BT to modernise call centres

BT Group PLC
14 February 2002

1430 Thursday February 14, 2002

                     MODERNISATION PLAN FOR BT CALL CENTRES

                           TO SHARPEN CUSTOMER FOCUS

  • £100 million spend to create new generation of multi-function customer
    contact centres
  • Focus is on people, technology, training and working environment
  • Consultation with unions on streamlining high-volume call centres
  • Several sites likely to close but no compulsory redundancy
  • Full details of plan will be announced by the end of March



       BT is to modernise extensively its call centre operation and spend
  £100 million to develop a new generation of facilities that better meet the
                       changing demands of its customers.

BT announced today (Thursday February 14) that it is engaging in formal
consultation with unions to ensure best implementation of a two-year strategy to
streamline its call centres into a network of state-of-the-art multi-function
customer contact sites.

The move comes as BT nears the end of a comprehensive review of 150 of its
centres which handle the highest volume of calls.

Pierre Danon, chief executive of BT Retail, said: 'The creation of a more modern
call centre operation is vital if BT is to achieve the twin goals of
industry-best customer service and increased efficiency.

'We are absolutely committed to offering the best possible customer experience
and ensuring we develop a call centre operation that will be truly world-class
and set the standard for others to follow in Europe. On top of that, we want to
achieve this through our own people and centres.

'It is important to note that unlike many other companies, particularly in the
telecoms market, we have decided not to outsource our call centre operations, as
we recognise they are critical to the quality of the customer experience as we
take advantage of opportunities in the broader communications market.

'We are convinced, based on what has already been achieved over the past 18
months, that we can build a sustainable call centre operation capable of meeting
and beating the world's best. We will be spending £100 million to ensure our
people get the best training, have the best working environment and exploit the
best cutting-edge technology to deliver the kind of services our customers want.

'The quality of our call centres is critical to achieving our goal of being the
UK's customer service champion within two years. Creating a smaller network of
leading-edge multi-function call centres will inevitably mean the closure of a
number of sites, but this is the only way forward if we are to keep our call
centre operations in-house and make dramatic improvements to the quality of
customer service.'

'Our planned spend of £100 million on this project generates associated savings,
giving a two-year payback. Both the levels of spending and savings were included
in the plans I presented for BT Retail in December. Any further financial
commitments resulting from this initiative will be revealed when we come back
with a more detailed announcement before the end of March,' added Danon.

Currently, each of BT's high-volume call centres mostly deals with a specific
area of the business. The new multi-function facilities would cover a range of
services for residential and small business customers. This would allow greater
flexibility and more robust and consistent processes to provide customers with
an uniform high-quality service, irrespective of which call centre they dealt
with.

Patricia Vaz, managing director of customer services, said there would now be a
four-week period of formal consultation with the unions.

'We are committed to working closely with the unions to ensure the changes that
have to be made are done with due regard to the welfare of all the people who
work in our call centres. After the consultation period is over, we will make a
more detailed announcement before the end of March. Whatever the outcome, there
will be no compulsory redundancy for our people.

'Job reductions resulting from the project are included in the figure of 13,000
that we have already declared we will achieve across BT Retail over a three-year
period. Every year about 10 per cent of people working in our contact centres
leave by their own choice to take up positions elsewhere in company or leave BT
altogether. This natural wastage, over the two-year implementation period, gives
us scope and flexibility and will help with redeployment.'

'In parallel with these moves, we are already implementing a raft of other
initiatives to improve the standard of our service to the customer. One of the
most important of these is a package of measures to ensure calls from our
customers are routed more quickly and effectively, reducing frustration with
ineffective automated messages and wrong channelling of calls. These changes are
being introduced this month.

'Over the past 18 months, we have made much progress in improving the standard
of service offered by our call centres. These include a 35 per cent reduction in
repeat contacts, a fall of 50 per cent in the number of abandoned calls and a 13
per cent improvement in cost efficiency. But we have now reached a watershed,
and, to achieve any further dramatic improvement, we have to re-appraise
completely the way in which we organise and run our call centre operations.

'Everything we are currently doing and planning is geared to meeting the
changing demands of the customer. Since call centres were first established, the
nature of the business has changed dramatically, with a massive increase in the
number of products and services they now have to deal with. We have to ensure we
can meet the increasingly sophisticated demands of customers who want to contact
us through different media, and provide a significantly better experience than
the numerous other operators now occupying this highly-competitive sector,'
added Vaz.

                                      Ends

Inquiries about this news release should be made to the BT Group newsroom on its
 24-hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK, dial [phone]. All
                 new releases can be accessed at our web site:

                       http://www.groupbt.com/mediacentre

Malcolm Williams, BT Retail PR manager: Tel [phone]

Claire Dumican, Le Fevre Communications: mobile [phone]

                                Note to editors

BT Retail is one of the businesses that make up the BT Group. Others include BT
Ignite, BT Wholesale, BTopenworld, BT Affinitis and Btexact Technologies. It is
the UK's leading communications service provider and the prime channel to market
for the other businesses in the Group. It has 21 million residential and
business customers, a turnover of £11.8bn (in the last full financial year) and
around 50,000 employees.



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