1. Driving the Digital Economy: 21CN & the opportunities
2. Driving the Digital Economy: 21CN & broadband
3. Driving the Digital Economy: 21CN & IP Voice

The Marketing Grant Scheme for 2010 is now available for existing BT Wholesale resellers. The scheme will enable you as resellers to potentially double your marketing investment; drive sales of specific BTW products and services and to help generate incremental growth.

Please note the following key points:

• Grants are available any time from April to December 2010
• Please read the sections on (a) How the Marketing Grant Scheme works and (b) How to submit an application sections,  before sending in your completed forms
• For  a campaign to start in April 2010 all completed application forms can be submitted any time during March and up until 5^th April to samina.khan@bt.com
• For all other months (from May to December 2010)  all completed application forms must be submitted by 15^th of each month before 5pm to samina.khan@bt.com.  No applications will be considered after 5pm.
• Please note for any applications received during December, the start date of the campaign will be from 10^th January 2011, no earlier.
• Applications should only be submitted 3 months in advance of the start date of the campaign eg if you want to start your campaign in September 2010, applications should  be submitted in June 2010, no earlier
• The maximum amount of grant available to customers will be £25,000 (excluding VAT) and this will be subject to funding available; how long they have been a reseller with BTW and if they are on a growth trajectory
• The minimum level of funding available is £10,000 (excluding VAT)
• Any funding being provided by BTW, must be matched or exceeded by the customer
• If the submission is declined, customers can re-apply after 3 months (from the date of their previous application).  Please note there is no right of appeal,  BTW’s decision will be final
• Customers have the choice of using their own agencies or a BT rostered agency

• The campaign must last no longer than 6 months from the start date of the first activity

1. How the marketing grant scheme works
2. How to submit an application

Applications may be submitted during any month from April to December 2010

For April 2010 all completed application forms can be submitted any time during March and up until 5^th April to samina.khan@bt.com for a campaign to start in April

For all other months (from May to December 2010)  all completed application forms must be submitted by 15^th of each month before 5pm to samina.khan@bt.com.  No applications will be considered after 5pm.

Please note for any applications received during December, the start date of the campaign will be from 10^th January 2011, no earlier.

Applications should only be submitted 3 months in advance of the start date of the campaign eg if you want to start your campaign in September 2010, applications should  be submitted in June 2010, no earlier

In order for your submission to be successful, please provide as much detailed information as possible,  answer ALL the questions on the application form; the key areas to focus on are:

• Your business and marketing objectives and how the proposed marketing campaign will align to these
• Which products you want to promote and why
• The estimated return on investment figures (ROI) – comprehensive details required of how the figures have been calculated  -  this is a crucial part of the form so please provide as much detail as possible
• Submissions will  be judged on their own merit and if declined, customers may submit another application after 3 months (from the date of their previous submission)
• Bespoke campaigns must commence within 2 months of signing the contract
• Customers must highlight the bespoke campaign on their website
• Please note that BT has a 60 day payment policy whether you use your own agency or a BT rostered agency.

To log your interest in the Marketing Grant programme, please contact your dedicated account manager – for all other enquiries regarding the Marketing Grant Scheme please contact Samina Khan at: samina.khan@bt.com

If your application is successful, you will be notified via email and a contract will be sent for you to complete online. Customers whose submissions are not successful will also be notified via email. (Please note that there is no right of appeal for submissions not deemed suitable for the Marketing Grant funding, BT’s decision is final).

Next Steps:
An integrated campaign will then be developed between BT, the customer and the customer’s preferred marketing agency, which, once completed will be included as schedule 3 of the contract.  Please note your campaign may be used as a case study to help promote the programme

1. How the marketing grant scheme works
2. Marketing Grant Scheme for 2010

Video conferencing. Say it to most business people and they probably still conjure up jerky pictures, lips and sound out of sync and irritating breaks in transmission. Plus a price tag that’s beyond the budget of all but the biggest corporates.

But that image belongs to yesterday. The launch of BT Wholesale’s fibre-based next generation broadband services in January 2010 means that companies of every size can now clearly see – and embrace – the true power and potential of the video conference for the first time.

Fibre’s faster connections, greater bandwidth and the cost efficiencies inherent in all 21^st Century Network solutions are primed to make this tool a practical, everyday proposition for all – and the timing is perfect.

