Insight & strategy This central position of insight means the team can get involved in all levels of decision-making and strategic processes, says White. Among other things, this could mean repositioning, such as BTs Beyond Limits brand relaunch in late 2019, or more regular product or service launches. At any point, the team will partner on projects like what is the long-term strategy for BT?; what new markets should we enter?; what propositions do we bring to market?. Theres a real variation in what we get involved in, from 10-year strategic projects to in-year activity. Such a wide-ranging remit also means that making insight more widely available is another priority for White. We have to democratise insight it cannot be that it sits in the hands of a few people that wont drive change in an organisation of 100,000 employees. All insight produced at BT as long as its not confidential or under NDA is made available to all employees through a portal on a company-wide intranet. The thinking behind the companys recently launched TV packages, for example (see boxout), would not have been available pre-launch but can now be accessed. There are around 30,000 people accessing and engaging with the portal at the moment. However, White says its not enough just to make data accessible. We need to make it intuitive, easy for people to self-serve, and we must use different strategies for engaging different audiences what we take to the board is very 38 The insights team worked closely with the product and propositions teams to develop BT Halo different to what we might take to contact centres. The team is preparing to launch a new portal with an improved do-it-yourself function and machine-learning tools to suggest content based on previous searches. White says they are considering how call-listening activity can be placed there, and reviewing how to support the business to increase the impact of the hub. If we create the ability but we havent told anybody how to use the tool or engaged the business, its fairly pointless. One of the biggest priorities for White is assessing how to work best to partner with stakeholders from across the business. Insight is only insight if it drives an action. As part of this, White feels its important that the insights team behave as leaders. We need to ensure we are part of the teams across the organisation, so that we feel more like a virtual team. To do this, the insight function has a business partnering training and development programme designed to help it understand what the business wants from it and delve into peoples individual preferences what motivates and drives them, how they like to communicate and operate, and what role the insights team plays in a business life-cycle. As part of the programme, everyone in the team took part in a series of workshops around core skills. White is also focusing on ensuring the team is as inclusive as possible, and says she is trying to encourage a less hierarchical approach to the organisation for example, the person who did the work presents it, instead of it being passed up several levels. At the same time, she acknowledges insight doesnt always get the final say. We often dont own the decision-making the stakeholders do in terms of what they take to market. But we have a key role influencing that decision. BT Halo was developed as a result of this close relationship, with most of the research done with Basis. It was developed as a result of working really closely with the product and propositions teams to work through the benefits that customers would want and