BT 1999 Annual Report Download - page 16

15
BUSINESS REVIEW
satisfaction with our provision and repair services. We
are now interviewing more customers whose orders or
repairs did not require a visit from BT, reflecting the
increase in this type of work. Taking this into account,
satisfaction with both the business installation and repair
services remained stable with around eight out of ten
customers saying they are happy with the services they
received. Among residential customers, satisfaction with
our installation service continued to improve and 83% of
customers were satisfied with our repair service.
When the UK telecommunications operator Ionica ceased
to trade, we successfully connected more than 43,000 of
its former customers to the BT network at very short
notice, with the majority of the work being done in a
six-week period.
We are continuing with our programme to make our
network more resilient to the weather. This includes
overnight testing of lines, so that we can identify problems
before they become apparent to customers.
Some 86% of users are satisfied with our public payphone
service, with a significant improvement in the number
who are very satisfied.
We have continued to maintain high levels of performance
in our 24-hour operator services, despite an increase in
calls of 11% to operator assistance in the past year alone.
We regularly survey opinion formers throughout the
world to find out their views on BT and on international
telecommunications matters in general. Continuing the
trend of previous surveys, in our November 1998 survey
we found that BT and AT&T are two of the most
recognised telecommunications brands throughout the
world. The environment in which we operate is coming
to be seen as increasingly diverse, with local operators
(including our joint ventures) becoming recognised as
significant players. There has been an increase in
Europe in the number of BT’s joint ventures being
nominated by opinion formers as the best alternative
to the incumbent supplier.
Marketing, promotion and pricing offers
Our marketing focus in the year has been on the launch of
new services, including Highway for both residential and
business customers, call stimulation, and major efforts
to reinforce the reasons why customers should come
back to BT.
We focused on promotions such as “Chatterday”, and
reducing calling rates at weekends to encourage people
to make more calls.
In February 1999, we announced an agreement with
Microsoft to develop a new range of Internet, intranet
and corporate data services for mobile customers around
the world. Services are expected to be available in several
countries by early 2000.
In January 1999, BT acquired a 50% share in Excite UK,
a subsidiary of the US-based global Internet media
company, Excite, for £6 million. The agreement further
develops our presence in Internet advertising
and transactions – two important on-line revenue
generators.
A joint venture formed in September 1998 between BT
and Scitex Corporation, Vio Worldwide, provides graphic
arts users worldwide with a secure network for rapid
data transfers.
Open, the interactive TV service provided by British
Interactive Broadcasting (BiB), a joint venture with
BSkyB, HSBC and Matsushita, will enable high street
businesses to offer interactive services, including home
shopping, home banking, travel and holiday services.
Since April 1998, more than one in six schools have
signed up to BT’s Schools Internet Caller, which provides
unlimited access via a standard phone or ISDN line for a
set annual fee. BT Schools Internet Caller is a significant
step towards the realisation of the Government’s pledge
of getting all of the UK’s primary and secondary schools
connected to the Internet National Grid for Learning
by 2002.
Customer satisfaction and quality of service
BT’s quality of service, and our customers’ satisfaction
with that service, is extremely important to us. To ensure
our customers are satisfied with our service and to
understand ways we can improve it, we talk to thousands
of our customers every month, in the UK and throughout
the world, asking for their opinion. We also run an
extensive market research programme to focus on wider
issues and to help us match our product and service
offerings to customer requirements.
Every month, specialist market research agencies, acting
on our behalf, talk to 23,500 residential and 14,000 business
customers in the UK about all aspects of the service
we provide.
For the period October 1998 to March 1999, overall
satisfaction with BT among residential customers rose to
90% from 89% in the previous six months, while 86% of
business customers continued to be satisfied overall.
At the start of this period, we changed our survey
methodology for measuring business customers’