The NHS, Paperless by 2018?

Suzanne Masterton
May 22, 2013 | 0

At the beginning of this year, Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for health, set out his vision of a paperless NHS by 2018.  No-one doubts the scale of the challenge, and equally everyone is aware of the huge benefits it could bring. What is still being hotly debated is the how.

What will it take to achieve a paperless NHS will be one of the topics that delegates at the NHS Confederation annual conference and exhibition 2013 will be discussing. Taking place between 5-7 June 2013 in Liverpool and supported by BT, the conference is one of the largest healthcare events in the calendar. With the reformed health system now in operation, healthcare leaders from across the country and all sectors of the new NHS will be coming together to share their experiences. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Global, Government, Health, Intelligent Networks, Public sector Tagged With: , , , , ,

UK’s Bank Reforms Leave me on the Ring-Fence

Chris Skinner
May 22, 2013 | 0

The UK Government announced significant banking reform plans at Easter.

They come as the culmination of almost five years of fallout from the financial crisis, and include the UK’s interpretations of Basel III, along with measures to increase competition in banking and payments. The announcements coincided with the creation of the new regulatory regimes of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which took over from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) from 1 April, 2013. But is it all going too far, too fast?

When the financial crisis hit, bank after bank was subsumed by leveraged debt. They had to merge, acquire, be bailed out, or go under. We all remember those dark days and their shadow hangs over us all today as we learn the meaning of the word ‘austerity’, with all its ramifications. Tectonic shift is taking place in finance all over the world – but different parts of the world are on different tectonic plates, and it is potentially seriously damaging to have some economies investing for growth, (namely the USA), whilst others (in Europe) shrink to survive. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Global Tagged With: , , , , ,

Whether You’re Communicating to Businesses or Consumers, Make it Easy for Them

Customer Effort
May 21, 2013 | 0

The philosophy of ‘easy’ works for everyone

How easy was it to get the help you wanted today? That’s the concept of ‘customer effort’ in a nutshell – how much effort do people need to put in to get their problem solved by a company.

But it doesn’t only work for businesses that sell direct to consumers (B2C). It’s just as useful for business-to-business (B2B) companies. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Contact centres, Global, IT Infrastructure Tagged With: , , , ,

The Romance of Technology

Steve Gillies
May 21, 2013 | 0

Technology is certainly breaking down the barriers between work and home. It feels like our work life balance has gone to hell in a handcart. Now, it seems it is gate-crashing the bedroom with more and more of us checking email the last thing we do before the head hits the pillow. Can technology ever be romantic? Now, it’s hard to say this with a straight face but this question is being asked with the news that there is dramatic rise in the use of electronic devices in the bedroom. Let’s get one thing straight up front. I’m talking about laptops, tablets and smartphones.  

I’ve always had a kind of romantic view of technology seeing it as liberating humankind from the drudgeries of everyday life, promoting global social cohesion and world peace through international commerce. However, I’ve never really thought of it as a way of being more romantic with my beloved. For the record I never take my devices to bed but maybe I should. A little suggested competition can’t be a bad thing, can it? Maybe under-cover tweeting would be a good thing. Sharing a video on YouTube of a stupid cat doing something daft could be intimate, couldn’t it? After all, they say laughter is at the heart of intimacy. We could instant message each other, saying goodnight with the stroke of a few keys. That would be great, wouldn’t it? I don’t think so. I really don’t want my mind filled with petty office issues last thing. Other than cheese and coffee I can’t think of anything more likely to give me a restless night. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile & Flexible Working, Global Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Would You Like to Attend the Net Good Launch Event ?

Kevin Moss
May 20, 2013 | 0

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a short post that you can see here about my excitement waiting for the first set of outturns from our Net Good analysis.   It is still a week or two too early to tell you the results – they will be featured in our Annual Report and Accounts and our Better Future report due out soon,  but I can tell you that we are holding an event in London on June 18th to launch the programme.