That’s because video conferencing is a communications channel that also sits very well with the economic climate and business mood. Organisations battered by the recession are keen to save money. They can cut travel and time costs at a stroke when a fibre broadband link and an average laptop or desktop can make virtual meetings with colleagues and customers feel as immediate and natural as being in the same room.

Home-working too at once becomes less isolating and more feasible even for small- and medium-size companies. Bad weather and transport strikes no longer pose such a threat to daily commutes and business continuity when people find it second nature to liaise and work together on screen. And with less shuttling about by plane, train and car, the environment stands to be a winner too.

The essential connectivity comes from the latest addition to our Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) family: FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet) access. Available both as a DIY-managed option and a fully managed option – Wholesale Broadband Managed Connect (WBMC) – these new fibre services can deliver downstream speeds of up to 40Mbit/s and upstream rates of up to 10Mbit/s*.

And as well as helping you to capture the UK market’s growing interest in video conferencing, WBC and WBMC can be your ideal solution for customers that want to run multiple, high-speed, bandwidth-hungry applications simultaneously, ranging from VoIP lines and SaaS (Software as a Service) to High Definition TV. For those too, their time has come.

* The maximum speed a WBC/WBMC line can support subject to the distance from the exchange and other external factors such as interference on the line.

GET MORE >

Experience the difference when fibre broadband is delivering the image – and all the other apps your business and consumer customers are keen to use. Book a session at our new Showcase Demo at BT Centre, London, by contacting your account management team.

Read more about our fibre-based WBC and WBMC services here.

1. Offer speeds up to 40Mbit/s: fibre services introduced
2. BT Wholesale Ethernet takes UK availability top spot
3. 21CN: building momentum

Why run two networks when all you need is one, pure and simple? That’s the question that BT Wholesale has helped O2 UK to answer.

In a five-year managed services agreement signed last month, we will be consolidating O2 UK’s mobile and fixed core networks into one using BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) platform.

This new approach means that O2 UK will be primed to deliver a range of next generation communications services to meet the needs of their customers with the reliability and quality required, as well as potentially cutting their costs.

And with analysts CCS Insight forecasting that Europe’s mobile broadband users will grow from 22 million to 43 million by 2011*, O2 will also have a high capacity and resilient core network in place, essential for maintaining a high level of service to customers as data traffic rockets.

This latest agreement expands the long-term strategic relationship between BT Wholesale and O2 UK. We already provide O2 with core network management support for their mobile customers plus a managed network service that’s helping them to serve the UK business market with fixed and broadband services, as we reported in The Loop last November.

Nigel Purdy, Head of Networks at Telefónica O2 UK, comments: “As we move to an all IP world and as data traffic volumes increase, the consolidation of our fixed and mobile core networks is a common sense approach that will help future-proof our business and provide the best possible service for our customers.”

Brian Fitzpatrick, Managing Director of BT Wholesale Markets, adds: “Our industry is witnessing a significant shift from commodity products to value-added managed services and this latest agreement with O2 is yet another example of how BT Wholesale is at the forefront of this industry transformation. The trend to outsource network requirements to BT Wholesale continues as operators look to stabilise their operational and investment costs, enabling them to concentrate on their customers.”

* Source: CCS Insight – www.ccsinsight.com/company-news/?p=19

GET MORE >

Interested in simplifying your networks – and cutting your costs – through 21CN managed services solutions from BT Wholesale? Speak to your account management team now.

1. O2 UK launch all-in-one business solution with services and portal from BT Wholesale
2. More reach, less cost: KCOM gain from new agreement
3. Customers put fibre to the test in London and Cardiff

Interconnect customer? Next time you have questions about your conveyance bills, our new-look SIMPLE online tool may have just the answer you need.

That’s because we’ve recently added a Frequently Asked Questions page to SIMPLE as part of a project to give the site a fresh look. And we invite you to send us your questions to help us build up this new resource for the benefit of all our customers. We’d also like to hear your views on the site and which areas you would like more information on.

SIMPLE is designed to guide you through bills for interconnect telephony services – which are often large and complex – and so make their management and reconciliation easier. It now also includes cross-checks to the Carrier Price List to help cut admin time.

GET MORE >

Take a look at the new-look SIMPLE site – and its new FAQ page – here.

Or contact your Finance Customer Manager.

