Last week, Om Malik wrote a wistful piece hoping that BT would reinvent itself. He’d visited the company and came away with the impression that:
BT was one telco that completely understood that it was facing uncertain times, and had no choice but to reinvent itself to survive.
The senior BT management understood that while broadband was a start point for its reinvention, it had to boldly go where no telecom had gone before, if they wanted to survive. They had to behave and think like an Internet-based software company.
Comments flowed thick and fast with the general consensus being ‘stick to your knitting.’ If BT Tradespace is meant to be a shining example of the best BT can do then I understand why. I’ve previously described this service as grim – now it qualifies as appalling. Here’s why:
- In quick succession I received two emails – one urging me to join (which I already had but wish I hadn’t) from the BT Workspace team and another extolling the virtues of making money by referring friends to BT Tradespace. Duh?
- Both services were built by the same team. Why didn’t they think of linking them and checking to see if I was already a member of both? This is software design principles 101.
- The BT Tradespace site has become little more than a dumping ground for pappy PR fluff and self aggrandising promotional material. Although there are blogs, no-one’s using them and the rating system is being gamed out of sight.
- Its understanding of modern commerce is perhaps best illustrated by the appearance of Skinkers, which promotes itself as “the market leader in ‘push’ communication technology.” Did anyone send them the memo? We live in a ‘pull’ world.
- The site looks like someone vomited onto the screen (see screenshot above.) How on earth external users are supposed to make sense of the site is beyond me.
Scrap and start again – preferably with a mindset that recognises where commerce is headed and not where it’s been. Otherwise, stick to your knitting. Or as Peter Brockmann says:
Telco’s have no business doing value added services. They will (and have tried) it within their walled gardens of the past (and in mobile). Just deliver me the packets on time, please.
Technorati Tags: BT – BT Tradespace – push technology
