BT moves to accelerate its cloud transformation

UK telco group BT’s Digital Unit has completed an EDM Council cloud assessment, which it says will provide a ’robust framework for moving forward at pace with its cloud and data ambition.’

EDM Council – a data and analytics trade association – is behind the Cloud Data Management Capabilities framework which is a metric to assess an organisation’s ‘cloud readiness’, described as a ‘comprehensive set of industry standard guidelines, standards and best practices for organisations to move their data into cloud, multi-cloud and hybrid-cloud ecosystems.’ The assessment itself was conducted by a firm called ProjectiveGroup.

It’s apparently the first EDM Council assessment in the telco sector, and it involved collaboration with 50 BT personnel from 11 disciplines including data management, architecture, engineering, legal, privacy, security, compliance, and networks.

BT says passing the assessment gives it a ’robust framework for moving forward at pace with its cloud and data ambition’, and reduces duplication of effort in setting up data classification and management structures by over 70%, which seems to be business speak for getting rid of overlap.

We’re told it also provides ‘clear routes’ to the deployment of strategic applications and data services, and informs the pace with which analytics and AI can be deployed ‘responsibly.’

“As we look to drive customer and commercial outcomes built on the potential of our data resources, ensuring we have a robust foundation from which to build is vital,” said Ben Clinch, Head of Information Architecture, BT Group. “The CDMC framework underpins our data ambition, providing us with a robust, safe and ethical grounding from which to drive value and build trust, for the Group and for customers. It also gives us a yardstick from which to build and measure improvements to ensure we can continue to lead the field. We have been a strong supporter and participant in the development of the CDMC framework since its earliest days.”

John Bottega, President of EDM Council added: “BT Group’s Cloud Data Management Capabilities assessment marks a major milestone in its commitment to cloud leadership. Having its cloud platform independently assessed will give the Group’s partners even greater confidence in accelerating their own adoption of cloud and hybrid-cloud strategies with the assurance that their data is controlled and protected.”

The emphasis on qualifying future data, cloud and AI product projects ‘responsibly’ is presumably a move to reassure customers that it’s not piling in with new types of technology without first doing some due diligence, as it sets its sights on new business areas.

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