'Tel-co to Tech-Co' - The journey to digital with Amy Farrer

Sep 20, 2021, 09:07 AM

Join Emma Dark, S&S Chief Customer Experience Officer in episode 004 of the Customer Experience Podcast, with our guest Amy Farrer on the jump from Telco to Tech-co.

Amy Farrer is the Digital Capability and Planning Director at BT where her responsibilities include mobilising squads to support the Consumer Strategy, developing BT’s Digital Capability with a focus on agile ways of working, and continuing to put customers at the heart of BT’s mission statement.

Amy and Emma talk about the importance of the customer sitting within every department, and how Amy is a champion of continuous improvement in BT, delivering customer and business value, quickly and sustainably.

Today she talks us through the challenges the pandemic presented, how the demands of the customer continue to change, and how adaptation and agile working is the new normal while supporting her staff's development in the process.

Hope you enjoy the show!

Join Emma Dark, S&S Chief Customer Experience Officer in episode 004 of the Customer Experience Podcast, with our guest Amy Farrer on the jump from Telco to Tech-co.

Amy Farrer is the Digital Capability and Planning Director at BT where her responsibilities include mobilising squads to support the Consumer Strategy, developing BT’s Digital Capability with a focus on agile ways of working, and continuing to put customers at the heart of BT’s mission statement.

Amy and Emma talk about the importance of the customer sitting within every department, and how Amy is a champion of continuous improvement in BT, delivering customer and business value, quickly and sustainably. 

Today she talks us through the challenges the pandemic presented, how the demands of the customer continue to change, and how adaptation and agile working is the new normal while supporting her staff's development in the process.

Hope you enjoy the show!

SHOWNOTES:

Introducing Amy Farrer 

  • From Telco to Tech-co
  • BT’s transformation becoming a digital services provider
  • Agile ways of learning and working
  • Transforming how we work and how we think

Where does the customer feature within the digital transformation 3:07
  • Being data led, understanding customer needs and developing solutions that serve these needs
  • Learn and adapt to the changes to customer needs
  • Thoughts of the digital mindset
  • Personalising customer needs to offer a holistic service

How can the customer experience be imbedded in business culture 4:47
  • 5 capability pillars 
  • How do leaders become role models
  • Live and breathe your customers needs
  • Investment in different skills and develop the tools and processes to support staff

Putting customers at the heart of your mission statement 7:00
  • BT’s new digital unit established and developed
  • Setting the vision for the future
  • How has the culture changed 

What actions are needed to be taken as you scale to make sure your mission statement is felt across other departments and teams? 9:07

The 5 pillars and their application to digital first approach 10:44
  • Build cross functional teams 
  • Bring different skills together to solve customer problems
  • How new templates and tools were developed during covid restrictions and how to see a positive through drastic organisational change

Understanding user centred design 12:34 
  • Build, measure, learn
  • How do we know there is a need? What does the data show?
  • Feasibility of bringing forward a protocol and understanding its utility 

Digital Transformation 16:18
  • Communication is key and can help drive change
  • Digicon events and how to generate excitement & increase engagement
  • Driving cultural change 
  • Empowering colleagues to drive change 

The journey to being more IT oriented 19:06
  • Digital and customer transformation
  • Dial up the change from legacy systems and make use of the data we have to make personalised experiences
  • Changing technologies to manage change appropriately 
  • The importance of gaining feedback from customers and involving them on the journey 

What changes have you needed to make to focus on becoming more customer centric 23:07
  • Supporting development within the team 
  • Nurturing a growth mindset - The Evolve Programme 
  • Employee satisfaction taking the whole business on the journey together
  • What examples prove the benefit of implementing these changes

How did you pivot to manage the restrictions over the pandemic period 31:00
  • How do you keep growing when faced with such drastic challenges
  • How to manage adaptations effectively
  • Key challenges within the next 18 months with digital transformation
  • Is hybrid working the future and what challenges does this face to team development and growth
  • Change is here to stay, how do we recognise the need to continually adapt
  • Taking care of people and supporting them after such drastic change

How will the demands of the customer change 36:02
  • Customers want more 
  • Personalise the customer experience 
  • Investing in data and AI capabilities 
  • The energy should be not in predicting the future but ensuring the organisation is ready to respond to whatever
  • Focusing energy on how you build customer centered thinking into your everyday practice because that is how to ensure success

Change fatigue and how to manage it 38:17
  • Seeing potential within your organisation and capitalise on all the positives
  • Taking pride in the small wins and being excited for the future 

Key advice to prepare for successful digital transformation 
  • Investing in the team and skills available
  • Be ready to learn from everyone
  • Listen to the experts
  • Take your people on the journey and build something new together

Where does the customer sit within the business 41:47
  • Everywhere
  • Top-down and bottom up

Watch the whole episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkOwVZTosoY

Find the full show notes and episode description here: https://www.sullivanstanley.com/insights/tel-co-to-tech-c…-with-amy-farrer/