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| New Dawn For Doing Business On The Move |
It’s probably fair to say that the mobile phone has revolutionised the way business is transacted. It has become an indispensable business tool, paving the way for plenty of fresh thinking on working practices and how our business needs can be met by embracing new and exciting technologies. In today’s society many of us have more than one means of communication at our disposal - home phone, work phone, broadband internet, mobiles, laptops and now personal digital assistants like Blackberry providing instant email access while on the move. From a business perspective the benefits of these technologies are immense – enabling us to work efficiently, compete effectively and reach new markets, allowing us to access voice, data, and internet services without geographical boundaries.
BT has been pioneering these ‘new wave’ technologies in the local marketplace for many years now. BT Northern Ireland was first in the marketplace with broadband internet access, which is now available to 98.5% of homes and businesses in Northern Ireland and the driver behind many of the mobile technologies, such as BT Openzone, the first public Wireless (Wi-Fi) service launched in Ireland.
BT Openzone enables business people and consumers to access corporate networks and the Internet at broadband speeds wirelessly at airports, hotels, and coffee shops across Ireland and thousands of public locations worldwide. This shift in how the business world communicates has seen BT develop into a fully integrated communications company, offering fixed mobile convergence solutions, networked IT services and a range of mobility solutions as well as traditional communications services.
James Devlin is the new head of Mobility at BT Northern Ireland. Over recent years James has been tasked with developing e-Business in Northern Ireland, but just as communications have evolved so too has his role at BT.
“Communications have come a long way in the 25 years I’ve been involved in the industry. The creation of the Internet and a 24/7 global economy at the fingertips of individuals and organisations has significantly impacted on our working patterns and spawned a raft of mobility technologies which have transformed how we do business and how we live our lives,” said James Devlin.
Responsible for overseeing the development of BT’s mobility business in Northern Ireland, Devlin is acutely aware of the frustrations that many customers feel with their various mobile devices and realises the importance of the convergence of these technologies.
“The business community has been indicating that while they find mobile products and services invaluable to their business, they are frustrated by the necessity of more than one bill and the lack of integration between the devices, such as sharing email, internet access, phone numbers, addresses, text messaging and voicemail.”
Indeed, overuse of Industry speak such as ‘convergence’, ‘seamless access’ and ‘wireless working’ has compounded the sense of frustration, turning technology into a barrier to understanding rather than a benefit to living.
The challenge is to introduce a range of services that re-engages the customer, re-igniting much of the optimism that greeted the arrival of digital mobiles but that faded as the industry struggled to move beyond the provision, however imaginative, of voice and basic data services.
“We’re only scratching the surface of technology and I think BT’s role will now be to blaze a trail with new and truly converged products. “BT’s own investment in a new 21st Century network will remove the barriers between fixed and mobile communications. In the future, all information such as phone numbers and passwords will potentially be stored by BT, enabling you to access the same applications and content through any device, anywhere.”
BT’s vision of convergence is not light years away. September 2005, Devlin will lead on the introduction of BT Fusion, to Northern Ireland, the world’s first converged fixed mobile phone service.
“The launch of BT Fusion is the first step in the convergence of all communications systems. From September, Fusion customers will be able to enjoy the convenience of using only one handset for residential and mobile calls.
“The handset looks and acts like a mobile phone when you’re out and about, but will automatically switch mid call to a BT Broadband line when the user arrives home offering users the convenience of a mobile phone but with fixed lined prices and quality.”
The ability to bridge the fixed and mobile environments is the holy grail of mobility and we’re delighted to be the first to market with a solution that promised to take mobile to the next stage of evolution. Our vision is simply, we want our customers to enjoy the best of both worlds – the convenience and functionality of mobile and the quality and price of the fixed network. With the added benefits of one bill, one number and one voice mail regardless of the device or network.”
It looks like convergence isn’t just another industry buzzword, its happening locally right now and things can only get better from BT – watch this space.
For more information on BT Fusion, go to www.bt.com/btfusion
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