It’s good to browse

Alan Fitzgerald describes the implementation and impact of intranet technology at BT-the largest such network in h o p e

he BT intranet, created two years ago, has now grown to become Europe’s largest.

1 According to BT chief executive Sir Peter Bonfield, it has produced a return on investment of about 1500‘K) with BT benefiting to the tune of around A300 million in 1995/96, more than A700 million in 1996/97, largely through savings on printing, internal mail, couriers and especially employees’ time. Even more impressive perhaps, is the estimate that it’s led to efficiency improvements in BT of about 13%).

For example, BT’s safety policy used to cost A1 nllllion a year to print, and inserting new pages in copies held in

offices throughout the company repre- sented a further L20 million in time and effort. Now this is available over the intranet virtually all that cost is saved.

About 80000 of BTS employees currently have access to the intranet. Most of the rest of BT’s 126000 employees will soon have access via multimedia terminals, and the original 2000 pages have grown to over two million pages fi-om 1000+ different information providers, with more coming on stream all the time.

Obviously, levels of security exist to protect personal and share-sensitive information but everyone is able to visit Sir Peter Bonfield’s chatty home page- it gets over 25000 visits per month-

where he personally updates BTS staff with thoughts about how the company can progress. This can be a sounding board for ideas and innovation, opening up the whole organisation for responses from all employees.

Staff can access the intranet across the BT LAN’s (local-area networks) in the offices; reniotely from home (via PSTN or ISUN lines) or some other approved location, or even while mobile using their laptops and GSM mobile phones. In all there are over 700 servers (separate computers) hosting the inforniation within the intranet. Fig1 shows the ‘home’ page for the intranet-one of the most frequently visited-where a ‘what’s new’ button allows access to a

Fig. I The BT lntranet home page receives half a million visits every month

BT Conrumet - ’9ratez~ and Burmess Semrer

BT Global and Syrtemr BT Human RP.olure.

su Peter

BT Runners

Headsomterr

BT Share Rice

I72 MANUFACTURING ENGINEER AUGUST I998

selection of new information available is highhghted. Obviously, with so much information on offer, it's important to draw attention to the really important things, rather than trusting to chance that people will stumble across them. Indviduals quickly learn to 'bookmark' those pages that are of real interest to them.

Driving through the changes in a large company like BT was a major challenge. You need a well-orchestrated campaign of persuasion that it will actually benefit the company. You don't have an intranet as a status symbol, like a Rolls-Royce.

The issue ofcontrol is also an interest- ing one-too much will stifle fi-ee use, and negate the whole point of the thing, but letting 80000 users loose without issuing some standards and guidelines won't work, either. There needs to be knowledge management, with people given the responsibility to keep their information up-to-date, relevant and concise.

BT has developed its own tools to aid and monitor the situation. Internal research had also found that staff were concerned about navigation con- sistency, so 'standards' were developed and issued to ensure commonality of approach, and a consistent 'look and feel' for all parts of the system.

Saving trees, saving time Before the intranet came on line, BT

was consuming an enormous amount of paper. For example, all 7000 of the sales team had a thick ring-folder catalogue for pricing-with weekly updates, which took up to an hour per member of staff every week to maintain. By putting all this information on the intranet, there were immediate marked savings in both time and material.

Even more important than either of these savings however, was that everyone now had up-to-the-minute information. The electronic pricing manual can now be used in a completely different way, flagging up current offers, discounts and special deals.

Remember the time when you phoned up BT and were put through to the wrong extension, kept on hold or lost in the ether? That shouldn't happen any more: the internal telephone &rectory was built to help operators find the right person within seconds. A filter system with titles and job descriptions has meant that operators could be more confident about answer- ing customer inquiries, directing calls to the exact place-which also increased job satisfaction (as employees no longer get misdirected queries that they can't answer and don't know where to forward).

Internally, everyone on the intranet now has access to that same information and can quickly find not only phone numbers but also e-mail addresses, mobile phones , voicemail and even the

Fig. 2 The Desktop Directory allows users to search for an individual or group anywhere in the organisation

scheduled whereabouts for anybody in the company, within seconds.

One of the biggest single benefits came from the integration, through the intranet, of the many different e-mail systems in use within BT-previously there were over 170 different e-mail system versions running on 13 different computer platforms .

More than 70% of BT staff who have access to the intranet access it at least once per day. The top 'sites' viewed are the Desktop Directory (currently recording 3 million visits per month), BT Today (1.5 milhon visits per month) and the home page (0.5 milhon visits per month).

One of the most interesting aspects of any intranet-and BT's is no exception-is that people's expectations about information and access quickly change.

Rather than asking somebody else to find a particular answer or piece of data, it's now far quicker to look it up yourself on the intranet. Individual productivity has soared as people realise how easy it is to access the information they need- so much so that people can't remember, or even believe, how they ever managed without it!

Alan Fitzgerald is Marketing Manager qf Syntegra, and a member o f the Editorial Advisory Panel o f Manufctuving Engineer.

0 IEE: 1998

MANUFACTURING ENGINEER AUGUST 1998 I73