Andrew Penn (Telstra)
Telstra has revealed a "major revamp" in how it supports small businesses, which will see the launch of a new premium ICT channel for small businesses.
The telco's Business Technology Centres are planned for early 2019 and will operate in 28 regions run by expert teams from Telstra’s existing group of channel partners.
"The teams in each centre will provide personal and virtual account management to local business customers, helping them make the most of technology to do things such as be found and sell online, operate virtual teams across geographies and keep their operations and their customers’ data safe and secure," Telstra said in a statement.
Telstra has promised to offer small businesses "thousands" more dedicated specialists across the country. Also on the support side, Telstra said it has already tripled the number of small business specialists in its 350 retail stores around the country to 3,000.
The telco has also launched its Concierge Tech Support service that provides small business customers calling with an NBN or fixed line service issue with one dedicated expert to help solve their problem fast.
The publicly-listed telco said it will provide new mobile and tablet plan with no lock-in contract and no excess data charges in Australia and a new 24/7 tech support service.
It will offer unlimited data as standard on Business Bundle plans starting from $100 per month for 24 months, with a minimum cost of $2,499 including self-install and $99 activation fee.
The announcement is part of the next phase of Telstra's T22 strategy announced in June. CEO Andrew Penn said this comes at the perfect time as "many more businesses look to technology to drive productivity, access new markets and improve customer experience".
“Our new approach for small business is built around three things – flexibility to enable businesses to scale and choose what is right for them, greater cost certainty and value, and expert service and advice – all critical elements for success in today’s fast-paced business environment.
“We know every small business is different – our job is to make sure we have leading solutions and services that are fit for purpose and what we’ve announced today does that,” Penn said.
“This is a significant increase to the level of dedicated service and support we provide small businesses, to help take away complexity and give them peace of mind with their technology usage and support."
This week, Telstra paid $386 million for 143 lots giving it 60 MHz of 5G spectrum in Australia’s major cities and between 50-80 MHz of contiguous 5G spectrum in regional areas.
Crucially the auction will give Telstra band spectrum in Sydney and Melbourne - 12 lots per city - which the telco giant previously lacked.
