Taking Our Business Forward – A Perspective Of The Evolution Of Strategy In JT

Powering Connections While We’re Apart

Daragh McDermott Managing Director, JT Channel Islands

JT’s priority throughout its 132-year history has always been to keep our customers connected. Never was that more apparent than in 2020, when our teams responded to the escalating global problems with a real sense of purpose and pride.

Here, I’d like to focus in on some of the stories from our business in the Channel Islands which I think weave together the strands of how JT supports the local communities.

Our COVID-19 response

Fast, reliable, connectivity to every household was vital to ensure islanders could continue to work, learn and socialise from home.

To accommodate a demand for our services that was truly 24/7, we increased our network capacity, doubling the minimum available speed for all broadband customers from 500Mbps up to 1Gbps at no extra cost. We provided a free mobile or fixed broadband connection to school children and care workers, so they could continue their education, training and employment remotely, interacting with teachers, lecturers and employers online.

Understanding that connectivity is a necessity and lifeline for many, we suspended charges for exceeding broadband limits, provided free local landline calls for every customer for a 3-month period, or as long as was needed. We also continued all services to residential and small business customers unable to pay their current bills, waiving late fees and including them in the network capacity upgrade.

To mitigate the financial effects of the crisis for all customers, we reviewed and improved our own payment terms, ensuring small, local suppliers got paid quicker. We encouraged anyone in financial difficulty to contact us to discuss a workable payment plan.

Our own teams embraced home working, setting up remote and virtual customer services to deliver seamless customer care amidst escalating traffic to our contact centre and digital channels.

As businesses, including our own, shifted to remote working to protect workers while continuing to operate, the majority of activity moved to the digital world — increasing the risk of cyber attacks. As such we also enhanced our existing portfolio of services, enabling us to provide sophisticated next-generation managed security services. Our engineers worked with local utility companies, contractors and the Government of Jersey to make sure the Nightingale Wing of the General Hospital was built in record time with all the connections that are vital for a modern hospital to function properly.

We also played a major role in setting up the mobile COVID Testing centres and in getting the first large vaccination centre open to begin Jersey’s immunisation programme.

With shopping becoming an almost exclusively online activity, we increased our own online product range and expanded our fulfilment team within 48hours to meet the demand, delivering orders direct to homes in 24hours. With this, we prioritised a safe, contactless delivery and priority given to those who were vulnerable.