BT 2010 Annual Report Download - page 18

REVIEW OF THE YEAR OUR MARKETS AND CUSTOMERS
16 BT GROUP PLC ANNUAL REPORT & FORM 20-F
Customers
We meet the needs of customers ranging from individual consumers
through to multinational corporations and the communications
industry. Our portfolio of products and services is sold in four
customer segments by the customer-facing lines of business: BT
Global Services, BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach.
Multinational corporations
BT Global Services provides networked IT services to organisations
ranging from multinational corporations like major banks, retailers
and pharmaceutical manufacturers to local businesses and
government departments, in more than 170 countries.
Organisations need to be more efficient and effective. They are
looking at ways to meet expectations of customer service at a time
when, as a result of economic conditions, budgets are increasingly
under pressure.
We have created a powerful combination of networked IT and
professional services capabilities to help our customers deliver
sustainable organisations, communicate effectively, improve their
own customer focus, create security and resilience, react to a
changing marketplace, and increase their operational efficiency.
Public sector
As one of the largest suppliers of networked IT services for the UK
Government, we are well placed to help it improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of public services through networked and shared
IT infrastructures, electronic purchasing and procurement, while
meeting stringent security requirements. We help the Government
outsource services to be more effective with the use of customer
contact centres and the internet for revenue collection and benefit
distribution, engagement with citizens, and mobile and flexible
working.
We are a trusted supplier of networked IT services to central and
regional governments in many other countries around the world. As
one example of this, an important new business win for BT Global
Services this year was a major contract awarded by the Spanish
government to connect its embassies across the world with national
and international data networks.
The UK Government, collectively, is our largest customer, but the
provision of services to any one of its departments or agencies does
not comprise a material proportion of our revenue. Except as
described in Our relationship with HM Government on page 39,
the commercial relationship between BT as a supplier and the UK
Government as a customer has been on a normal customer and
supplier basis.
SMEs
We provide the UK’s SMEs with a range of IT and communications
solutions. We have around 1m SME customers, characterised by
their diversity, which can be anything from a start-up or ‘micro-
business’ with from one to 10 employees, through to a substantial
medium-sized business with up to 1,000 or more employees. We
aim to simplify the management of communications for these
customers, giving them value for money and driving innovation
so they can get more benefit from their investment in
communications. Our broadband, e-mail, VoIP and online
applications help SMEs keep in touch and communicate online with
their customers, employees and suppliers, while our domain and
web-hosting services make it easy for them to get online, develop
their business online and sell online. Our mobile services also help
our SME customers work on the move.
‘Cloud’ computing has great potential for delivering IT services to
SMEs at lower prices. It is a style of computing where scalable and
flexible IT capabilities are provided as a service to customers over
the internet. We are offering business applications that exploit
‘cloud’ computing.
Consumer
We serve consumer customers in the UK with fixed lines,
broadband, mobile and TV products and services. We aim to offer
value-for-money packages.
We meet the needs of the increasing numbers of consumers
wanting to buy telephony, broadband and TV from a single
provider. These bundled services have increased in popularity as
they meet users’ needs at a fixed price. BT Vision, our on-demand
television service, gives viewers access to a wide range of TV and
radio channels and pay-per-view services.
We are also the only CP to offer a special service across the UK to
the more vulnerable members of our society. BT Basic offers a
discount of over 60% off line rental, is available to nearly four
million people on low income and also includes a call allowance.
Wholesale and carrier
Our wholesale and carrier customers are fixed and mobile
operators, internet service providers, broadcasters, and other CPs.
We provide these customers with a portfolio of broadband and
high-speed data connectivity, interoperability, voice and
interconnection services, as well as partial or fully-managed
network services and platforms.
They are a diverse group of companies, with end users ranging
from large corporations to individual households.
How we are structured
We have four customer-facing lines of business: BT Global Services,
BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach. These are supported by
two internal service units: BT Innovate & Design and BT Operate.
BT Retail, BT Wholesale and Openreach operate mainly in the UK,
where we are one of the largest communications services providers
to the consumer and business markets. BT Global Services operates
in the UK and globally.
In the UK we support CPs through BT Wholesale and Openreach,
and internationally through Global Telecoms Markets, a part of BT
Global Services.
How we sell our products and services
BT has a portfolio of around 1,800 products and services, divided
into five broad categories:
Managed solutions which comprise networked IT services, multi-
protocol label switching (MPLS) and MNS
Broadband and convergence
Calls and lines
Transit, conveyance, interconnect circuits, wholesale line rental
(WLR), global carrier and other wholesale products
Other products and services which include BT Global Services’
revenue from non UK global products and BT Retail’s Enterprises
division including revenue from conferencing, directories,
payphones and other select services.