Key Objectives
A legally binding commitment to Ofcom to operate in an ‘equivalent’ manner to other service providers using the BT network.
BT Case Study: Complex, Large-Scale, Real-Time Data Migration
To comply with a fair competition ruling, BT needed to ensure that its retail division was not at an advantage over othertelecoms providers using its lines.
It set up the Openreach division and implemented new operational processes to achieve this and, with the help of Acxiom, transferred more than 12 million consumer accounts to a new data platform without any impact on the customer experience. As a result, it met legal obligations on time, avoiding financial penalties. It also gained greater customer insight enabling more effective marketing communications.
The Company
BT Group is the largest UK telecoms operator. Formerly a state-
owned organisation, the Group owns and maintains the access
network that links homes and businesses across the UK. Along
with hundreds of other telecoms service providers, it also sells
communications packages using this network through its
BT Retail Consumer division.
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Solution
A large-scale and complex data migration to separate BT’s retail operation. Acxiom migrated 12 million accounts with 80,000 product combinations, achieving a migration quality level of more than 99.5% correct at the first attempt.
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Results
BT satisfied Ofcom that it can operate in a way that enables fair trade in the telecoms service provider sector, avoiding significant potential fines
Migration to the new data platform has provided BT with greater customer insight, enabling it to deliver personalised and highly targeted customer communications.
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Legally binding undertaking
In line with UK competition legislation, BT made a legally binding undertaking to industry regulator Ofcom to operate BT Retail Consumer in an ‘equivalent’ manner to other telecoms service providers that use the same access network. This would mean that the fact that BT Group owned the infrastructure would not give BT Retail Consumer an advantage in selling communications services.
The Group established Openreach as a separate business to work with both telecoms service providers and BT Retail in the same way. To ensure equivalence of operation, BT RetailConsumer needed to extract all customer account details from a 20-year-old legacy mainframe system serving the entire BT Group and transfer them to a new customer servicing and billing system specifically designed to support its retail operation.
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Complexe Challange
The scale and the complexity of the project were daunting. The company had to migrate data relating to more than 12 million customers and over 80,000 product combinations. It was legally obliged to make the first transfers within six months of project inception, and to complete the entire migration within three years.
BT knew it required specialist help to ensure it fulfilled these deadlines while ensuring a seamless transition for its customers. “This was always going to be a very challenging project and we were looking for a company that could help us unravel the problems we were going to face,” explains Judith Harding, Migrations Director at BT. “We selected Acxiom because it demonstrated it could provide a team with the indepth data management understanding and superior technical expertise we needed.”
