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Ep 81 – Best of 2023: The cloud-first mindset, with Mobi CEO Justen Burdette
Our top episode from 2023: my interview with Mobi CEO Justen Burdette about the Hawaiian MVNO's work to implement its own public-cloud-native, mobile core.
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Ep 82 – Beam me up, BT š
This weekās guest
Josie Smith
Chief Architect, Digital BT GroupBT Group started its journey to the public cloud years ago, which has put the company in a strong position to take advantage of the strategic capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI). For this episode, I talk with Josie Smith, chief architect, digital, at BT Group, about the company’s efforts to reduce its applications from thousands to hundreds, bring AI into the organization, and drive monumental change across its employee base. Listen now to hear:
- How BT Groupās transformation program, Simplify, is poised save the company Ā£3 billion by 2025 [02:53];
- The details of its massive effort to slash technical debt and increase agility [05:29];
- How BT Groupās workforce is responding to its digital transformation [08:57]; and
- What the company is doing to unleash AIās potential [12:24];
Links and resources
- Learn more about BT Group.
- Check out this Light Reading article, BT eyes 100% shift to public cloud, not āpretend mistā of private, by Iain Morris.
- Another great read is Raconteurās piece featuring BT Groupās chief digital and innovation officer, Harmeen Mehta, who isnāt afraid to call out industryās fear as a roadblock to innovation and growth.
- AI productivity improvements are real. Journalists like to sensationalize job cuts but if youāre worried about your job being affected by AI, I have one piece of advice: learn AI and be the best at it. Companies need leaders and contributors who know how to transform work with AI.
- Josie is such a Star Trek fan that she actually walked down the aisle to the theme song from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Check it out!
- I like Star Trek, but Iām more of a Star Wars fan. My favorite Yoda quote? āDo, or do not. There is no try.ā Watch the famous clip from the Empire Strikes Back.
- You can find the transcript for this episode here.
Wanna talk public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value it can bring.
Guest bio
Josie Smith is leading and driving the re-architecture of BT Groupās digital landscape from 2400 applications down to 500, taking BT Group from a telco to a techco, and from monolithic to modular, agile, and flexible. She is guiding a future for BT Group that connects for good and creates an exceptional experience for customers. Josie is a leader who engages with energy, creativity and fun, and a pioneer of outcome-based approaches as a method of truly linking strategy and execution at pace. She is an ambassador for women in tech/engineering and advocates for inspirational learning in the sciences across all ages to increase diversity within the STEM industries.
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The Telco in 20 podcast won a 2023 MarCom Award, a 2022 Hermes Award, and was recognized as a Forrester Top 100 Channel Podcast and Feedspot Top 10 Telecom Podcast. If you enjoy the podcast, would you leave us a short review? It takes seconds to do in your app and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. And I love reading your feedback and reviews!
Podcast credits
- Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Royston, TelcoDR
- Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
- Editor/Marketing: Alisa Jenkins, Springboard Marketing
- Editing: Andrew Condell
- Associate Producer: Kriselda Dionisio
- Music: Dyami Wilson
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More episodes from Telco in 20
1. How is BT Groupās Simplify transformation program saving the company money?
BT Groupās Simplify program is targeting Ā£3 billion in savings by the end of 2025 through a comprehensive digital transformation. The program focuses on three key areas: modernize (simplifying the application estate from 2,400 to 500 apps and moving 90% to public cloud), engage (digitally connecting with customers more personally), and grow (expanding into adjacent sectors beyond traditional broadband and mobile). By reducing technical debt, eliminating duplication, and focusing on cloud-native solutions with partners like AWS and Google Cloud, BT is doubling productivity while improving customer service capabilities.
2. Why is BT Group reducing its applications from 2,400 to 500?
BT Group identified massive duplication and inefficiency across its application landscape that hindered agility and customer service. The reduction strategy involves multiple approaches: eliminating applications no longer serving the business, consolidating duplicated systems (applying a ārule of oneā principle), and refactoring applications to be cloud-native. By moving to modern, simplified architecture, BT frees developers from infrastructure management tasks like patching and certificate management, allowing them to focus on delivering customer-focused features quickly. This transformation positions BT to leverage AI capabilities more effectively.
3. What cloud strategy is BT Group implementing for its digital transformation?
BT Group is pursuing a multi-cloud strategy with 90% of applications targeted for public cloud deployment. The company uses AWS for applications, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for data, and Azure for internal capabilities. Chief Architect Josie Smith oversees cloud landing zones for all three vendors and leads the āshift to cloudā program. The approach emphasizes proper foundations firstāincluding data fabric implementation with Ab Initio for metadata managementābefore accelerating AI adoption. This five-year transformation journey focuses on refactoring applications to leverage cloud-native services rather than simple lift-and-shift migrations.
4. How is Danielle Royston helping telcos reduce their code base through cloud refactoring?
Danielle Royston advocates for rewriting legacy applications using cloud-native components rather than lifting and shifting old code. She shares an example where a company reduced an application from over a million lines of code to just 3,500 lines on Google Cloud and 6,000 on AWSāless than 1% of the original code base. This approach leverages specific cloud provider software components, reduces bug risk and Sev 1 outages, and saves time, money, and headcount. DR offers to help telcos refactor applications and choose the right cloud platform ecosystems.
5. What foundations does BT Group consider essential for AI success?
Josie Smith emphasizes that AI tools are only as good as the data feeding them, making proper data foundations critical. BT implemented a data fabric using Ab Initio to ensure smart data movement and metadata tracking across systems. The company focuses on understanding data sources, maintaining good metadata, and avoiding ādata sludge.ā Beyond technical foundations, BT invests in people through reskilling initiativesāproviding access to tools like CodeWhisperer and Copilot, creating a digital campus learning platform, and embedding data experts in business units. BT has deployed 15 algorithms generating value in the last year.
6. Where can telco executives learn more about TelcoDRās public cloud expertise and Totogiās solutions?
Telco executives can set up a meeting with Totogiās team to explore how public cloud can drive business value. For ongoing insights, subscribe to DRās newsletter on telcodr.com, follow her on X @TelcoDR, and check out the Telco in 20 YouTube channel for more episodes on cloud transformation and AI strategy.