Telstra today announced a major simplification of processes in its consumer and small business units that has been made possible by investments in new systems and tools as part of the company's five-year Transformation plan.
Taking advantage of new capabilities in databases, systems and processes, several of Telstra's biggest business units will reduce duplication and bureaucracy, improving co-operation between the company's divisions and enabling the company to better serve its customers.
The changes will mean fewer senior and middle managers, as well as support staff, are required to back the sales and marketing efforts of our front-line staff.
The streamlining will affect more than 800 jobs across Telstra Consumer & Channels, Telstra Business, Telstra Country Wide, BigPond, Strategic Marketing, and Telstra Product Management.
The affected roles are in senior management, middle management, professional services and their support staff. These jobs are based mainly in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Customer-facing roles are unaffected by today’s changes.
“In November 2005, we announced every part of our business would be transformed to make it more productive and customer focused, including a significant reduction in our workforce,” Mr Trujillo said.
“This announcement is part of Telstra’s overall strategy and does not deviate from our original guidance.
“We are now evolving into a more aligned organisation that will provide better services to our customers and enable us to continue delivering world-leading financial results.”
As part of that evolution, the internet access portion of the BigPond business will be merged back into Telstra's central operations and business units.
“After a tremendously successful incubation period at BigPond in recent years, and as a result of the processes and tools introduced as part of the Transformation, we can now integrate BigPond's access business with the rest of Telstra,” Mr Trujillo said.
“The capabilities of our market-based management tools and the migration of customers onto a single billing platform make BigPond’s reintegration a logical next step in our strategy.
“We’re an integrated company delivering integrated services on integrated platforms.”
The changes at BigPond will enable Telstra to further prioritise its media assets as it continues its strategy to become a media-comms company. Mr Trujillo announced that a new unit, Telstra Media, would be formed to focus on online and mobile content.
The unit, to be led by current BigPond Group Managing Director Justin Milne, will have oversight of Telstra's expanding portfolio of online consumer content, both in Australia and internationally. As GMD of Telstra Media, Mr Milne will enable Telstra to better integrate its media properties worldwide and leverage opportunities and knowledge across the company.
"Establishing Telstra Media as a separate unit recognises the growing importance of content to Telstra's future, and our belief that content lies at the heart of Telstra's future as a media-comms company," Telstra CEO Mr Sol Trujillo said.
"Our media-comms strategy already sets Telstra apart from our global telecommunications peers, and the additional emphasis we are today placing on content will consolidate that advantage.”