ANDREW CHARITOU - GENERAL MANAGER
TELSTRA BUSINESS PARTNER CHANNELS

We caught up with Andrew Charitou on the day he returned from the recent Telstra Partner’s Conference held in Port Douglas in tropical Far North Queensland.

The annual event provides an opportunity for more than two hundred Business, Retail Consumer, Enterprise Business and Telstra Business Centre operators to get together and share time with other Telstra Partners from a wide range of business channels, along with senior Telstra executives and key staff members.

“It’s at annual events like this when you realise that twelve months is actually a long time in business. We all know that it’s been a year of big announcements and significant changes for Telstra and its Partners. NBN is a good example. I found the chance to get together with so many of our Partners a terrific opportunity to catch up with colleagues and meet some of the new people in the Channel”.

“I think I can speak for all the people who attended the Conference in saying that we thoroughly enjoyed our time together and we achieved some good outcomes. We all want to know and fully understand the Telstra Vision and that’s what the conference was all about; It’s so important that we regularly have this opportunity to talk collectively, and with frankness, so that we can maintain our momentum”.

One of the important aspects of Andrew’s role is to find ways to create and introduce improvements across the entire Channel. The improvements to Telstra processes can help our Partners grow their business, no matter what part of the Channel they service.

Andrew presented two key sessions at the conference. The first, entitled Opportunities for Telstra Partners in Small Business and GEO Zone, focused on small business strategies, and identified ways that Telstra and its Partners “can rally around the customer to better manage the customer experience”.

The second session was presented on the Thursday. It was a particularly important session as all of the conference delegates were present from the previous day when everyone attended the Gala Dinner for the announcement of the National Telstra Business Partner of the Year and Customer Connect Award winners.

This key presentation was entitled ‘The Business Partner Strategy’.

Andrew explained an interesting and insightful concept designed to help all Telstra Partners understand how the different Partner Channels come together to provide a seamless customer experience. We asked Andrew to tell us more about ‘The Business Partner Strategy’ presentation for the benefit of those Partners who were unable to attend the conference.

“Each of us in our day-to-day roles can easily forget the breadth our Telstra Channels are in terms of total market reach. Our Business Partners alone service the entire Australian business community. From servicing what may be rather simple mobility needs of local SME’s to providing for the total communications needs of large corporate and government departments. We must do our best to understand the diversity of the customer landscapes in which we operate. And we need to make sure we have the right partners, in the right places, offering the right solutions for all those customers”.

“And that’s just the Business Channel, let alone all the other customer environments in which we operate. In fact, we have eight distinct channel categories all of which have quite specific customer landscapes. The best way I can explain our entire Channel Partner network and how it interacts with the market is to use the analogy of a V8 motor.” he said.

“We have eight Channels. Business & Enterprise, Distributors, Telstra Business Centres, Telstra Shop Network, Telstra Licensed Stores, our Retail Partners, Call Centres and Online Channels. They operate like eight separate cylinders each servicing their own customer environment. Individually, they provide the power that services their own unique customers but at the same time they are all part of the same sales engine. Together each of the Channel Partners help drive the Telstra sales engine that gives us the momentum to grow”.

“Keeping with the theme, I was able to use my presentation at the conference to explain that I believe my job is to help tune-up the engine so that we are firing on all eight cylinders”.

Andrew told us that Telstra’s focus is centered on the customer. He explained a concept called ‘The 4c’s’ which he uses to concentrate on finding ways to help Partners achieve their individual goals and to grow the entire Telstra business.

“The first consideration in any decision about Telstra Channels is Customer Experience. Will this decision improve the quality of the customer experience? I totally believe that quality will bring quantity”.

“Next is Capability. We need to provide our Partners with the capability to be their best. That’s where the Accreditation and Certification plays such an important role by providing the training and the tools to deliver the quality experience”.

“The third C is Coverage. We have to ensure that we have the right Partners to cover all the customer types in that market region, because there are differing customer needs that we must cover”.

“And finally; Capacity. I look to ensure that our Channel Partners have the capacity within their organisation to take on more as they grow”.