BT Global Services

Renaming

BT Group began operating as a private corporation after the Telecommunications Act 1984.

During the 1990s, between the loosening of national telecom monopolies and the current (largely) liberalised market, BT Group entered into a number of alliances in order to serve its mainly, then, UK-based multi-national customers. From the 90's through the early 2000s, BT Group, then known as British Telecom, struggled. The company failed to secure a strong partner, struggled to expand internationally, and had significant debt. In 2002 the attempt at an alliance (Concert 2 with AT&T) was disbanded. Thereafter the company brought together a number of joint ventures, partly owned assets and wholly owned subsidiaries into the single entity that exists today. On April 1, 2002, BT’s contracts with former Concert customers were transferred to BT Global Services and BT Retail. BT Ignite was renamed BT Global Services in April 2003. By late 2003, around 50% of BT Global Services’ about 5,000 staff were employed outside the UK.

Acquisitions

Between 2002 and 2009, the Global Services division made a string of acquisitions to expand its global footprint and broaden its business offer to customers. Most notable are Radianz, the then network arm of Reuters in 2005;, the global network operator Infonet in 2005; managed security market leader Counterpane in 2006; US IT consultancy company International Network Services Corp. (INS) in 2007; and Asian systems integrator Frontline in 2008.In 2016, Global Services signed an agreement to acquire IP Trade SA., a provider of unified communications and collaboration solutions for trading floor environments and command-and-control dispatch centres.

Customers

In 2005, Global Services won a multi-year worldwide outsourcing contract to provide communication and IT services to FIAT in a deal worth €450 million (£303 million) over five years across 40 countries. BT also acquired Fiat's subsidiary, Atlanet for €80 million which provides domestic telecoms services to Fiat and other business customers across Italy. In 2006, Atlanet was merged with Albacom to form BT Italia.

In 2006, Global Services agreed a £100 million seven-year worldwide outsourcing contract to provide communication and IT services to PepsiCo, across their 900 locations in more than 60 countries as well as upgrading their network infrastructure.

In 2008, Global Services agreed a $650 million (£332 million) five-year worldwide outsourcing contract to provide communication and IT services to Procter & Gamble, across more than 1,100 locations in more than 80 countries.

Global Services also manages the global networked IT estates for Komatsu and Randstad.

Finances

At the start of 2009, Global Services took a £340m writedown due to poor "cost controls" shortly after the resignation of its CEO François Barrault. Later in the year the company reported losses of £2.1bn, despite sales of £8.8 billion. Global Services then underwent a transformation programme, including cost saving initiatives, leading to substantial increases of EBITDA, operating profits and operating cash flow during its 2009–2010 financial year. In May 2010, BT announced an investment plan to increase its capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. By the end of its 2010–2011 financial year, Global Services had increased orders with customers by 10% year on year, improved profitability, and became operating cash flow positive a year ahead of schedule.

Total income for Global Services in 2015-6 was £5.1bn.

Management

From 2004 until 2008 François Barrault was CEO of BT Global Services and president of BT International, before leaving the company after poor financial performance results. He was replaced by Hanif Lalani. Jeff Kelly was appointed CEO in early 2010. Luis Alvarez is currently CEO, appointed in October 2012. Prior, Alvarez had been president of BT’s European, Middle East, Africa and Latin American operations. Bas Burger is president of BT in the Americas. Kevin Taylor is president of BT in AMEA, and Ashish Gupta is president of Global Services UK.