1. IP PABX bundle offers all-in-one for SMEs
2. Right First Time advances to take in everything from product innovation to 21CN migration
3. Broadband tops ‘refuse to lose’ list for UK consumers: market survey

You might speak to them by phone or contact them by email. But exactly who are the BT Wholesale people who deliver the products, services, programmes and ideas to help you meet your customers’ needs and grow your business? Today we meet Gervaise White, a Business Improvement Manager.

The Loop: “What does Business Improvement do?”

Gervaise White: “We shadow BT Wholesale’s interactions with customers: their customer experience. We identify where there’s room for improvement and report our findings to colleagues in the relevant teams and work with them to deliver the changes as priority projects. We drive the business to sponsor change on behalf of customers both on a localised level and across the business.”

The Loop: “So how do you find out what customers think and want?”

Gervaise: “The main way is our monthly customer satisfaction surveys. Independent market researchers do these for us by phone by interviewing customers chosen from the names registered on our Siebel system. An interview takes no more than 20 minutes and it’s a great opportunity for customers to tell us what they like – and what we could do better.”

The Loop: “And how else do you get their views?”

Gervaise: “Meeting face to face is very important. We get together regularly with colleagues – such as in account management and billing – to hear what customers are saying. We also visit customers to get feedback direct. And once a year our market researchers undertake executive surveys by meeting and getting the views of customers’ senior people. We’ve recently expanded these to include reseller companies. That’s one of the groups I’m personally responsible for.”

The Loop: “Next month a new survey year starts. Will we see any changes?”

Gervaise: “Yes – and they’re mainly the result of a customer focus group we held last December: the first of its kind to look specifically at the customer satisfaction survey programme. We wanted a better idea of how well the surveys themselves are working for customers in terms of the questions we ask, who we ask and how we report back progress: what we call ‘You said, we did’. So from April we’re making a number of changes.”

The Loop: “Can you give us some examples?”

Gervaise: “Invitations to take part will become more personalised. New questions will ask not just what customers feel about systems and processes but also about their strategic relationship with us. We also plan to send out the question sets in advance so our interviewees have more time to think about what they want to tell us. And to improve communications, we’re in the process of setting up new information sources, such as posting regular updates on business improvements at our new Roadmaps site and tailored CE plans per customer. So when we next ask customers ‘Do you know what’s changed? Have you noticed a difference?’, we can be sure they’ll say ‘Yes’.”

GET MORE >

Working in a billing role? We’ll soon be starting our billing customer satisfaction surveys for 2010-11 – as you can read in this issue here.

Who would you like us to profile next? Contact Sarah Tomlinson – sarah.tomlinson@bt.com – with your requests.

1. Meet the people: the Finance & Customer Management team
2. Meet the people: the Broadband & Content Services Team
3. Meet the people: the Marketing Team

Businesses are attracted by the idea of cutting costs and making life simpler – and Unified Communications (UC) can help them do both.

But buying into the technology alone often doesn’t provide them with the complete solution they think it will.

The problem seems to lie with one missing essential: the need for ‘cultural evolution’. With expert help from their suppliers, companies might weave their email, text, voicemail and mobile systems into one and add in smart new strands such as video conferencing and ‘presence’ information. However, if they haven’t thought first about getting involvement and buy-in from their employees and they try and impose that new fabric straight onto current work styles and processes right across the business, UC probably can’t fit and perform at its best.*

This means that Communications Providers will have a vital dual role to play as market interest in UC starts to grow. Phase 1 will be helping businesses to understand that before making any choices they need to know how their people work, communicate and collaborate now, the best practices they like using and how they’re structured and managed, both geographically and hierarchically. Only then can they appreciate where and how different UC tools could be effectively mapped onto that picture. Tailoring and delivering the right technical solutions – and the sizeable cost and productivity advantages of UC – then become a highly effective Phase 2.

Paradoxically for a concept with ‘Unified’ in its name, companies also don’t have to converge all their comms in one go – or indeed introduce new UC tools universally to everyone in their organisation. A stepping stone approach can be feasible. For a business with multiple office locations that’s keen to cut call costs, the starting point could be IP telephony. While one with a large field-force might want to begin with a ‘follow me anywhere’ system that automatically diverts calls from fixed line numbers to mobiles so that they reach individuals wherever they happen to be working.

* Source: “Unified Comms: what it needs to succeed”: www.silicon.com, 17 November 2009

GET MORE >

Find out what products and services BT Wholesale offers to help you grow your portfolio and revenues with UC solutions. Next month we plan to add Hosted IP Telephony to our range.

