British Telecom dedicated to investment and employees

British Telecom came to Hungary in 1999 with the aim of planting roots in East Central Europe and providing service for its clients in this region, as well. Although, the structure and the products and services have changed since, this aim has not

“Our first service offered here was the provision of sound connections for corporate clients so that they could use an internal audio network between the headquarters and the different branches worldwide,” Tamás Ferenczi, Operations Director for the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) Regional Operations Center in Budapest for BT Global Services, explains to Diplomacy and Trade. At the beginning, he was the first and only employee “opening and closing the office” – now, British Telecom employs 300 people in Hungary.

The country, the market have changed a lot in the past 11 years and over this period, BT has gradually become a determining player here. “We are still an international provider – BT is present in 170 countries – and serve the local branches of our global clients. It means about 400 companies in Hungary. The most popular service is the provision of internal data networks, a quasi worldwide intranet providing audio, video and data services, including the latest video conference solution called ‘tele-presence’, the Director adds. BT has also set up the international network part of several call centers, which is an expanding market  in Hungary. “Customers are able to call a local number ‘from Kamchatka to Johannesburg’ and the call is answered from Hungary thanks to a secure line provided by BT.”

In 2004, British Telecom’s service center operations began in Budapest. By that time, BT had five-years of experience in Hungary, employing nearly 40 people, and the company, given the good image of the Budapest branch, decided to hire 50 more people and launch the service center. Most of the work that was done in this center initially has since been transferred to India and the team here in Hungary was given tasks of much higher standard requiring special skills. In 2007, a decision was made to expand the service center operations with an office in Debrecen, eastern Hungary as an integral part of the Budapest office.

While BT’s Hungarian office, itself also commissions other firms to do its accounting, some of its HR tasks, desktop software management, etc, it is a major player in the outsourcing business, as well. Clients usually resort to what they are the best in and they contract British Telecom for IT and telecommunications services. Such a move results in lower costs for the customers while the commissioned activities are in good, reliable hands. “These are ‘giga contracts’, usually for a period of at least five years amounting to EUR billions,” Tamás Ferenczi points out. “The management of such contracts includes the operation of our standard network products but clients often have extra needs like ordering a new telephone exchange in Istanbul, upgrading appliances in Munich, asking for new software in Brussels.” The coordination of such issues in a five-year period is more complicated and requires a lot of professional manpower. “We have here experts in all these fields with foreign language skills. 85% of the 300 BT employees in the Hungarian office have degrees of higher education, managing different languages, cultures and time zones,” the Director stresses.

The Director finds it important to emphasize that British Telecom’s Hungarian branch with regional authority is a stable company that is dedicated – for more than a decade – to its long-term investment in this country and dedicated to the local employees whose number is likely to grow in the future. Tamás Ferenczi points out with satisfaction that “Hungarian manpower has become widely appreciated at British Telecom. If clients are not satisfied with our work, then, there is no point in doing it. I can proudly say that customers are very satisfied with the work of the Hungarian employees at British Telecom.”