Tag Archives: BT-Business

BT Business Connects CAN Media With Schools And Surgeries Across The UK

BT Business and CAN Media have announced a new deal which means two million viewers in schools and GP surgeries across the UK will have access to a private TV information service. The three-year,£20 million+ contract will see BT take over the delivery, installation and operational management for the Life Channel Service from CAN Media.

The Life Channel Service, the UK’s largest private television network with over seven million viewers, is used by local government agencies to showcase and promote health and educational initiatives to the local community. Research* has shown the channel is more than twice as effective as posters and up to three times more than leaflets in communicating health and well-being messages.

Life Channel campaigns help schools improve their Ofsted ratings, and the NHS in achieving the national priorities set out by the Department of Health and measured by the Care Quality Commission. Independent research** has shown that 1 in 2 primary school and 1 in 3 secondary school pupils positively modify their behaviour as a result.

Working with partner Croft Technology plc, BT Business will take over the operational management of the existing Life Channel network. It will also install and manage the service in 5,000 schools and 4,000 GP surgeries, provide broadband, PCs and up to four large panel TV screens at each site.

Mike Darcy, chief operations officer, CAN Media, said: “We needed a supplier that would not only support our hardware, software and helpdesk requirements today but could also support us as we develop the service in the future. BT offered us a wealth of technical experience and expertise at a competitive price.”

Humphrey Penney, director custom solutions, BT Business said: “Communicating important information to local communities in this innovative way needs high bandwidth. As the market leader in digital out-of-home television, CAN Media were looking for a reliable supplier when taking the decision to outsource the delivery and management of their Life Channel Service.”

Via EPR Network
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BT Unveils Priority Business Class Fibre Broadband

BT Business has unveiled its new fibre broadband service, BT Business Total Broadband Fibre, offering download speeds of up to 40Mb/s, from £30 per month. The service gives business traffic priority at times of contention and the UK’s fastest upstream speeds of up to 10Mb/s*, allowing users to get more than ever before from the internet.

The new service allows businesses to run multiple VOIP, high-definition video conferencing and business-grade cloud applications plus download emails, web-pages and FTP files concurrently, to reach new customers and better market themselves. It will also make home working a reality, allowing staff to remain connected to the office at all times.

A dedicated broadband “fast lane” also puts business user traffic first at times of contention to help firms continue to work faster, do more, reduce operational costs and boost productivity.

Nigel Stagg, managing director, BT Business, said: “28% of businesses are already using faster broadband to expand their website capabilities, and another 25% are using it to drive more processes online and employ more bandwidth-hungry technology according to our research last year**. BT Business Total Broadband Fibre gives businesses capacity and reliability, with the reassurance of a priority service, to enjoy the best possible online experience. We are committed to rolling out higher speeds and additional coverage across the UK during 2010.”

Businesses in Muswell Hill, Whitchurch and Glasgow Halfway have already been enjoying the faster 40Mb/s broadband service through a BT trial. The service will now be made available to approximately 500,000 homes and businesses from 31-enabled exchanges by late February. A further two million homes and businesses will be able to access the services by late summer following the roll out of the technology by Openreach, BT’s local access division.

This announcement sees BT Retail confirm that it will make fibre-based broadband available to 40 per cent of the UK – or some 10 million premises – by summer 2012. 2.5 million premises in total will have access by late summer and four million by the end of 2010.

From 26 January, new and existing BT Business customers in an enabled exchange area will automatically be eligible for the fibre service. 50 per cent of UK businesses can currently also receive ADSL 2+ broadband speeds of up to 20Mb/s at no extra cost to copper services.

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Technology Adoption Fuels Recovery Tipping Point For UK SMEs

According to research from BT Business, supported by the Design Council and Prince’s Trust, small businesses at the forefront of technology adoption have been the least impacted by the recession, with those most reluctant to bring in new technology suffering the most. Companies with a positive attitude to technology adoption had a 69% better than average experience of the recession, whereas technology laggards suffered a 34% worse recession experience than the average.

The survey was conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of BT Business and included responses from more than 7,200 small businesses across the UK.

The 2009 Business Pulse report is the UK’s largest survey of SMEs this year. The survey shows widespread recognition of the importance of technology in reducing costs and increasing efficiency and competitiveness. 30% of businesses said that they have saved money through using technology, 32% use technology to network and obtain advice and 28% have found more customers through its use. Nearly one in five cited the use of technology to support flexible working as having one of the most significant impacts on how they have managed the recession.

The Business Pulse survey identified the positive steps firms have taken to manage the downturn. Nearly twice as many technology innovators have seen an increase in turnover of 10+% compared to those small businesses reluctant to embrace new technology, the majority of which have seen their turnover decrease since the recession began.

