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To: JGoren who wrote (20105)	12/19/1998 2:17:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Maurice, NZ News> ecom plans big future with internet Waikato Times By Tracey Lowndes of NZPA PHONE USERS still struggling with the concept of call minder and call waiting are about to be confronted with a whole new learning curve. Telecom will soon unveil an internet customer service package. The country's largest company is about to plunge further into the internet game by inviting customers to pay their bills, correct some phone faults and order new services without picking up the phone. And future plans for the project, known as Expressnet, include enabling customers to arrange their own connections and providing select corporate customers with personal web pages so they can view their accounts on-line. Telecom sees itself evolving from a phone company into an 'on-line company'. The company is in talks with potential partners, including EDS and IBM, on developing electronic commerce solutions for business customers. Propelling Telecom's internet advance chief executive Roderick Deane, a self confessed net zealot. 'Many of you know of my personal enthusiasm for the internet,' he said in a recent speech. 'I recognise it as critical to Telecom's future. Even more importantly it is critical to New Zealand's future. If we don't embrace the move on-line as a nation, we will simply be left behind.' Dr Deane is a heavy personal user of the internet, e-mailing friends and contacts, using internet banking facilities when he is overseas and surfing the web te read on-line newspapers and magazines. He is also about to get his own home page on Telecom's intranet, the internal communications network linking the company's thousands of employees. While the Expressnet project will benefit only customers with internet access, a price tag estimated at $90 million shows Telecom is punting on that group expanding. Internationa1 information technology researcher IDC estimates the number of internet users in New Zealand will have increased more than 60 per cent by 2002. Well-known as savvy technology users, New Zealanders are likely to welcome the chance to use the internet for more than just on-line shopping and e-mail communication. The real sea change for Telecom is signalled in Dr Deane's use of phrases such as 'business solutions' and 'systems integration', language normally used by the world's IBMs, Fujitsus and Digitals. Telecom already packages up business services for its big corporate customers and Dr Deane said it would be pushing the boundaries further. While data services contribute only a minor proportion of total revenues at the moment, the company expects them to swiftly overtake traditional voice services. Telecom's internet service provider, Xtra, already offers customers a range of e-commerce products. Account managers' incentive agreements have been altered to encourage them to sell more of these products. One example is a package that enables a customer to build a web page and maintain their own web page, hosted on Telecom's server. 'What we're wanting to do is to move Telecom from a provider of telephony and data products and services increasingly into providing customers with business solutions which will be a mix of these different elements,' Dr Deane said. The company was still considering how far it would go before bringing in outside partners 'who are also in electronic commerce and systems integration work'. 'Remember Telecom has one of the biggest system shops in New Zealand,' Dr Deane said, but he stressed the company did not plan to do everything itself. While Xtra was currently focusing on helping customers set up 'virtual stores', an internal Telecom project to establish an on-line network of suppliers may flag the way of the future. -NZPA 'I recognise it as critical to Telecom's future. Even more importantly it is critical to New Zealand's future. If we don't embrace the move online as a nation, we will simply be left behind.' -Roderick Deane (Copyright 1998) _____via IntellX_____ Publication Date: December 17, 1998 Powered by NewsReal's IndustryWatch ...back to top