BT makes some promises to business customers in new ‘charter’

BT has unveiled a new ‘charter’ for business customers, which is a grand way of saying it has published a series of intentions regarding research investment and commitments to roll out new services in the future.

As part of this charter, it promises to invest almost £100 million over the next three years in its ‘Division X’ unit. Though the name suggests the unit might dabble in growing mutant super soldiers in a sinister looking lab, the money will go towards developing new services for enterprise customers based on all the cutting edge tech areas –  5G, IoT, edge computing, cloud and AI.

It has also pledged to make cyber defence and assessment tools available to smaller businesses, enhance the broadband lines of customers not yet served by fibre, and provide the ‘fastest’ installation and repair times for ethernet equipment.

A new suite of business tools to go alongside its Digital Marketing Hub is also promised, and by March next year it says it will extend its digital skills programmes to 350,000 small businesses, and remove of all single use plastics from its business product packaging.

“Right now, our key industries are on the cusp of a technological revolution as the UK prepares to make the large-scale switch from analogue to fully digital ways of working,” said Rob Shuter, CEO of Enterprise at BT Group. “Only businesses which make the leap will succeed and stay competitive – our role is to help them navigate that journey.

“It’s an ideal time for us to set out why BT really means business. Our new Charter reflects the priorities that our 1.2m business and public customers expect to see from BT. We’ve listened to their feedback and based our Charter on four key promises – that we’ll lead the way in innovation; we’ll be trusted experts in our fields; we’ll be easier to do business with; and we’ll continue to put purpose at the heart of our business.”

BT’s slate of promises was announced alongside the opening of its new Aurora customer innovation showcase at its London HQ (pictured), which apparently goes into how 5G, IoT, cloud and AI (all the hits) might be applied to healthcare, manufacturing and smart cities.

The group recently unveiled its plans to draw a line of separation between its EE and BT brands, with the former focussing on the consumer market and the latter looking at b2b and the public sector. So while this charter/list of things it intends to do can seem a bit scattergun and woolly in places, it looks like the first step in establishing that distinction in the minds of its customers.

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