Partner Roadshow 2020: Follow the fibre

Communication is essential for a good partnership. That’s why our annual Roadshow event is so important to us. We use the day to provide business updates and insights that will help our Partners navigate the challenging landscape and ultimately win more business. 

Some say that technology is the fourth industrial revolution. We believe connectivity has transformed the world, which is why we selected venues for the roadshow which are famous for innovation and commitment to championing industry. The roadshows took place in London and Manchester, at the respective Science and Industry Museums.

We covered a huge amount at both events. From new product launches and updates, to network insights and operational and service enhancements. Here are 5 highlights from the Partner Roadshow:

Accelerated investment into FTTP

Independent analysts, Megabuyte, kick off the day by exploring trends in the ICT sector, with a focus on the telecommunications industry. It was no surprise to hear that the rise in cloud services and digital transformation is driving the demand for higher bandwidth and faster speeds. Megabuyte predicted there would be even more investment into full fibre over the next few years. There has already been a post-election acceleration in FTTP funding and the £5bn gigabit scheme is developing FTTP in rural areas.

Follow the fibre

Guy Miller, TalkTalk’s Fibre for Everyone Programme Director, took to the stage to discuss our FTTP journey. He explained that over the last year we’ve rebuilt our systems from the ground up to ensure that our full future is built on the latest and greatest platforms. We’ve prioritised Openreach as the scale provider and started building, what we have referred to previously as ‘the patchwork quilt’ of alternative network builders. In addition, our recent announcement of our long-term agreement with CityFibre proves that we serious about FTTP. Guy urged the audience to make the transition now, follow the fibre and ultimately improve the valuation of your business.

Network innovation

The demand for bandwidth is insatiable, we are moving towards 16Tbp/s
of peak traffic by FY25 on our network. Most of the traffic we see on our network is over-the-top video streaming from services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Our continued network expansion allows us to accommodate growing demands from both consumer and B2B segments. Plus, data exploitation provides real insights into our Partners’ customer base and can materially improve issue resolution. Our adoption of emerging technologies allows us to deliver a better customer experience and improved efficiencies for a full fibre future.

Simplified service offerings

We’re on a mission to be easy to do business with. Your feedback is extremely important to us and we use it to improve our service and products every year. Following your feedback, we’ve made some big improvements to our service models and we have a range of digital services available to adopt, including Smartbill, One Customer Desk, Order tracking and Support Centre. We’ve been working on getting these services right for you over the last year and we’re confident they will make it much easier for you to do business with us. Please ask your Account Manager for more information on any of these services.

Get confident with writing bids

We’re always looking for ways to add value to our Partners. We invited Richard Tobias, Director of Impart, to run a best practice workshop session on improving tenders. Impart is a consultancy that helps businesses win more bids. Richard delivered some practical tips such as evaluating whether the bid is right for your business, improving the process of gathering the information, as well as practical tips to improve the quality of content in the bid. If you’re a TalkTalk Business Partner who has seen a big opportunity you want to bid for, speak to us first because we may be able to help you succeed with the bid by working as a team.

Thank you to everyone who attended one of our Roadshow events. We really appreciate and value your involvement. Your feedback helps us understand how we can support your business and accelerate your growth. Don’t worry if you missed the event, we’ll be cascading the content through a variety of blogs and video content over on this blog and via the Partner newsletter.