BT Business blog
Posted 4 July 2008 at 8:14AM
by Ian Betteridge
in Doing business online
"Don't worry about the competition - worry about your own business" has become something of a piece of folk-wisdom. The idea is that if you focus too much on your competitors, you'll neglect your own business - and that copying your competitors reduces the differentiators which make your company unique.
However, there's a lot to be said for a bit of competitive analysis. Understanding where the competition is strong or weak allows you to work out ways of making the most of your own strengths.
For example, look at your competitor's pricing structure. Would they be vulnerable to lower prices in certain areas? Or are their prices so low that they may be producing lower-quality products?
So don't worry about the competition - but study them well enough to know their weaknesses, and whether you can exploit any of them.
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice
Posted 3 July 2008 at 9:07AM
by Ian Betteridge
in IT systems and support
Monday was officially Windows XP Memorial Day. As of Monday, XP is only available via a small (and shrinking) number of channels, including on small, low-powered laptops and as a "downgrade" for customers who are getting new machines with Windows Vista pre-installed. Other than that, if you want a copy of XP, you'll be out of luck.
It's fair to say that Vista has met with some resistance from customers, particularly larger businesses with hundreds of employees to support. The reasons for this are many and complex, but partly it's down to the sheer logistical nightmare of supporting a new operating system. Making sure that all your systems work together is no mean feat with only one OS to work with - supporting two makes things much more than twice as difficult.
All this contributes to what eWeek columnist Joe Wilcox estimates is around 112 million copies of Windows Vista sold, on about 37% of the total number of PCs shipped. That's still a big number of course, but it's clear that - when offered a choice - consumers have preferred to stick with the OS they know - XP - rather than being tempted by Microsoft's latest.
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, microsoft, windows xp
Posted 2 July 2008 at 8:33AM
by Martin Faux
in Announcements
We'll soon be launching some exciting improvements to this site!
Some of the changes your can expect to see in the coming weeks:
1. Easier access to the our comprehensive business website
The navigation and overall design will be refreshed to align with the rest of bt.com so you can now access our extensive business destination website. You'll find lots of useful information to help you run your business and access online billing through 'Your account' .
2. More help & support!
The homepage will show frequently updated links to most common support and advice. With just one click you will be able to access the top 5 frequently asked questions about BT Business products & services. Plus you'll find the usual links to our service status and Google search.
3. Removal of the 'personalised' homepage
More and more customers prefer to have quicker access to manage their internet services. This is why we are now changing the homepage so you can login directly to manage your internet services, reducing the number of clicks to access this area.
Plus many more exciting changes are planned this year. Watch this space!
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice
Posted 1 July 2008 at 8:06AM
by Ian Betteridge
in Investment and finance
No matter what size the company, wages form one of the biggest costs to business. When times are tough, keeping the total wage bill to a reasonable level is one of the key tools to ensuring the business survives.
Of course, that doesn't mean no one gets a pay rise. If you want to hang on to your best employees, you need to ensure they aren't going to be tempted away by someone who might be prepared to pay them a bit more. But you need to make sure that, over the company as a whole, the percentage increase in the wage bill is something reasonable.
That's why it's so disappointing to see that pay levels for directors in the boardrooms of smaller companies in the UK have risen by an average of between 13-16%. According to The Daily Telegraph, the annual survey of executive pay by Incomes Data Services shows that total cash paid to directors of Aim-listed companies jumped 13.5% in the 10 months to January, while directors of companies in the FTSE SmallCap index got themselves 16% more cash over the same period.
Some of those pay rises will be justified. If, for example, your excellent finance director is being tempted to jump ship a significant increase may well be in order. But an average of 16% across the boadroom sends almost exactly the wrong message to employees who have to make do with single-digit rises that barely keep up with inflation.
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, wages
Posted 30 June 2008 at 10:14AM
by Ian Betteridge
in Email and communications
As you might expect, we're big believers in the power of conference calls. Conference calls - including video conferencing and even meeting in virtual worlds - cut down on unnecessary travelling, and make it possible to discuss something without the necessity of a face-to-face meeting.