Mick Hegarty, strategy director, BT Business said: “The small business community has fought bravely to survive the downturn. Our findings show that many small businesses believe we are now at a tipping point with a recovery almost upon us. We can also see that now more than ever technology has a critical role to play in the future success of these businesses, helping them to find new customers, market themselves more effectively and reduce costs. Investing in better technology is emerging as a measure of success in the future for many businesses.”

In terms of the technologies having the biggest impact, 61% said faster broadband speeds have had a positive impact on their business. Better web sites, better e-commerce and mobile devices were also particularly beneficial. More than 1 in 10 small businesses are looking for more advice and support on using technology to manage their business.

Smaller organisations are also increasingly turning to social media to improve the way they operate with one in five respondents turning to support forums, Twitter and blogs to market their business and attract and retain customers.

Lord Digby Jones, said, “The Business Pulse highlights that optimism is on the rise. Equipping firms with the right technology and support will help tip the economy from recession onto the road to recovery in 2010.”

Full findings of the Business Pulse will be revealed in Small Business Week 2009 and debated by a business leadership panel including business experts Peter Jones and Lord Digby Jones at the launch.

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BT Business And Google Today Announced An Agreement To Offer Digital Marketing Services To Small Businesses

The alliance will involve BT Business becoming a Google AdWords™ Authorised Reseller. Small businesses can now access Google’s base of millions of UK users and receive professional, full-service AdWords account management, from account setup and activation to ongoing campaign monitoring and optimisation, through BT Business.

More than one million businesses already served by BT Business, including the 350,000 members of BT Tradespace, will benefit from the agreement.

“Small businesses are looking to the internet to compete and grow in these tough economic times,” said Bill Murphy, managing director at BT Business. “Our own research across 700,000 small business websites shows that the majority need help to optimise search and effectively use search engine marketing. They don’t often have the skills internally to manage this and need affordable services and support. Working with Google AdWords will enable us to help smaller companies promote themselves and engage with customers, partners and suppliers online as well as larger businesses.”

The addition of the Google AdWords online advertising platform means BT Business can now offer customers a complete range of digital marketing services to help them promote their businesses effectively on the Web. From setting up a website and managing an online marketing campaign to ensuring they can effectively extend their business relationships through customer management tools and business social networking profiles such as BT Tradespace and other business applications.

Matt Brittin, Managing Director at Google UK & Ireland said: “Many businesses already use Google AdWords to reach new customers locally, across the UK and across the world. BT Business can now offer targeted, accountable and cost effective AdWords advertising to more than a million small businesses in the UK. We look forward to working with BT to help more small businesses get the most out of the online opportunity.”

About BT Business
BT Business understands the challenges that businesses face in the current climate, and supports cost control, improved productivity and winning business with technology including business broadband & internet, domain names and web hosting packages, IT support and mobile services including BlackBerry.

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BT Business Cuts The Price Of Web Hosting

BT Business has announced a major price cut to its web hosting Starter Pack to encourage small businesses to get online.

 Web Hosting

The cost of a 5GB web hosting package with BT Business has been reduced by 40 per cent to an exclusive online price of £2.99* per month, including a host of extra business tools to help small businesses promote themselves with a professional and secure web presence.

With enough web space to create hundreds of pages, a professional business domain name and business email for up to 10 accounts, the price cut makes the BT Business Starter Pack one of the most high value web hosting packages specifically designed for small businesses in the UK offering 24/7 support.

One in five small businesses don’t have their own web site, despite 25 per cent -£78 billion – of UK retail spend in this year projected to come from online sales. According to BT Business research the vast majority that do are also not getting the most out of their websites or using them effectively to attract customers.

Helen Costello, founder of Aardvark Cakes in St Helens, Merseyside, has been a BT web hosting Starter Pack customer for three years. The mother-of-two, who works from home, said: “My business is my website and it is important for me that it is easy for customers to find what they are looking for and place orders. Having a trustworthy web hosting provider is vital to me as the site is an indispensable tool of my trade. In the past 12 months, trade has really escalated, showing just how important it is for a small business to have an online presence in this day and age.”

“Having a professional web site presence could mean the difference between winning and losing customers in the current climate,” said Jerry Thompson, director online, BT Business. “We are listening to small businesses that are citing overall cost, ease of use and 24/7 support amongst their top considerations when getting online. By offering a complete range of high value digital marketing services we want to ensure that small businesses can compete as effectively as bigger companies and can grow their online presence with them.”

