BT

Success Story

In six weeks, Cambridge Technology Partners, the business strategy practice of Novell Consulting in the UK, provided a strategic road map to help BT improve efficiency, reduce operating costs and make way for new opportunities

Overview

BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications and ICT services and one of the largest private sector companies in Europe. BT is the leading company in its field in the UK with 100,000 employees and more than 20 million business and residential customers.

BT Exact is BT's technology and IT operations division operating in innovative areas of technology and development. The technology employed, developed and run by BT Exact underpins the services and solutions provided by the other lines of business.

Challenge

BT, through BT Exact, wanted to improve the cooperation and coordination among its various lines of business. Identity management is at the heart of the company's vision for "One BT," an authoritative view of users, assets, processes and resources. One of the company's goals is to streamline information flow so that changes in user information are immediately reflected across the enterprise.

As in any global company, a key priority for BT is ensuring that employees have access to the right information and resources, regardless of location. BT also wanted to provide customers and other third parties with secure access to systems, processes and information to improve their experience in working with the company.

Novell solution

"Novell delivered on time, on budget and exceeded our expectations. I am used to consultants who play back what you already know — Novell took what we knew and added considerable value from their own experience. They undertook an excellent, comprehensive and professional piece of work for us."

Brian Giffen
Project sponsor
BT CIO Office

BT Exact has a long history of a meta-directory infrastructure, originating from its e-mail system and then customized over the years. As the directory market has evolved, BT Exact wanted help from an experienced partner to propose the right secure identity management solution. It hired Cambridge Technology Partners® (CTP), the business strategy practice of Novell Consulting® in the UK, for a six-week engagement to provide a strategic road map for its directory project.

"We selected Cambridge Technology Partners because we were impressed with their independence and professionalism," said Charles Hepworth, programme manager at BT Exact. "Their Novell 'parentage' was a concern at the outset, but they proved to be completely independent in their analysis and recommendations. They are among the best consultants we've used."

Novell consultants and BT Exact worked through a series of directory enablement initiatives. BT Exact wanted to make it easy for business units to focus on their own objectives, while meeting overall company goals.

One of the key recommendations was to use directories to create an agile enterprise so that changes to employee information in the HR system would synchronize near real-time to other systems. BT wanted to ensure that new employees could be effective on the first day of work, as well as safeguard security by immediately revoking network access as employees left the company.

With 100,000 employees worldwide, BT wanted its "One BT" project to help everyone feel a part of the company with similar access to information. A directory would offer the foundation for a secure Web portal that would provide customers with personalized access to information, improving the convenience and satisfaction of doing business with BT. Identity management will also help BT drive new partner relationships and create new revenue opportunities.

"Identity management is a critical advantage in making it easy for our customers and partners to work with us," said Hepworth.

Novell consultants also demonstrated that a directory project would aid BT in its asset management, allowing the company to manage its resources based on user identity.

"Working with Novell consultants was a pleasure," said Hepworth. "They were extremely professional in adhering to a challenging timetable. They were fully engaged in the project and worked well with our team. They even managed to make it fun in many ways."

Results

CTP completed a six-week engagement with BT to outline how the right secure identity management solution could help the company achieve its vision of "One BT." Results of the engagement demonstrated how efficient identity management could optimize operating costs, enhance security and establish a foundation for new opportunities. Better asset management, based on identity management, could also potentially help the company save millions of pounds.

Working with Novell, BT Exact has now planned and delivered the initial architecture framework to move forward with its directory strategy.

"Novell delivered on time, on budget and exceeded our expectations," said Brian Giffen, project sponsor, Group CIO Office of BT. "I am used to consultants who play back what you already know — Novell took what we knew and added considerable value from their own experience. They undertook an excellent, comprehensive and professional piece of work for us."