Innovation Report: British Telecommunication Company Analysis

This report provides an executive summary of British Telecommunication's (BT) innovation management. It begins with an overview of the telecommunications sector, highlighting key players and BT's historical innovations, including the launch of the first mobile phone service in col...Read More

MANAGING
INNOVATIONS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report of managing innovation in the businesses will outlines the organisation and
industry overview in the British Telecommunication Company. It will showcase the
telecommunication Sector including the companies that are providing wireless services to the
customers. Further the report outlines the Organisation and innovation history of British
telecommunication Company. The company made lots of innovation in its past. In the year 1985
the British Telecom and Vodafone has launched first mobile phone service by establishing Cell
net. In the year 1994 MCI Communications and British Telecom has started a joint venture in
order to provide a better connectivity to their customers. In year 2000 the British
telecommunication company got the opportunity to provide local loop service to other telecom
companies. In the year In year 2004 the British Telecommunication Company has launched
industry consultation programme. The British telecommunication service has developed a
system to deal with spammers in the year 2006. The British telecommunication Company has
launched 4g network in year 2012. In the year 2015 the British telecommunication has
performed a field trial for developing G. Lastly in the august 2015 the British
Telecommunication Company has launched a BT Ultra HD Sports channel. Further the report
outlines the Organization existing innovation performance and capabilities. The company was
the first The British telecommunication company was the first fixed line operator to announce a
project called BT 21 CN in order to made a transition to NGN. BT 21 CN. The report will
showcase that the British telecommunication company is more focused on its fibre broadband
network. The British Telecommunication has planned to provide services on the basis of G fast
network with a speed of 500 Mbps. The report will also outlines the telecommunication industry
in 2019. The report will show that the Telecommunication companies are focusing on providing
data and voice services to customers. The report will also outlines that the telecom companies are
making continuous efforts to enable 5G network till the year 2021. This report will outlines that
the telecom companies are continuously making efforts to bring innovation in the telecom
industry. The report will further discussed about the telecom companies that they are investing
funds to use Virtual Reality technology in their products. The report outlines that Business of
Telecommunication companies is affected by the changes which occurs in the external
environment. Lastly the report will also outlines that the telecommunication companies are

using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in their operations by automating the supply
chain.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................5
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................5
Purpose of the report and structure.............................................................................................5
Organization and industry overview...........................................................................................5
Organization existing innovation performance and capabilities.................................................7
The Telecom industry in 2019....................................................................................................8
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Business Innovation refers to, development of new methods of working, new ideas, new products
or services and new procedures etc. Innovation helps the business in becoming more and more
efficient and it also enables the organization in achieving its objectives and goals. Innovation
consists of different steps like, first of all company has to generate idea through different
techniques. Then, employer will consider whether the idea is viable or not.
British Telecommunications is a public limited company and it belongs to Telecommunication
sector. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1969. Its key products
are Mobile telephone, Supply chain management etc.
MAIN BODY
Purpose of the report and structure.
Firstly, the introductory part of the Report will explain the term innovation in business, how a
company can bring innovation in its products or services and introduction of British
Telecommunication Company. Main body of the Report will provide the details of the company
and its innovation history, existing innovation performance and capabilities of British
Telecommunication company. Main body of the report will further explain the emerging trends
in the telecom sector in year 2019. At last the Report will end with conclusion and References.
Organization and industry overview.
Telecommunication Sector include the companies that are providing wireless services to the
customers. It also includes companies that are providing internet related services. Telecom sector
does not include those companies that are broadcasting T.V., radio or, companies that are
manufacturing computers and cellphones ((Agger, 2018)).
British Telecommunication Plc. is one of the largest telecom company in United Kingdom. The
company provides various services like, broadband, mobile services, and selling five voice
services. The company provides its services in five segments.
Organization and its innovation history.
British Telecommunication has made lot of innovations in past which are as follows-
 In 1984, new legislation has allowed British Telecommunication to operate globally due
to which in 1985, Chief executing officer of British Telecom along with Vodafone has
launched first mobile phone services by establishing Cell net(Biemans, 2018).

