There is nothing more important to our success than delivering outstanding customer service.

Broadband communications have swiftly moved from being nice to have to must have technology. As broadband services grow more critical to people’s lives and their businesses the quality of the service we provide becomes more important than ever. This is every bit as true for a family as it is for a wholesale customer, a small business or for an international organisation with sophisticated communications networks that stretch around the globe. We need to drive standards higher for the whole of the industry. Being number one for service in our sector is simply no longer good enough. We have to make outstanding customer service a differentiator for BT. By doing this we will build on our position as Britain’s favourite broadband provider at home and in the office, we will continue to grow our wholesale and global businesses and we will drive down the costs we incur when things go wrong.

We must be more agile: a big business acting like a small business.

The principal markets in which we operate are fiercely competitive and extremely fast moving. To keep ahead of the game BT has to be fleet of foot; innovating new services and bringing them swiftly to market, really understanding what our customers want and putting them at the heart of everything we do. There are many examples of where we have succeeded, from the 2 million home hubs that we have distributed in less than 2 years, through the range of communications services now available to enterprises of every size that until just recently were the preserve of only the very largest, to the awards and recognition we win all round the world for innovation and customer service. We have changed the way our company is structured to reduce duplication and increase our agility, but there’s more to do. Our customers are constantly demanding quicker, smarter and better value services and we must continue to respond to those demands.

We will build on the success of our global operations.

BT has established world leadership in providing communications services for multinational organisations. We are helping companies all around the world make the most of globalisation. Whether it’s speeding up Visa card transactions across 51 countries, or enabling millions of fans around the world to watch Major League Baseball online, we are wherever our customers want us to be. Our global business is driving the growth of BT and helping to build its future. It is also helping Britain win by driving innovation, building on our skills base and finding new and better ways of enhancing the productivity of the organisations that do business with us.

We must continue to invest for the future.

BT has helped to develop in the UK the most competitive broadband market in the world. That’s a cause for celebration. It means low prices, a fantastic array of choice and broadband availability that’s practically universal. We can be proud of the international lead we have established in communications regulation, but now we need our principal trading partners to catch up so that we have the same access to their markets as they have to ours.

While competition has flourished, BT continues to be one of the biggest investors in the UK as we accelerate the roll out of the world’s most advanced communications network - 21CN. But this is a world that’s changing fast, and the debate is already under way about how best to deliver the next generation of super fast broadband for families and businesses alike. It is clear that in years to come the quality of Britain’s communications infrastructure will be a critical component of productivity. We need to create the regulatory conditions which make sure that the investment needed to keep the UK at the cutting edge of the broadband revolution is secured.

Michael Rake & Ian Livingston talk about customer service, being agile, our innovative global business and investing for the future.

While competition has flourished, BT continues to be one of the biggest investors in the UK.

We have changed the way we’re structured to reduce duplication and increase our agility. There is more to do.