Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 28, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
British Telecommunications’ (BT) major-customer division, BT Global Services, has improved its “BT Unified Communications Video” videoconferencing system to enable interoperability with systems from different manufacturers. BT will present this expansion along with other innovations to a broad audience at CeBIT, presenting itself as a force for innovation. “The BT Group spent 1.5 billion euros on research and development in the last financial year,” emphasises Jan Geldmacher, CEO of BT Germany, in an interview with pressetext.
BT Germany had been offering the high-definition videoconferencing system for around a year, but until now as a system based on Cisco’s TelePresence. To make BT’s offering attractive to companies that have already invested in conferencing systems from other manufacturers, the group has now sought corresponding interoperability A system “pays for itself relatively quickly,” Geldmacher says. Savings in travel-related costs and time make this realistic within a year. Geldmacher also emphasises that reducing business travel means reducing the environmental impact of the company’s activities as well.
BT will also present “Mobile Workforce Management” at CeBIT. The system is intended for intelligent management of companies’ field staff. As a complete solution, the offering covers every aspect from mobile devices to the integration of back-end systems. The benefits achieved, such as increased efficiency, are intended to save time and costs; BT specifically cites 30 percent. Through shorter travel distances, for example, BT also expects a reduction in environmental impact here.
The occasion for today’s presentation of the CeBIT innovations was the official launch of BT Austria, initially with 15 employees around Michael Frischauf, General Manager Corporate Sales. In this way, BT, as a global company serving internationally active customers, is expanding its local presence and now operates in 170 countries. “We are convinced that customers must be supported locally,” Geldmacher explains. International cooperation on projects is nevertheless important. “Every BT national company can draw on the entire infrastructure of the BT Group,” Geldmacher says. BT Austria will work closely with BT Germany in their shared language area; Frischauf is also a member of BT Germany’s Sales Management Team.