But like all tools, conference calls have their limits - and while using conferencing should be thought of as the default way of having a meeting, there are some occasions when face-to-face is the right approach.
So when should you go for a face-to-face meeting? The answer is simple: when showing your passion for something and a deep level of interaction is more important than just getting across facts and making a simple decision.
That could mean a meeting with a potential customer to pitch a product or service. It could be an internal meeting where you're looking to generate new ideas. Or it could be an interview where you need to judge someone's body language in order to make a decision.
Most meetings - particularly internal ones - don't fall into any of these categories, of course, and you should always look to replace these kinds of meetings with conferencing. But never forget the power of the face-to-face. If you know when to use it, it remains a powerful business tool.
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, conferencing
Posted 27 June 2008 at 9:03AM
by Hannah Gilchrist
in Doing business online
Building and maintaining strong relationships with your customers is something that all businesses need to be doing in a downturn, but what's more important is not just the data about your customers that you collect, but how you use it.
The latest applications can help with this, but again, many small businesses believe they don't apply to them. That's where BT comes in. Join the free live and interactive web seminar on 1 July at 2pm and find out which is the best solution to suit your business, no matter what your business size.
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, crm
Posted 26 June 2008 at 8:40AM
by Hannah Gilchrist
in Doing business online
Despite the credit crunch (that's one more) the number of entrepreneurs in the UK is on the rise. There have been 98,000 new startups in England and Wales in the first quarter of 2008.
But the question is, why, in a downturn, would people want to leave the security of a job and start a business?
Many would believe there are actually fewer opportunities out there for startups, but it now seems that entrepreneurs never believe it's a bad time to startup a business. Is this the case or should we be looking at the number of failing businesses instead of the number of new ones?
Starting a business? Meet with others going through the same experience!
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, starting up, startup
Posted 24 June 2008 at 9:01AM
by Ian Betteridge
in Doing business online
Read any local paper, and you'll find the prominent court reports detailing who's been up to no good - from car theft to a "dispute" outside a chip shop, there are the names and details of people you may know, all of whom have been dragged through the courts.
For local journalists, this kind of stuff is the meat and drink of their business, mostly because we British are generally a nosy lot. We like to know which of our neighbours have been up to no good, so "naming and shaming" has become something that our newspapers love to do.
So it's no surprise that the government has decided to "name and shame" companies, too - in particular, ones that have been caught and fined for giving jobs to people who aren't legally-cleared to work here. The grandly-named UK Border Agency now has a page on its web site which lists companies caught with illegal workers.
The restaurant trade seems to be the biggest offender here, with almost all the "named and shamed" coming from this sector. Scottish readers will be glad to know that they, together with Northern Ireland, appear to be paragons of honesty: not a single Scottish or Northern Irish company was convicted.
There is, of course, a serious point in all this. For a small business, a £5,000 fine per illegal employee can be a hefty price to pay, and in a tough economic climate it could be even more serious. So check that your employees are all qualified to work here - or you could end up in serious trouble.
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice
Posted 23 June 2008 at 8:44AM
by Ian Betteridge
in Doing business online
If there were any doubts over the power and potential of online retailing, the crisis that engulfed Sainsbury's last week will have dispelled them.
For, when the supermarket giant's web site had to be closed for two days after what it described as a "technical problem", it lost an estimated £1.5 million of business. Even with annual sales of £19 billion, that level of lost business is the kind of thing which keeps sales managers up at night sweating.
What's interesting, though, is that the company's rivals all reported increased sales on their online sites while Sainsbury's was down. So, rather than either wait for Sainsbury's to be up and running again or - horror of horrors - go to an actual shop, people just jumped ship and went with another retailer.
What does this tell us about online customers? Primarily, it tells us that online customers won't wait: if they can't use your site right now, they'll be off somewhere else instantly. Customer loyalty can be lost much more easily than it's won.
Tags: bt, bt broadbandoffice, sainsbury's
