BT 2016 Annual Report Download - page 18

20
Chief Executive’s introduction
Gavin Patterson
Chief Executive
4 May 2016
2015/16 has been a landmark
year for us.
Our lives and work are now built around
connectivity – and our expectations are
constantly rising. Our customers’ demand for
data is increasing exponentially, and we want
to be able to access files, stream entertainment
or use applications wherever we are, on any
device, seamlessly.
I’m proud that it’s BT’s networks, products and
services that lead the way in many of these
areas. And our strategy of innovation and
investment has helped, and will continue to
help us lead and shape the digital future in the
years to come, and to broaden and deepen
relationships with our customers.
This year we’ve brought EE into the BT family.
By bringing together the UK’s best mobile
network with the best fixed network, it puts
us in a great position to meet the growing
demand from UK consumers, businesses and
the public sector for converged digital services.
The integration of EE is going well and we now
see the opportunity to deliver more synergies
than we originally expected, and at a lower
cost. The acquisition has also allowed us to
refresh our organisational structure, with a
sharper focus on serving customers both in the
UK and internationally.
We’ve also passed a number of landmarks on
our fibre investment. Over 25 million premises
can now get superfast broadband – around
85% of the country – and we’re on track to
help take coverage to 95% and beyond.
We continue to lead other major European
nations on almost all measures of speed
and connectivity.
This year has also seen us develop a range of
exciting new products, services and content.
We’ve grown our TV business by around one-
third this year alone. It’s benefited from the
halo eect created by BT Sport, as well as from
other investments we’ve made in this area
such as the exclusive launch of AMC.
I’m very pleased with how customers have
responded to our UEFA Champions League and
UEFA Europa League content, with BT Sport
audiences up 45% this year. And we broadcast
the UK’s first ever live matches in Ultra HD.
With our business customers, we’re seeing
great demand in the UK and around the world
for our products and services, in particular our
IP and cloud-based services, and our cyber-
security products.
We’ve also made progress on service this
year. Openreach hit all 60 of the minimum
service levels set by Ofcom, and BT Consumer
complaints are now 50% lower where our
agents are multi-skilled. We’ve also launched
a number of tools that give customers greater
control over their orders, bills and services.
Our new ‘My BT’ app for example, has been
downloaded more than 435,000 times so far,
as customers increasingly want to use digital
channels for service. ‘View my Engineer’
also allows customers to track engineer
appointments.
Despite these improvements, I know we’re not
where we want to be. As connectivity becomes
ever more critical to how we live and work,
our customers have rising expectations of the
service we provide, and quality of service is
becoming more important than price alone.
That’s why Openreach is tackling missed
appointments, why BT Consumer will be
upgrading service levels to next day repair and
why we’ve hired 900 engineers. We’ve also
recruited more than 900 extra contact centre
sta which will enable us to return EE and BT
Consumer contact centre work to the UK.
Our continued investments in our people,
network and products will also enable us
to improve the experience delivered by our
contact centres, remove failure and change
the way we interact with customers.
Today we help millions of people connect
to friends and family and have a wealth of
information and entertainment at their
fingertips. We help companies work smarter
and compete around the world, and we enable
essential public services to be delivered.
Our aim to become a fully converged service
provider will allow us to create and deliver
a whole new generation of products
and services. It will provide a foundation
for all areas of our business, deliver for our
customers and generate huge opportunities
in the years ahead.
Our commitment to using the power of
communications to make a better world, and
to making sure we’re always broadening and
deepening our customer relationships, means
we’re confident that BT will remain right at the
heart of what’s to come – delivering significant
value for our customers and employees, for
our shareholders, and for society.
BT Group plc
Annual Report 2016