Bansal, who is currently EVP and head of Market Area Europe and Latin America, is leaving the company immediately. The long-time Ericsson executive has been with the company for 27 years. Bansal’s replacement has not yet been named.

The moves come in the shadow of what has been a tumultuous start to the year for Ericsson.

It began with the company being feted as the No. 1 RAN vendor but was quickly subsumed by shocking corruption charges.

Ericsson admitted to multiple incidents of bribery and corruption by its operations in Iraq between 2011 and 2018. Most damning of all, the company said it can’t unequivocally deny that bribes paid by some employees during that period ended up in the hands of the Islamic State.

During the vendor’s most recent earnings call, Ekholm provided scant, though ominous, details on Ericsson’s potential total punishment.

“What I can say now is that it’s our assessment that the resolution will likely result in monetary and other measures,” Ekholm said. “However, the magnitude of these cannot, at this time, be reliably estimated. As this process is ongoing, we remain limited in what we can say about the historical events covered in the Iraq investigation and related matters.”

Also damning is that the corruption incident comes on the heels of Ericsson already paying a $1.06 billion settlement it reached with the U.S. Department of Justice related to a 17-year period of criminal wrongdoing in six other countries.

Ericsson shareholders earlier this year did back Ekholm’s continued leadership at the vendor but did not let him off the hook for any future potential liability.

Despite those clouds, Ekholm struck a victorious tone with the latest organizational changes.

“After turning around the company, Ericsson is entering a new phase of growth,” the executive noted in a statement. “The changed group structure … represents exciting opportunities for our people, our customers, and our business and will allow us to continue to grow our core mobile infrastructure business and capitalize on the fast-growing enterprise market. Within 2-3 years, we want to achieve our long-term goal of growing faster than the market and an EBITA margin (excluding restructuring costs) of 15% to 18% for the group.”