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Allison Kirkby has been in post since February 1
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She has brought in a McKinsey executive to help with the telco’s turnaround
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New strategy and change unit has been created
BT Group’s new chief executive Allison Kirkby already looks to be getting into her stride as she counts down to her first 100 days in office, making what is regarded as her first key move after taking over from Philip Jansen on February 1.
Kirkby has appointed Tom Meakin, a senior partner from consultancy McKinsey, as chief strategy and change officer on an interim basis, with a remit to help shape the U.K.-based operator’s strategy and, it’s hoped, boost its share price.
The news first appeared in the Financial Times and has subsequently been confirmed by a BT spokesperson. According to the FT, Meakin is on secondment from his role as the global co-leader of McKinsey’s consumer technology and media practice and will ultimately be replaced when BT finds a permanent appointee for the new position.
BT also confirmed the creation of a new strategy and change unit that will “define the next phase of our transformation,” Kirkby told BT staff in an email, the FT reported. According to the newspaper, the division will bring together BT’s corporate strategy and development team and the group transformation and assurance team.
It was also observed that the new unit bears some resemblance to BT’s former strategy and transformation unit, which was folded into the BT Digital division in 2021. Harmeen Mehta leads BT Digital as chief digital and innovation officer.
Next phase
Given her background and experience at former incumbent operators such as Sweden-based Telia and Denmark’s TDC Group, the new CEO was always expected to hit the ground running.
On the day she joined, she presented the group’s trading update for the nine months to December 31, 2023, noting that BT remains “committed to our purpose and our strategic focus, and I am looking forward to leading BT Group into its next phase of development.”
At the same time, she faces a difficult task to restore a share price that has fallen by around 50% over the past five years, with many peaks and troughs along the way.
BT has also just put its new legal panel in place for the next three years, also taking the opportunity to further reduce the number of firms on the panel from 15 to 11 to “focus its legal work with a smaller set of key strategic partners.” Notably, a key selection criterion was the usage and incorporation by the legal firms of AI in their operations.
Meanwhile, it was also rumored recently that Kirkby was revisiting plans for a sale of BT’s Irish business, which serves business and wholesale customers. BT had previously agreed to sell the unit to Mayfair Equity Partners in 2019, but talks collapsed in 2020.
In a statement, the BT spokesman said the group continually reviews its operations “to ensure they align with our global strategy” but added that “we have an excellent business in Ireland and no decisions have been taken.”
Kirkby will no doubt reveal more about her plans for BT when she presents the full-year results on May 16. Indications are that she wants to adopt a coordinated approach to address any challenges that lie ahead.