The BT Business Starter Pack is available immediately. Additional features include free web site building software with 400 templates to get businesses started on creating their own web site without the need for technical expertise.

*Pricing on a 12 months contract. Price reverts to £5 after first 12 months. Terms and Conditions apply

About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.

In the year ended 31 March 2009, BT Group’s revenue was £21,390 million.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

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BT Business Has Launched The Online Starter Kit, A Service Designed To Help Small Businesses Promote Themselves Online

BT Business has launched the Online Starter Kit, a service designed to help small businesses promote themselves online, offering a professionally-built web site and profile in the BT business networking community for £199 including 12 months of web hosting*.

web design packages

For the first time BT Business has brought together all of the essential ingredients for creating an online presence into one low cost bundle. For businesses looking to combine this with their broadband commitment, the Online Starter Kit is also available at just £5 per month with BT Business Total Broadband Option 3.

The bundle includes a web site design consultation and professional web site build, logo design, advice around web site copy and keywords, web hosting, domain based webmail and a BT Tradespace profile – all designed to work together to boost a business presence on search engines such as Google.

One in five small businesses don’t have their own web site, despite £78 billion – 25% of UK retail spend – in this year projected to come from online sales. According to BT Business research the vast majority that do are also not getting the most out of their websites or using them effectively to attract customers. Just one in over 3,000 web sites use keywords in the content they post on their sites, despite the use of keywords increasing the chances of search engines picking up web pages. 42% have websites with bad pages containing broken or invalid links**.

“Every business needs an effective online presence that works well with search engines, but this can sometimes be a daunting step for start-ups,” said Jerry Thompson, Director Business Products and Online. “By bringing everything together in one low-cost bundle BT is helping small businesses take the vital steps to getting online hassle-free. 20% of small businesses now also use social networking sites to win new business, so getting your company web site to work more effectively with social business networks such as BT Tradespace is becoming more and more important.”

BT Tradespace is a dynamic online community for sales and marketing and offers a comprehensive directory of small business products and services. It allows members to use the latest social media tools – podcasts, videos and blogs – to promote themselves, engage with customers, partners and suppliers and sell goods to consumers over a secure and safe trading platform.

* Based on 12mths contract. The Online Starter bundle costs £199 ex VAT. This comprises monthly costs of £5 per month ex VAT for a web hosting service plus a one-off cost of £139.
** Conclusion of an investigation of 70,000 websites released by BT Business in March 09.

About BTTradespace.com
BTTradespace.com is a 350,000-member online community, which enables businesses to sell products and services and connect effectively with other people – in order to build business and customer relationships. BT Tradespace provides social networking for businesses and free website set-up.

About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

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BT Has Released A New High Value Business Bundle Offering Broadband And Calls To UK Landlines, International Destinations And Mobile Numbers For Just £30 A Month

Businesses will also have the added freedom to build their own BT communications package, from the most extensive range of options, covering calls, broadband and mobile offered by a UK communications provider, following the introduction of a range of new BT One Plan call packages.

By adopting a new way of buying communications services, businesses can now create their own custom package, such as, BT Business Total Broadband Option 1 and their calls to mobile, international destinations and landlines fixed for only £30.

When compared to buying services separately, businesses taking a call package along with their broadband package in this way will gain an additional 20% in value from their broadband commitment. Businesses can build their own communications package including as many or as few options as they want, gaining more value the more they bring together in their flexible bundle.

The new BT One Plan call packages feature inclusive calling minutes to UK landlines, fixed calls to UK mobiles and international destinations for a low fixed monthly cost. Additionally BT has introduced savings of up to 50% on the price per minute for calls to UK fixed lines for businesses taking a call package with their broadband package.

Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Business, said: “In uncertain times, cash flow is king. Knowing what your monthly outgoings are, is as important as keeping them low. With the introduction of these changes, BT is helping businesses manage their communications spend with one low fixed cost package that they have the power to define themselves based on what they need. BT is offering businesses a premier a la carte service with the value and cost predictability benefits of having a set menu. If the dessert is not to your taste – why keep paying for it? This is a natural evolution in the market of communication services.”

All service and billing enquiries will be dealt with through one number, and one bill will cover all services for customers through BT Business One Plan. BT Business Broadbandoffers a 99.99% reliable broadband service, with nine out of 10 faults resolved in less than four hours and 95% of calls to the 24/7 UK help desk are answered within 30 seconds.

To achieve greater savings across communications spend, businesses can also get unlimited calls within their business depending on which components they opt for and 5% reward on their bill when they hit their committed spending levels.

About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.

In the year ended 31 March 2008, BT Group plc’s revenue was £20,704 million with profit before taxation and specific items of £2,506 million.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

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