Our CEO, Ian Livingston will be opening the event, and our CSO, Niall Dunne will be delivering the closing words. Along with our partners, The Climate Group, Carbon Trust and Small World Consulting, I  will be describing the approach, and we hope there will plenty of  discussion  and feedback on the next steps. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Global, Supply Chain, UK Tagged With: , , , ,

The People Call for Choice When Contacting the Government

Autonomous Customer
May 17, 2013 | 1

It’s official that people who want to talk to government departments want choice about how they do that — even if they are more likely to choose the phone over any other channel.

That’s the findings of BT’s Autonomous Customer research, which suggests that people expect the same levels of service for government and public bodies as they do from the private sector — and they don’t want their choice of channels restricted. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Contact centres, Global, IT Infrastructure Tagged With: , , , ,

Have Technology Security Measures Really Changed all that Much Over the Years?

Mark Akass
May 16, 2013 | 0

By Mark Akass, CTO, Global Banking and Financial Markets, BT

If we look at the last 10 years, we can clearly see huge changes in the way we protect technology. The security ‘toolbox’ has grown in capability and is available to a bigger slice of the market place.  This coupled with an explosion of technology providers, and an increasing need for firms to manage and keep an eye on the costs which come about when bringing said tools into action to fight each and every security threat. Only recently we witnessed Australia’s central bank admitting that it had played victim to repeated attacks from computer hackers.  Was the fact that no data was lost or lasting damage done down to the effective use of the advanced tools available on the market today?

Undoubtedly we have seen certain highlights in the development of the security tool kit.  Take a look at pattern matching of signature based threats1; to anomaly detection2 based on behavioural analysis; to increasing levels of sophistication in being able to identify potential threats in the context in which they are being transacted; to testing suspected transactions for executable code in real-time. The attacks may have become more advanced but then so have the tools developed to fight the war against them. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financial Services, Security Tagged With: , , , ,

Connecting Africa for a Better Future

Connecting Africa project
May 15, 2013 | 0

By Kevin Taylor, President, BT Asia, Middle East and Africa & Global Logistics

The real benefits of connectivity around the world will only be truly realised when everybody in the world has access to the global network, however remote they are. Which is why I’m delighted to announce our ‘Connecting Africa’ project, which will bring broadband internet access to communities across the continent.

We’ve been working with international children’s charity, SOS Children’s Villages, to connect twenty of the charity’s sites in twelve African countries via its global satellite network. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Global Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

PSN, tick in the box or thinking outside the box?

Public Service Network
May 15, 2013 | 0

The Public Services Network (PSN) is taking off. Early customers are already connected and commitment from across the public sector, in particular from Health and from Police, in the last few months has added to the momentum. Central Government departments are already advanced in their own plans to achieve PSN compliance and to connect this year.

A further catalyst in this transition to PSN is the imminent requirement for all 588 organisations that use the old Government Secure Intranet (GSi, or GCSX in Local Government) to connect to its legacy services solely through PSN. The existing procurement framework for these services, GCF, comes to a close in August this year and the old, dedicated connections to them must be replaced by PSN by the end of March 2014. It’s also essential for customers to gain their PSN certification – the Code of Connection or ‘CoCo’ – before connecting to PSN. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Global, Government, Health, PSN, Public sector, UK Tagged With: , , , , ,

New role, New Business Opportunities and New Texas Experiences

Bas Burger
May 14, 2013 | 0

Today, I’m happy to announce my next chapter at BT as president of BT US and Canada (US&C) as well as the global industry verticals – Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and Pharmaceutical and Chemical.  I am delighted to be a part of this talented organization and the transformation of its operations, performances and customer service. This new role is exciting for me as I look across the strengths of BT’s business in the US&C and these growing industries.  We have a strong business in the US&C for banking, financial trading markets, consumer products and pharmaceuticals.

I joined BT in 2008 as CEO for the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) and in 2011 transitioned into president of the EMEA and Latin America region.  In addition to a regional leader, I also became president of the Global Commerce sector which supports companies in industries such as manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and logistics. I’m a Dutch native but have recently moved to Texas for this role and am looking forward to barbeque, American football and hot summers. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile & Flexible Working, Canada, Unified Communications, US Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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