 Due to strategic alliance with other famous telecommunication companies in the world,
British Telecom get the opportunity of providing its services in overseas market. And in
1994, MCI Communications and British Telecom has started a joint venture to provide a
better connectivity and improved business services to customers.
 In year 2000, after the modifications was made in British Telecom license, the company
got the opportunity to provide local loop service to other telecom companies. This
enables other service providers to connect directly with their customers with speed of 80
Gigabits per second.
 In year 2004, British Telecom has launched industry consultation programme called
Consult 21. It has enabled the company to provide internet service by using the
technology of internet protocol in various devices like, mobile phones, PDA etc. It is a
new process of business of the company.
 In year 2006, British Telecom has developed a system to deal with spammers. It helps in
scanning the junk mail, to filter virus infected messages. The system helps in determining
the size and location of spam.
 In year 2010, the company has acquired Everything Everywhere later on, it becomes the
consumer division of the company after this, British Telecom has launch its first mobile
app.
 Everything Everywhere which has been acquired by British telecom has launched 4 G
networks in year 2012 apart from T- mobile and Orange.
 British Telecom has successfully performed two trials to develop world's fastest network
of fibre optics with a speed of 3 Terabit per second.
 In year 2015, British Telecom has performed field trail for developing G. Fast technology
for delivering ultrafast speed at multiple Mbps. Company claims that, this technology
helps to reduce the length of wire made up with copper. And it will double the speed of
data in coming future. And it will also support the company in satisfying the needs of
customers and stakeholders.
 In 2015, the company has performed Research for several years at Adastral Park which
was established with the help of government funding. This research is conducted by the
company to determine that, how various techniques can be applied to different aspects of

telecommunication. Also, to provide the opportunity to company to generate new
services for the clients. And, also to develop new secured apps. The research has help the
company a lot to provide secured network to clients.
 In August 2015, British Telecom has launched a BT Ultra HD Sports channel. The
channel has shown different matches from football league in United Kingdom. The
channel requires a good connectivity of internet. Company uses Sky's service through
satellite. This service has been provided by Astra.
Organization existing innovation performance and capabilities.
British Telecom is a telecom company which is continuously making efforts to bring innovation
in the services it provides. Selection of suppliers by the company plays an important role in the
performance of the company. Key innovations of the company aims to improve its core
capabilities. So that, it can fulfil the new demands of customers. According to the company,
innovation is consisted of 3 steps that are , Research, validation and execution. British Telecom
has made changes in its top management so that, speed of decision making would increase.
 The company was the first fixed line operator to announce a project called BT 21 CN so
that it can make transition to NGN. BT 21 CN of British Telecom represents a transition
from capacity to capabilities of the company. So that, the company can provides voice
only services effectively and efficiently.
 The Company has been focussing on its fibre broadband network so that, it can provide
its services to a wide area beyond United Kingdom.
 British Telecom has planned to provide services on the basis of G. fast with a speed of
500 Mbps. Company is making trials at various locations like, Gosforth, Huntingdon by
the end of year 2021.
 The company has already acquired Everything Everywhere in year 2010 and it is now
planning to develop and provide innovative services to its customers till 2025.
The core competencies of British Telecom helps the company to improve its networks and
services. So that, it can provide its it services globally.
 The transition of company to NGN results into overall change in the old process of
providing the services. It has bring technological as well as cultural change in the
company.

 The transition also resulted in improvement in the relationship of company with its
customers. It also helps the company to reduce its cost of providing new services to
customers(Johne, 2018).
 The objective of the company to create BT 21 CN is to satisfy the changing needs of the
customers. Transition of British Telecom to NGN has increased the capabilities of the
company to respond the changing trends of the market (Criscuolo, 2018).
 The duration of transition to NGN has offered the opportunity to the company to switch
from circuit base to internet protocol base. It has not only changed the internal operations
of the company but also resulted in change in the interface with the customers.
The important factor in innovation is the selection of other companies as a partner. British
Telecom has selected all the major firms as a partner like, Cisco, Lucent etc. All these companies
has help a lot to British Telecom in innovating and providing new services to its customers. To
support the above innovations, company has made a radical change in its strategic leadership and
also in top management positions. Main changes are occurred in Chief Executive Position in the
company.
The Telecom industry in 2019.
Telecom industry is one of the important sector in the world. And major trends of Telecom
sector in 2019 are as follows.
1)Telecom companies are focusing on providing data and voice services to customers.
Companies are also planning to invest amount to provide high quality content and alliance with
broadcasting companies. Most of telecom companies are investing huge amount of funds to
provide better quality of broadcasting content to their targeted customers. The use of data mining
is also increasing day by day. By using such techniques, telecom companies will be able to know
their customers in a better way.
2)Telecom companies are making continuous efforts to enable 5G till year 2021. This will help
the companies to increase their revenue. To provide 5G network to the clients companies have to
invest huge amount of funds in infrastructure like, software and hardware. This will provide an
opportunity to telecom companies for delivering better quality of content.
3)Some famous European telecom companies are planning to reduce approx 7000 jobs in place
of this, companies will employ new 2000 employees so that, revenue of the company will
increase. Companies are also developing new policies related with job rotation of staff so that,

