Enterprise: a new BT that really means business

By Rob Shuter, CEO, Enterprise                                                                                                                                              

With more than 175 years of heritage behind it, the BT brand is part of the UK’s national fabric - synonymous with all things British and relied upon by millions of households, businesses of all shapes and sizes and entire government departments.

For British businesses, it’s a brand that our customers know they can rely on 24/7; a brand which is trusted by the NHS and emergency services, local councils the length and breadth of the country and small businesses on our high streets. The strength and value of the BT brand amongst business and public sector customers allows us to stand out from the crowd. And we intend to make the most of that advantage as competition continues to heat up in the market. But in a fast-changing world, we need to make sure that BT stays relevant as technology shifts continue to disrupt the way that people live, work and play.

The same challenge applies to the rest of BT Group’s market leading brands, so today, we’re sharing how we’re evolving our brand portfolio to make sure our offering stays bang up to date. While BT Group will remain the home to all our brands – BT, EE, Plusnet, Openreach – over time, you’ll see some changes to the way we leverage the strength of BT and EE in particular.

So, I’m really excited to share that BT will become the flagship brand for our Enterprise and Global units – allowing it to shine through as a dedicated brand for business and public sector customers across the UK and globally. Meanwhile, EE will over time become the flagship brand for our consumer customers: the go to brand for converged broadband and mobile plans, and in time, exciting services that go beyond connectivity. You can read more about the changes in our Consumer business here.

These changes allow the wider Group to maximise the strength of our respective brands across our different segments, so that we can better connect with customers and deliver brilliant, converged experiences which make a difference to their lives. In the business segment, the BT brand stands head and shoulders above other brands – with BT comfortably outpacing its competitors for first choice purchase intent, trust and reliability. That’s an incredible position for us to build from.

Everything we do starts with the customer, so we recently asked hundreds of our business and public sector customers about what they need from BT. Their message was loud and clear; they want an expert guide who can help them navigate the ever-changing world of technology. A trusted partner who can knit complementary but often complex technologies together and give them the confidence to transform their business for the better.

For customers, it’s not the technology that matters, it’s what it can do to help them build stronger, smarter, more secure businesses.

At our Enterprise Live annual sales kick off a few weeks ago, we revealed our new brand platform which tells our customers just that: BT Means Business. It’s a fresh new look and strapline for the BT brand, which our Enterprise and Global units will be rolling out over the coming weeks. It has a wonderful duality about it – showing our customers that BT is a brand that stands for business and is serious about getting the job done.

Showing our customers and the world that BT Means Business will see us dial up the visibility and impact of the BT brand across the UK and globally, allowing us to better harness the power of our brand in the markets where it performs best.

I learnt many years ago that a brand is what a brand does, and action speaks louder than words, so over the coming months you will see us step up our plans on digital skills, security, sustainability, state of the art tech and savvy solutions. And we’ll back our brilliant product launches with more marketing and support so that our competitors will see we mean business too.

And while BT will be the lead brand for our business customers, we’ll continue to bundle in our fantastic EE business mobile solutions, giving our customers access to EE, the best mobile network in the UK.

The BT brand has always and will continue to be a critical national enabler for the UK and a strong challenger brand in global markets. These changes to our brand portfolio will put us in an even stronger position to succeed in the future, and we can’t wait to show you why no other provider means business like we do!