How BT Leaders Boost Business with Salesforce

 Auto-transcribed on Thursday, September 19, 2024.media and text playback available on this page: https://aliceapp.ai/recordings/NcJUsuC4FHO3Yp8_PekGtQdmAlLrWzjS

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Words: 	1,739 	
Duration: 	00:10:28 	
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Uploaded on: 	2024-09-19 22:58:53 UTC 	
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Speakers:

 Speaker A - 33.41%

 Speaker B - 54.28%

 Speaker C - 12.31%

Notes:

- Industry, drive efficiency and improve customer experiences. We're going to talk everything from business strategies to finding professional and personal success as leading women in tech. Joined by consumer CIO Natalie Vafiatis.-  BT launched a new EE brand to attract customers to take converged products from them. Salesforce came in with the comms cloud. And it's a real success story because we've seen our NP's grow significantly. We're seeing customers add more tv and also buy more connectivity services from us.- Only 25% of Fortune 500 CIO's are female, according to a 2023 study. What are some of the challenges you face as a female leader in tech? Be champion changes your life. To be a champion changes yours.- How do you think that allies can be more supportive? Um, I think it's all those things that you said is like, support others around you, treat others how you wish to be treated. If you see something that doesn't feel right, you've got to call it out again.- Natalie: The representation in the workforce of STEM is so minimal for women at the moment. And I'm proud to say in the company that I work for, we're really trying to drive that change. And the reason why it's really important is that we are a representation of our customer base.- Communications cloud from Salesforce increase the efficacy of sales teams through the power of automation. See how leading global telecommunications providers are transforming their customer relationships with communications cloud. To learn more, visit salesforce. com communications.

[00:00:00]  Speaker A 
Industry, drive efficiency and improve customer experiences. Let's dive into that with a trailblazer from BT Group, one of the largest telecom providers in the UK. We're going to talk everything from business strategies to finding professional and personal success as leading women in tech. I'm Carolyn Bathauer, joined by consumer CIO Natalie Vafiatis. Natalie, thank you so much for joining me. Very excited about this conversation. Um, can we start uh, by talking about some of the challenges that BT faced that led you to implement sales force. And what kind of impact or ROI have you seen since?

[00:00:35]  Speaker B 
Well, in the consumer business, we set out with a real ambition to launch a new EE brand because we wanted to attract our customers to take converged products from us. Uh, and uh, they were finding it difficult to see the value proposition because we had two iconic brands in the market under the consumer banner. Um, and so what we decided to do was choose ee as our prime brand for our customers. And what that meant is we needed to reimagine how we sold fixed line home based services to our customers. So from a fiber point of view, digital voice and tv, um, and in order to get customers to kind of look to EE as that go to brand, we needed to do something quite different and special in terms of the products and services we're offering our customers, but also the journeys we were taking our customers on. So we've redesigned the architecture to put our customer right at the center of everything that we do and use the data that we have around our customers and the identity that they create as part of joining new EE to then go and drive great service and sales experiences for our customers. And where Salesforce came in was with the comms cloud. We implemented a new product catalog, uh, the CPQ and order orchestrator. And we've seen a lot of interaction, a lot of calls into um, uh, our uh, Salesforce platform from our front end systems in the headless implementation that we've done. And that has generated a lot of orders on our new e platform and a lot of customers. And it's a real success story because we've seen our NP's grow significantly, um, and we're seeing much better convergence. We're seeing customers add more tv and also buy more connectivity services from us. So what's not to like?

[00:02:27]  Speaker A 
Well, and it sounds like you had some big decisions to make. So not only as an organization to consolidate a brand to make sure that your customers recognize that and then also you communicating with them the value that you were seeing, but those are big decisions. Sounded like it worked out very well and you're seeing great results and great impact. So, um, when you think about that, uh, only 25% of Fortune 500 CIO's are female, according to a 2023 study. And so I'd like to dive deeper into thinking about some of that decision making, some of the challenges that you face as a female leader in tech, any obstacles that stand out to you, advice you would give our audience that's watching.

[00:03:09]  Speaker B 
Sure. Yeah. I mean, I think being a woman in tech can, um, be difficult. I think certainly in my younger career, my earlier career, um, maybe not taken as seriously as you want to. And sometimes I think you have to try that bit harder to be that bit sharper to really prove yourself in front of what is a predominantly male environment in technology. Um, so there are some of the challenges that I think I've faced in terms of my career, but I guess how I try to approach them is, I think sometimes when you're a slight minority group, um, in an environment, it's because there is a misunderstanding about what you're there for or, um, how you're going to do your work. So I think a lot of it is about being open, transparent, talk to people, explain to them what your guiding force is, what motivates you, and try to motivate others around you to embrace, I think, just to be honest, a diverse working environment where everybody can be their best.

