www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com 7 INTEL Jane Wood UK Nations and Regions Director, BT Group Scotland has never been so well-connected


What technology (from gadgets to software, including apps) makes your working life easier? If I were to pick, then it is essentially what makes communication quicker and more efficient: Skype, email, social media and of course vastly improved mobile/broadband speeds. Access and management of data and having global knowledge and markets at our finger tips. Apps that help me travel efficiently, work from home if needed, check the weather and give me access to live news and current affairs are ones most used.


You work in the telecoms environment - is there any specific technology that you foresee that will make companies smarter and more able to improve their products and services? With more than 95 per cent of Scotland now able to access superfast broadband, 4G mobile coverage increasing every week and the latest 5G technology from EE due to launch this year in Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland has never been so well-connected. This is enabling consumers, business and the public sector organisations to access new services such as cloud-based software and secure data storage. It means that wherever you are, access to information is possible. However, going forward, technological innovation needs to have diversity at the very core of its thinking.


What websites/apps/ magazines/newspapers do you turn to for business intelligence? Where I get my current affairs, insights and business news from changes from day to day – BBC news app for immediate and live


news if I haven’t read a paper in the morning, and everything from the New Scientist, Psychology Today and Harvard Business Review for more global intel. Having only been at BT for five months all the business intelligence I seem to read is about the application of digital technologies and how we will deliver the BT vision to be leaders in converged connectivity and services, which in turn will underpin how society benefits. Our own internal BT Today website is therefore taking a lot of my reading time; it’s also great to see what our diverse and talented teams are doing across the 180 countries in which we operate.


What books should everyone in business be reading? The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni and Business


and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management by Archie B Carroll.


What do you do that helps you boost productivity or save time? Make lists, work an hour or so at the weekend before the week starts, or alternatively, don’t work at the weekend, learn, good communication and diary management, and work with brilliant colleagues.


What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Be confident to be yourself, your communication style needs to be personal, it needs to be authentic too, trying to be something or someone else will create inconsistencies. Humility rather than ego, more EI than IQ.


Jane Wood, UK Nations and Regions Director, BT Group


You have been an advocate for Business for Good through your previous work with Business in the Community, the Prince of Wales Responsible Business Network ... how can technology make this happen more effectively? At BT we believe in digital equality and want everyone to benefit from the power of technology. Our programmes, such as our support for Barefoot, provides training for teachers across the UK on how to bring computing and technology into everyday lessons. Already, we’ve trained more than 70 per cent of primary teachers in Scotland who are now helping their students understand things like coding, helping to develop a range of digital skills. Some of the most vulnerable people in society have the most to gain from technology and it’s vital that no one is left out.


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