In an attempt to remedy what it sees as lack of product awareness among information technology professionals, British Telecom has launched a new communications campaign, The Information Exchange. The scheme, aimed at the UK’s 25,000 data processing and telecommunications managers, and 50,000 office managers, hopes to increase usage of Telecom’s local area networks, data networks and facilities management products and services – areas where Telecom, by its own admission, has a poor sales record. Information Exchange aims to keep users abreast of Telecom’s computing and telecommunications activities, and ultimately change the image still held by British industry – that of a phone company and little else. The programme, pitched at medium and large organisations, includes an on-line news service on Telecom Gold dealing with new orders and product and company information; a series of seminars and conferences starting in February, a telephone hotline, bi-monthly newsletters, and information on disk. News relating to British Telecom strategy and internal changes will also be involved. Telecom’s Head of Planning, Customer Communications Unit David Butcher says the move is necessary because the company is moving faster than perceptions of it while admitting to a poor communications record in the past – for instance, British Telecom’s Computer Recovery Service struggled due to a lack af awareness among users. Information Exchange will be supported by advertising campaigns in the national and specialist press, although Telecom claims the scheme will be a two-way process, enabling it to meet customer needs more fully. The phone giant says its research shows that data processing managers feel increasingly out of touch with technological developments, and that companies prefer to focus on solutions, rather than adopt a product orientation – research for the new scheme was carried out for the company by the British Market Research Bureau, Research Perspectives and The Strategic Research Group.
