Alan Lees appointed new director of BT's Enterprise business in Scotland

Alan Lees, who has held several senior sales related roles at BT, has been appointed as the new director of its Enterprise business in Scotland.

The Glasgow-born executive started his career at BT in 2001 and has worked in a variety of roles during nearly twenty years with the firm. Alan will lead its Enterprise business’ relationships with large business and public sector customers across Scotland.

Alan has started his new role during a particularly challenging time for Scotland, and the entire UK, due to Coronavirus.

“We know how tough it has been for our customers, including some who’ve had to temporarily cease trading and others who are adapting to finding new ways of working,” said Alan.

“The shutdown of normal activity is having a huge impact on businesses, particularly in the hospitality, leisure, entertainment, travel and education industries. As a critical enabler, we are doing all we can to support our partners in both the public and private sectors. We are helping the NHS with their critical requirements, and the invaluable LifeLines – a project providing a secure virtual visiting solution for families whose loved ones are in intensive care units. We also helped the Scottish Government to quickly setup their Shielding Helpline, allowing the most vulnerable people in our communities to get the support they need.

“We’re also supporting businesses from sole traders and SMEs, all the way through to large corporates by giving them access to the best technology, flexible options and training to help them navigate through this crisis.”

Alan’s most recent role was leading BT’s corporate business team within its Enterprise unit in Scotland, where he was responsible for supporting Scotland’s largest businesses.

BT has invested significantly in Scotland with the recent announcements of 5G mobile services from EE launching in a number of cities and towns including Glasgow and Edinburgh, with more to come. The company has just announced multi-million pound plans to expand and refurbish its Glasgow Clydeside office, as well as committing to having a significant presence in Dundee, joining Edinburgh which was announced in 2018.

Alan said the focus now was to help businesses survive the economic impact of the coronavirus situation, but in the longer term he wanted BT to play a key role in the country’s future prosperity.

He said: “BT’s values align with the strategic plan for Scotland; with a focus on skills, technology and transformation, we have a great opportunity to support the social and economic growth objectives, bringing our public and private sectors closer than ever using the power of technology to enrich the industries and communities that we serve.”

Alan added that BT has been helping small enterprises across Scotland to move more of their services online for survival as the sector looks to take its first steps towards recovery.

Alan said: “The right online presence could make a huge difference to a small business, such as helping them to reach a global audience or a new customer base. It’s important that we continue to support small businesses to develop and enhance their digital skills so they are in the best position for recovery.”

BT is also supporting the growth of its mid-market and larger corporate customers in Scotland by helping them to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies such as full fibre, 5G, cloud services and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. These technologies are fueling customers’ digital transformation and will help to boost the performance of their business by making them faster, smarter and more agile.

Welcoming Alan’s appointment, Dean Terry, MD corporate and public sector of BT’s Enterprise unit, said: “I look forward to working with Alan in his new role. His experience of working in senior sales positions within BT and his understanding of the business needs of our corporate and public sector partners in Scotland will be a huge asset in his new role.”

ENDS

“We know how tough it has been for our customers, including some who’ve had to temporarily cease trading and others who are adapting to finding new ways of working. The shutdown of normal activity is having a huge impact on businesses, particularly in the hospitality, leisure, entertainment, travel and education industries. As a critical enabler, we are doing all we can to support our partners in both the public and private sectors"

Alan Lees, director, BT’s Enterprise division, Scotland

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About BT

BT Group is the UK’s leading telecommunications and network provider and a leading provider of global communications services and solutions, serving customers in 180 countries. Its principal activities in the UK include the provision of fixed voice, mobile, broadband and TV (including Sport) and a range of products and services over converged fixed and mobile networks to consumer, business and public sector customers. For its global customers, BT provides managed services, security and network and IT infrastructure services to support their operations all over the world. BT consists of four customer-facing units: Consumer, Enterprise, Global and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Openreach, which provides access network services to over 650 communications provider customers who sell phone, broadband and Ethernet services to homes and businesses across the UK.

For the year ended 31 March 2020, BT Group’s reported revenue was £22,905m with reported profit before taxation of £2,353m.

British Telecommunications plc is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

For more information, visit www.bt.com/about