'BTC turnaround will create more jobs'

Bame Piet | Thursday January 30, 2014 15:40

owever, in an exclusive interview, the Managing Director Paul Taylor painted a positive image of the parastatal and a bright future ahead.

'What we are doing is taking the old BTC organisation and turning it into something new, and more supportive of our vision,' he told Mmegi.

BTC is the only company that provides services for fixed phone, mobile and broadband countrywide.

However, customers utilising these services have been paying at different pay points. Under the new entity, one package will be created and all will be billed under one such package or contract.

'Each of the three had their own sales people, and that meant inefficiency,' Taylor said. 'Instead of a customer having to speak to three different people, we thought it would be ideal for them to talk to one sales person.

'We are aligning the organisation to better support our long-term competitive vision of becoming this fixed, and mobile and converged company.'

According to Taylor, the company has integrated all the processes and designed a new organisational model. This resulted in staff being asked to apply for positions for new jobs in the new BTC where selection activities are currently underway.

'We said to them, the further down the organisation you go, the more opportunities there are,' Taylor continued. 'At the top end, there are lesser roles. 'The two senior people did not find suitable jobs, but we gave them 90 days to continue their search within the company. They two were given an opportunity to continue working or go home.'

Meanwhile, the new BTC will have new job opportunities in areas of customer care and technical staff such as mobile network engineering.

'Our level of automation in most processes is currently at about 13 percent,' he noted. 'World-class standards will have automation at about 70 percent, so we are not anywhere near world-class in the way we manage information flows through our company.'

Taylor added that there was an urgent need for systems to be linked together and to them to a higher standard. To that end, the board recently approved US$ 80 million for the next few years.

'Our aim at the end of the programme is one bill, and not four as is the status quo,' he explained. 'You come to us as a business customer - one cellphone one contract, one customer contact point.'

With hackers working day and night to access people's information without their consent, the BTC boss said the company had engaged experts on network and IT architectures, emphasizing on security.

He added that BTC, compared to other players in the SADC region, still have a lot of catching up to do.

BTC is the only company that provides services for fixed phone, mobile and broadband countrywide. However, customers utilising these services have been paying at different pay points. Under the new entity, one package will be created and all will be billed under one such package or contract.'Each of the three had their own sales people, and that meant inefficiency,' Taylor said.

'Instead of a customer having to speak to three different people, we thought it would be ideal for them to talk to one sales person. 'We are aligning the organisation to better support our long-term competitive vision of becoming this fixed, and mobile and converged company.' According to Taylor, the company has integrated all the processes and designed a new organisational model. This resulted in staff being asked to apply for positions for new jobs in the new BTC where selection activities are currently underway.

There are around 30 people who are yet to find new positions in the new organisation because most employees are working in the old organisational structure whilst two others have opted to work from home, searching for a new job. The two are senior staff whose positions are limited.'We said to them, the further down the organisation you go, the more opportunities there are,' Taylor continued. 'At the top end, there are lesser roles. 'The two senior people did not find suitable jobs, but we gave them 90 days to continue their search within the company. They two were given an opportunity to continue working or go home.'Meanwhile, the new BTC will have new job opportunities in areas of customer care and technical staff such as mobile network engineering.

Taylor said the company was also looking at investing significantly in automation to meet international industry standards on how telecommunication companies operate through a framework that enhances management of operations. 'Our level of automation in most processes is currently at about 13 percent,' he noted. 'World-class standards will have automation at about 70 percent, so we are not anywhere near world-class in the way we manage information flows through our company.'Taylor added that there was an urgent need for systems to be linked together and to them to a higher standard. To that end, the board recently approved US$ 80 million for the next few years.'Our aim at the end of the programme is one bill, and not four as is the status quo,' he explained.

'You come to us as a business customer - one cellphone one contract, one customer contact point.' With hackers working day and night to access people's information without their consent, the BTC boss said the company had engaged experts on network and IT architectures, emphasizing on security. He added that BTC, compared to other players in the SADC region, still have a lot of catching up to do.