10:15 – Steve Masters from BT is next up, and will use his own company as a ‘business 2.0′ case study. They are using converged networks and the like internally. This isn’t theoretical, and has (he claims) boosted productivity.
10:20 – Steve talks about ’shadow IT’ departments, where people try to fix their own IT issues and also come to the IT department and demand access to things like Skype and MSN and – in some companies – actually introduce them to the network. BT’s focus is how to introduce the collaboration tools people are using at home and demanding at work in a structured, office environment.
10:22 – Why? Whether you like it or not, this sort of thing is happening. Some companies are planning it, others are simply seeing it happen piecemeal. They’re on a ’serendipitous journey’.
10:24 - Unified comms is therefore coming into businesses. Not many are cost-justifying it, but it can be done. Indeed, BT has done just that.
10:26 – Steve says that breaking down the silos within organisations is a major way of improving business processes. Collaboration is key, and unified comms can help achieve this. There are three barriers to it, according to Steve – building the business case, accessing the skills, and the complexity of the IT infrastructure. I’m sure many people in the audience will identify with those barriers.
10:27 – In BT, collaboration is about PEOPLE, which is synonymous with effective communications (obviously). A lot of the applications BT is introducing internally today combine collaboration with communication. These goes outside BT as well. Eg. they use this sort of technology to ‘talk’ to one of its business partners, HP.
10:30 – Steve now presents a case study on how he works these days. Interestingly, all employees have a ‘MyBT’ portal which appears on the screen as soon as they log on. All of Steve’s management tools appear, as well as news feeds (BT and external) and a social bookmarking tool, plus more prosaic things like directions to BT offices, and so on. It’s customisable and is very ‘web 2.0′. It reminds me a bit of NetVibes.
10:35 – He then demos a shared wiki that BT and HP use. The next phase is to integrate that with the portal. BT also has an internal blog, and the questions that are asked by, say, someone in the sales team can be answered by someone who’s read the blog. In the past, the chances are that question wouldn’t have been asked to the right person. The blog is a useful knowledge management tool, and one the sales team really value.
10:38 – BT also uses videoconferencing extensively. Steve likes it. He uses it two or three times a week, and is happy to collaborate and make decisions over it. It’s another tool that enables home working. (BT has 10,000 home workers – Steve himself is a designated home worker on Mondays and Fridays. Suddenly, I want to work for BT…) Wireless web access is a crucial part of this equation too.
10:42 – Steve wraps up his session by stressing the business case. BT has saved £6k per home worker, while the business has saved £220m from rationalising its buildings. It’s hard to argue with numbers like those.
Tags: BT, flexible working, home working, steve masters, unified communications