Contact your account management team now to hear more.

1. Hello ‘mixed economy’. Goodbye ‘one size fits all’.
2. Businesses and consumers make broadband their recession-beating umbrella
3. Free events help CPs fight £1.3 billion fraud risks

Over 47? Or fast heading that way? You’re in good company because half the UK adult population now stands side by side with you.

It’s all the impact of the post-war baby-boom. And for Communications and Service Providers the new look of the national profile adds up to fresh opportunities to review and expand product and service portfolios – plus fresh responsibilities as an employer.

As millions of people live longer and want to – and need to – work longer, so all the UK’s businesses, of every size, must be better primed and better equipped to meet their evolving needs. Even for the fittest employees, the natural ageing process can bring changes in sight, hearing, mobility and stamina. But by being more aware of the needs of older people and those with life-long disabilities and taking action to be more inclusive, companies could see impressive bottom-line gains in two ways. They harness the valuable skills, decades of experience and loyalty of an older workforce on the one hand and their immense potential spending power on the other.

There’s also a legal imperative for action. Later this year anticipated changes to the emerging Equality Act will intensify the obligations on companies to show that they’re consciously and practically making ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ in the workplace to accommodate the widely differing requirements of employees and future recruits. And those who make these changes and embrace the potential of this market are likely to win out over those who don’t.

These are all reasons why we’ve just added a comprehensive portfolio of over 350 equipment, software and services products at the BT Wholesale eCatalogue portal, under the umbrella ‘Assistive Products’. Also on call is the special MiDRAS Helpdesk team who are here to share their expert practical knowledge of Reasonable Adjustments with you and with your business customers. They’ll also be pleased to talk you through and advise you on products that range from telephony, magnification devices for desktops and laptops to ergonomically designed chairs and from voice control software and headsets to textphones.

GET MORE >

See what’s on offer – and your new revenue generation opportunities – by heading to our eCatalogue here and clicking on the Assistive Products tab.

Call the MiDRAS Helpdesk on 0800 999 2630 for free help and advice.

Or speak to your account management team.

Read more about the business advantages of greater inclusivity in a free report from the OneVoice for Accessible ICT Coalition. It’s called “Accessible Information and Communication Technologies: Benefits to Business and Society”.

1. Assistive products plus free consultancy: help businesses meet Equality Act changes
2. ‘Assistive Products’: free helpdesk helps you and your customers get it right
3. eCatalogue adds new VoIP products and Fortinet security solutions: boost sales as you help SMEs save

“One of the best ISP Forums I have attended in four years.” “Definitely more effective: would like to see this repeated.” “This approach worked better.” These are just some of the positive comments from customers who attended the January 2010 ISP Forum at the BT Tower.

They were commenting in particular on the event’s combined operations/product surgeries: the latest in a series of improvements to the Forum format and content in the past 12 months, inspired by feedback and ideas from you.

BT Wholesale’s ISP Forum organiser Chris Waite explains: “We first introduced a choice of surgeries in September 2009: three manned by our broadband operations people and three by product managers. The idea was to move away from an agenda of presentations to one that included less formal, more interactive sessions. Customers have told us they like this approach – but they’ve also said they would like both our operational and product specialists in the same surgeries. So in January we ran a selection of surgeries in this way – and it looks popular, being able to talk about operational and product issues together and get answers to a wider variety of questions but while still having a choice of surgeries to attend.”

And if gate numbers are a good measure, the Forum’s improvements are proving attractive. Delegate numbers are growing. Chris says: “In May last year 28 customers came along to the Forum. This grew to 48 in September – and in January 2010, we welcomed 53. At the same time, our customers’ ratings for how well the event is organised and the value of the content are improving steadily too. We earned a 92% mark for organisation in January compared with 86% last May – and we’re working hard, with the help of fresh input and suggestions from customers, to make it even better.”

GET MORE >

Buying broadband services? Like to join our ISP Forum? Find out more by logging in here.

We’re planning our next meeting for Tuesday 20 April 2010 at the BT Tower.

ISP Forum interim webcalls are another innovation we’ve introduced in the past 12 months to keep you well briefed between live events. The next one is on 16 March 2010. Read more in this issue here.

Or speak to your account management team.

1. Webcalls and fortnightly updates keep dialogue open for ISP Forum members
2. Who to call? Customer Service Plans make it easy
3. Catch what’s new on broadband: 16 March 2010 webcall