BT 2014 Annual Report Download - page 58

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The Strategic Report
Delivering our strategy
Delivering our strategy
Major Contracts  From Risk to Opportunity
While we have a formal and established process for managing risks in
individual contracts, we recognise that we also need to understand
those risk themes that can impact across a number of dierent
contracts. By identifying the activities that are contributing to those
risk themes, and understanding the subsequent impact on our
business, we can begin to generate improvements.
One example is the service cease process when customer sites are
closed or changed to new locations. We would often stop charging
the customer for the site but it would take longer than expected to
terminate the services provided to it (such as circuits bought from
thirdparties). This would result in higher than expected costs.
How we managed the risk
Through business process re-engineering and tackling the causes of
delays, it was possible to reduce the average time lag to cease services
by several days. While this is a small improvement on each contract,
given the volume of transactions that typically take place, the net
savings across all contracts are worth several million pounds a year.
Outcome and lessons learnt
We are applying the same approach to other processes where detailed
risk analysis points to possible opportunities to improve performance
and customer service. Without our strong emphasis on risk reporting,
management and governance, many of the underlying issues might
not be readily identied or targeted and the opportunity to make
eciency gains would be lost.
Business Continuity for BT Sport
A consistent and rewarding user experience at all times, whether on
a TV, smartphone or tablet computer, is fundamental to the success
of BT Sport. Consequently it was important that we identied
potential service risks and designed measures into the technology and
operational processes to mitigate those risks. We also need to be fully
prepared to respond eectively in the event of a major outage.
How we managed the risk
A dedicated Business Continuity project was set up, reporting to the
BT Sport Programme Board. Its objective was to analyse the way
we deliver BT Sport from sporting venue to customer device and
introduce resilience and continuity where there were possibilities for
failure, for example in our network. We also needed to conrm service
continuity measures were in place in our TV production facility and in
the IT systems used to deliver BT Sport, take orders and respond to
network faults.
Operational procedures used by our suppliers and ourselves were
equally important. They were walked through by experts and updated
where improvements were needed. Emergency command and control
processes to be used in crisis situations were checked and tested.
Finally, before we launched the service, a number of major simulation
exercises took place, to ensure we were ready.
Outcome and lessons learnt
BT Sport was successfully launched in August 2013. There were a
number of lessons learnt that we can now incorporate into our future
resilience activities. These include expanding the focus of our business
continuity activities to reect our move into television production the
benet of early eective internal communications and the value of BT
executives being involved in simulation exercises.
Risk case-studies