they will gain new skills and knowledge. The policy will also help the companies to motivate
their staff so that, they will perform better and help the company in increasing revenue and
profits.
4)Telecom companies are continuously making efforts to bring innovation in their services by
using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies. Telecom companies will use
Augmented Reality to improve visualisation on real images. And many famous games like,
Pokemon Go are also using this technology to provide better experience to their customers. This
technology has also changed the way of performing job (Talukder, 2016).
5)Telecom companies are also investing funds to use Virtual Reality technology in their
products. So that, it will help the companies in gaining competitive advantage over the
competitors.
6)Business of Telecom companies is affected by the changes that are occurring in the external
environment. Telecom Industry has been affected by government rules and regulations and this
trend will also continue in coming years. Example, European Union has develop the policy
related with roaming charges that affects the working of telecom companies. Other regulations
that companies are facing are, GDPR regulations, Net Neutrality etc. Telecom companies should
be flexible so that, they can easily adapt the changing rules and regulations of the government in
upcoming years.
7)Telecom companies are continuously making efforts to introduce to important concepts that
are, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in their operations by automating the supply
chain, making the transactions digital, etc. So that, companies can reduce the cost of operations.
Speech recognition, and other technologies play an important role in development of telecom
companies.
8)Companies in Telecom sector are making efforts for using Digitization to solve the queries of
customers. Through digitization, companies will be able to forecast and track the problems of
their clients in a better manner. This process will help telecom companies to reduce their
operational cost and to increase the revenue. Companies have to employ talented staff so that,
they can provide self service ability to their customers. And also help to resolve the problems
and questions of the customers.
9)Till the end of year 2019, there will be more than 9 billion connections of IoT and it is an
essential part of transmitting data to provide lighting, and smart grid in different cities. With the

development of 5 G connections it will be possible to support IoT connection (Álvarez Santos,
2018.).
Conclusion
The above Report has described the concept of innovation in business . The Report has also
provided the details of British Telecommunication Plc. And also provides the details about
telecommunication sector. The Report has further outlined the history of innovations made by
the company like, innovation of the first mobile phone service, local loop service, development
of world's fastest network etc. The Report also explained the existing innovations made by
British Telecom and its capabilities which includes details of BT 21 CN, improvement in the
company due to transition to NGN etc. The Report further described the current trends of
Telecom sector in 2019.

References.
Books and Journals
Agger, A. and Sørensen, E., 2018. Managing collaborative innovation in public
bureaucracies. Planning Theory, 17(1), pp.53-73.
Biemans, W., 2018. Managing innovation within networks. Routledge.
Criscuolo, P., Haas, M., Ter Wal, A.L. and Salter, A., 2018, July. Managing Innovation in a
Multi-Divisional Firm: Mobility across Divisions and Manager Performance. In
Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2018, No. 1, p. 11989). Briarcliff Manor,
NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Johne, F.A., 2018. Industrial product innovation. Routledge.
Kay, J. and Willman, P., 2018. Managing technological innovation: Architecture, trust and
organizational relationships in the firm. In New Technologies and the Firm (pp. 19-35).
Routledge.
Taghizadeh, S.K., Jayaraman, K.S. and Ismail, I., 2018. Innovation value chain as predictors for
innovation strategy in Malaysian telecommunication industry. Management. 12. pp.4-2.
Talukder, M., 2016. Managing innovation adoption: from innovation to implementation.
Routledge.
Van Lancker, J., Wauters, E. and Van Huylenbroeck, G., 2016. Managing innovation in the
bioeconomy: An open innovation perspective. Biomass and Bioenergy.90. pp.60-69.
Álvarez Santos, J., Miguel-Dávila, J.Á. and Nieto Antolín, M., 2018. The innovation strategies
for managing a specific paradox: exploration/exploitation. Total Quality Management &
Business Excellence.29(11-12).pp.1362-1380.
Online
British telecommunication annual report. 2018. [ONLINE] Available through:
<https://www.btplc.com/Sharesandperformance/Annualreportandreview/2018summary/>