[00:04:13]  Speaker A 
Yeah. I think representation is so important because if you see it, you can be it. And I think that's one of the things that we talk about all the time. And a lot of that comes from having a champion, but then being a champion and think about how do we have conversations about having a more inclusive and supportive environment for women? Are there ways that you advocate for others, um, systems in place that help you do that?

[00:04:43]  Speaker B 
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I guess what I've been really fortunate in my career is I've had some really great bosses, actually, male bosses, who have been the people that have really championed me and have really pushed me forward when there were times where I thought that I couldn't. Um, and I think that that is now my job to do that for other women in the industry. You know, I have to pass that forward. Um, and I think having more women vouching and supporting other women is, to be honest, what is going to change, um, things for women and bring more women into technology and make it just a kind of warmer, safer environment where, to be honest, we want to come to work and do a great job, but we want to have fun and make great relationships. And I think by having a good sponsor, um, a mentor, someone that's going to help you, um, that can really unlock things in your career.

[00:05:40]  Speaker A 
Be champion changes your life. To be a champion changes yours. Right. I think it's just such a, it's an amazing, uh, experience to have. I did too. I had wonderful male bosses who pushed me as well. Um, so I really, really think about, ah, like how they were so supportive, um, you know, thinking about adding a plus one to a meeting and bringing someone along and making that part of your practice, I think has changed, you know, how you, uh, champion other people, too. So, um, from, from an ally standpoint, we just talked about that. We've had champions. How do you think that allies can be more supportive?

[00:06:19]  Speaker B 
Um, I think it's all those things that you said is like, support others around you, treat others how you wish to be treated. It's kind of as simple as that. But if you see something that doesn't feel right, you've got to call it out again. That's everyone's job. It's not just the women in the room to call out something about another woman. It's everyone's job in the room to just do the right thing.

[00:06:43]  Speaker A 
Yeah. I wholeheartedly agree that as the one way allies can be, uh, the strongest allies they can is to speak up for others too. Uh, that may not be comfortable speaking up for themselves. So, looking forward, what changes would you like to see in the tech industry? Uh, to enhance opportunities for newer people in their careers, like you said, who have a different experience reducing those barriers for that next generation of women leaders?

[00:07:08]  Speaker B 
Yeah, well, I mean, I think it's the situation we have today whereby, uh, the representation in the workforce of STEM is so minimal for women at the moment that we need to find a way to change it. And I'm proud to say in the company that I work for, we're really trying to drive that change. We're not where we want to be, but we're taking measures to do the right thing. And that is a promise to encourage women to provide the right support network for women, to meet with other, uh, companies across the industry, to share best practices, and also to make connections with really important groups across the industry, like, um, coding for girls and, um, black women in tech. Like, just doing the right thing, um, and bringing people together and, you know, don't let this come off the agenda. Keep it on the agenda. It's really, really important. And the reason why it's really important is that we are a representation of our customer base and if we don't have enough women or diverse people working inside an organization, you are not going to do the best for your customers.

[00:08:14]  Speaker A 
I agree. Thank you so much for spending time with me today, Natalie, and thank you for your insights.

[00:08:19]  Speaker B 
Oh pleasure. Thank you so much.

[00:08:21]  Speaker A 
To learn more about Salesforce for communications, get out your phone and click on the QR code on your screen or go to salesforce.com communications. If you missed anything on the broadcast or want to check it out later, head to salesforce.com plus. Now let's take a quick glimpse at the number one AI CRM for communications and what it can do for you.

[00:08:45]  Speaker C 
Capture more revenue and reduce customer churn with communications cloud from Salesforce increase the efficacy of sales teams through the power of automation. Now, large transaction quoting, configuring and estimating different solutions and uploading bulk orders can be done easier and faster. Speed up sales cycles and eliminate relying on disconnected legacy systems by understanding what assets um products and services your customer has with an enterprise grade product catalog. Capture product and pricing requirements and guide users through selling, bundling and multi site quoting with an industry leading CPQ engine. Reduce order fallout by breaking down complex contracts and coordinating fulfillment of products and services with a purpose built telecom order management application. While predictive AI manages customer expectations with recommendations for install dates and upsell suggestions. Boost service agent productivity with tools that deliver proactive customer support like guided flows for identity verification or frequently performed actions like changing account details or checking serviceability and a consolidated view of each customer's activities, timelines and interactions for increased efficiency. Surface AI powered insights and recommendations by connecting your network and billing data in salesforce creating upsell opportunities based on usage and customer preferences. See how leading global telecommunications providers are transforming their customer relationships with communications cloud. To learn more, visit salesforce.com communications.