Called Project New, the initiative will engage 500 staff members to implement 27 different programmes, including moves to reduce spending on third parties, improve online customer support, improve the productivity of field workers, simplify pricing and cut costs.
Chief executive David Thodey said he is aiming for a 6% improvement in customer satisfaction ratings, and a 30% reduction in complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman over the company’s next financial year. He said he also wants to maintain Telstra’s share of Australia’s fixed broadband market, as well as grow its wireless broadband market share over the next three years.
Project New is part of a wider $1 billion investment aimed at boosting Telstra’s financial results over the next 12 months.
Telstra has also said it is confident of reaching a final agreement with the Australian government on the implementation of the country’s national broadband network (NBN), the first part of which has now been rolled out in Tasmania.
“Telstra has an opportunity to grow, thanks to an unmatched portfolio of products and brands, scale advantages, network and engineering skills, and a large customer base,” said Thodey. “Our long-term growth strategy takes advantage of changes in technology, a growing sales and marketing-led culture and simpler company systems that lower our costs.”
He also promised that the telco would be “more customer-centric”, and more alert to new business opportunities: “We will have lower costs and higher productivity. We will have sales and marketing expertise tomatch our network and engineering experience. And we will have capitalised on profitable new growth businesses in media, international markets and network-based applications and services,” he said.
Analyst Paul Budde, founder of the Buddecomm consultancy, said that Telstra will be able to achieve greater market share by further reducing pricing: “Penetration matters more than ARPU,” he said. “Once you’ve achieved greater market penetration, you can go on to sell a vast range of services, either on your own or in collaboration with partners. This will inevitably have a positive impact on revenues.”
