SERVICE OPERATIONS

MANAGEMENT
CASE STUDY ON BT GROUP

MUNAWAR ALI K
20MBMA58
CASE BACKGROUND
 BT Wholesale is a british telecom group which manages the central telecommunications network across UK. BT
Wholesale’s customers are other telecoms providers and it has a statutory obligation to provide the same level of service to
all companies operating in this market. In other words, BT’s customer-facing company, BT Retail, receives no advantage
over its competitors.
 Proliferation of telecommunications products, fairly straight forward activity very soon became extremely complex.
 Two factors lead their potential standard activity in an opposite direction:
1. Engineers may take the opportunity of a new customer requirement to create a completely new approach
rather than adapt an existing one.

2. Two customers requiring a similar service will frequently have different operational requirements.For

example internet service providers (ISP) will not accept a standard broadband offer. The Markets Division

therefore works with major customers such as the ISPs, corporates who require private circuits, and mobile

operators such as Vodafone and T-Mobile, in order to engineer a cost effective solution for each.
 BT continues to support older technologies such as telex as well as being commited to an aggressive installation
programme for broadband.
 With the advent of broadband, BT Wholesale was determined not to fall into the same pattern of too much process variety,
frequently self inflicted.
 The objectives of organisation was to reduce custom lead-times and process improvements.
 Some of the most senior managers in the organisations have been appointed as service process line owners, to demonstrate BT’s
commitment to this approach. Each process line is now managed end to end, with a shift from a task focus to a customer focus.
Early results suggest a major performance improvement.
Q1. WHAT ARE THE PROCESS MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES THAT BT WHOLESALE IS
ADOPTING AS IT ATTEMPTS TO IMPROVE SERVICE (FASTER RESPONSE) AND REDUCE
COSTS?
 Business change must be performance driven - The success of Amazon and many other e-commerce companies in the order
management process has led customers to demand the same speed, convenience, and accessibility in the purchasing process
elsewhere. Telecommunication companies are trying to replicate the same by digitizing the order management process.
They are also using automated order management systems to capture and validate data, authorize payments, automate
billing, and communicate with customers more effectively. Companies using automated order management systems have
repeatedly shown an increase in business performance. For instance, a majority of the service providers have developed
apps that can facilitate customers in picking their own tariff and payment method.

for eg: Use canned responses. With canned responses, two clicks are enough to answer a customer. Such a
quick reaction has a great effect on your customer support and reputation. Just think of those customer reviews
calling your customer service “super fast,” “exceptional,” and “much better than XYZ”. A live chat app is your best
bet to make it happen.
 Business change must be stakeholder based -process line is now managed end to end, with a shift from a task focus to a customer
focus.Customer focus means putting your customers’ needs first. Customer-focused businesses foster a company
culture dedicated to enhancing customer satisfaction and building strong customer relationships.
 Improving IT Infrastructure - Outdated IT infrastructure and legacy systems impede companies seeking to improve business
performance. As the amount of data collected by companies on customers are on the rise, it is equally important to store and
process in real-time. Legacy systems and inefficient IT infrastructure cannot keep pace with the required computational
power to process such data to generate relevant insights. where telecom operators are adding millions of subscribers every
month.Additionally, telecom companies looking to improve business performance should look at the automation of process
and systems including load balancing, automating server deployments, and service-ticket management. Improving IT
infrastructure is highly important in developing regions .
 BT operates 4 separate businesses: BT retail, BT wholesale, BT Global services and Openreach. There are a large number of
synergies between all of those companies, for example HR, finance and accounting services. Furthermore, if BT decides to
acquire another company in the future, it is likely to use the existing synergies to create even more synergies with the new
company in the future.
 Furthermore, there are a large number of other cost cutting exercises that the company can do in the future to achieve cost
competitiveness, such as restructuring, selling some parts of its business that are no longer useful to it and increasing efficiency
internally.
VOLUME VARIETY MATRIX
● The relationship shows an inverse relationship between variety and volume. In general, as the product volume
increases the variety tends to decrease.Below shown volume/variety matrix is a company that produces a very high
variety of products but in very low volume.
Q2. Using the volume–variety matrix, plot BT Wholesale pre and post the
change to service process lines. What are the management challenges in
making this change?
VOLUME VARIETY MATRIX OF BT Wholesale
A - BT wholesale had more process varieties compared to when they changed to service process lines.They were supporting their older
technologies such as telex as well as being commited to an aggressive installation programme for broadband.

B - With the advent of broadband, BT Wholesale was determined not to fall into the same pattern of too much process variety,
frequently self inflicted. So they identified a handful of process families, termed service process lines, and broadband is one of these.
 By these change in process varieties the service process lines were changed from top to bottom by
which we can understand they were more focused on customers rather than process and tasks they
followed.
 The process characteristic gradually changed from

Flexible Dedicated
Labour intensive Capital intensive
MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

1. Understanding Customer Expectations - It is important for a business to get to know its clients, customers, and consumers.
Find out their expectations, their needs, their preferences, their non-negotiables, their opinions on the product and their
suggestions for improvement.
2. Reaching Out to Customers - Doing research and gathering data on customer expectations bring us to the task of reaching
out to customers. There are plenty of ways to advertise and get through the customers. We have print media, radios, televisions,
phones, emails, social media and of course, face-to-face campaign.
3. Exceeding Customer Expectations - In businesses, it is not just enough to meet the customer’s expectations. The fact that
these expectations are constantly changing, companies must then be always a step ahead. It is also noteworthy to know that
often times, the expectations of customers are set by the competitors.
4. Consistency - Consistency is probably the most difficult challenge to achieve. Great customer service must be delivered to all
customers, across all business channels, 24/7. Each and every experience of each and every customer must be equally good.
5. Employing Skilled Customer Service Professionals - As more businesses focus on customer service, the demand for skilled
customer service professionals is on the rise. Hiring such employees is one thing, retaining them is another. Companies must
have structured programs to teach and train new hires about company policies, values, culture and practices in dealing with
customers
Thankyou