BT claims £2m in savings with Qlik data analytics

BT says it has secured £2m in cost savings by putting Qlik data analytics in the hands of 1,200 of BT’s Consumer workers.

The telecoms supplier said it had been relying on Excel for data analysis, in a statement, using just 5% of the data from its 30 million customers for decision-making.

Claire Ellison, acting director of data and decision science at BT said: “The concept for BT’s analytics ecosystem was born out of a need to increase the volume of data we were using to take more informed actions. Our goal was to ensure that data is relevant, accessible, easy to consume, and critically, able to answer customer questions in a timely manner.”

Over an 18-month period, BT’s Consumer unit has reportedly worked with Qlik to put data directly into the hands of more than 1,200 of its employees.

It says it has secured £2m in cost savings by virtue of having customer data available in Qlik Sense dashboards. How it has done so and how it has reached the figure of £2m are questions Computer Weekly has put to Qlik and BT.

According to BT, the dashboards have enabled employees to answer any business question in six clicks or less – something that would have previously taken a data analyst weeks to access.

The dashboards work across BT, EE and Plusnet.

The telecoms supplier said this view of “customer touchpoints” has also sped up the the fibre to the premise (FTTP) roll-out programme. BT staff are apparently able to drill down into postcodes that are filtered by FTTP eligibility to identify customer acquisition opportunities and tailor customer communications.

“We want strong relationships with our customers, so it is important that we use a consistent tone of voice whether they browse our websites, call our contact centres, visit our stores, or any combination of these,” said Ellison. “We want our customers to feel that every interaction is personal and consistent. It’s personalisation at scale.”

BT’s Consumer unit has also implemented a training programme using the Qlik Continuous Classroom, a digital resource for what is described as self-paced data literacy skills training.

“The support that Qlik provided in helping us to grow the data literacy skills of our workforce demonstrated to us that it is a true partner to BT, not just a software provider,” said Ellison. “We want to equip teams with the skills to not just source data about customers but be able to analyse that data and tell a powerful story with it.

“Qlik has provided us with a platform to move from analytics infancy to maturity. The continued implementation support and engagement has helped us make data storytelling a priority for our team and further entrench a culture of informed action at BT.”