Piece of mind

Upon my arrival at BT’s stylish Newgate Street offices in the City, 34-year-old Chet Patel – chief executive of the BT redcare Group of companies – is studying his organisation’s latest customer service reports. “I’m the sort of person that’s not happy unless something is occupying my mind,” states Patel, having first offered a firm handshake. “I never switch off. If anything relating to the business needs to be done I’ll do it there and then.”

Later on in our discussion, Patel then confesses that his wife Sumi has now grown accustomed to him dialling-in for conference calls and tapping away at the keys to his BlackBerry when on family holidays. “I’m a meticulous planner, you see. I like to ensure that the business detail is right. This is the safety net that prevents me from being stressed or phased by problems.”

Clearly, Patel is passionate about – and driven by – his present role, which is nothing if not daunting. He presides over the Group’s four business units, each of which is responsible for developing a range of “machine-to-machine” applications for BT. Those divisions include BT redcare Fire and Security (which many of Security Management Today’s readers will know to be a leader in security and fire alarm monitoring, with 400,000 connections... including over 60,000 GSM dual path) and redcare Vision, which monitors buildings and people through CCTV transmission services. BT Auto-ID focuses on helping customers monitor and track assets for supply chain management and – last but by no means least – Transcomm is BT’s secure wireless data solutions arm.

“The role has clearly-defined accountability and responsibility attached to it,” suggests this immaculately dressed and highly personable professional. “All of the costs, all of the revenues and, most importanty, the ‘customer experience’ of what we do as a company is my domain.” Patel is quick to stress that, since first occupying the CEO berth last October, he’s focused attentions on what he believes to be the BT redcare Group’s key assets – its people, the brand and its clients.

“Not much has happened during my time here without some kind of involvement from me,” he asserts. “I like to delve into the detail.”

In less than 12 months, Walsall-born Patel has already made his mark. ‘The Troops’ – an endearing term he uses on more than one occasion to describe the BT redcare Group’s 300-plus members of staff – have been rallied such that they focus solely on Patel’s vision for the future. “Every employee has to be aware of what the company stands for so that they can pinpoint their contribution to the business, regardless of whether they work on the technical desk, as a salesperson or as a marketing professional,” explains Patel in a soft but at the same time forthright Midlands brogue. “We are all working for the same cause. Staff buy-in is essential. I’m immensely proud to have a great team who always give of their best on behalf of our customers.”

Having initially taken time out to understand BT redcare as a business – no less than you’d expect from an economics and politics graduate of Leeds University – Patel has also introduced change from within to mirror developments in the security sector. At IFSEC 2006, for example, the company launched its first offering in the IP-based alarm monitoring arena. A fully-integrated security and video signalling solution, redcare assure is compliant with EN 50131, EN 50136 and PD 6662 for on-demand video footage and response.

“The industry is definitely moving further towards IP-dominated solutions, and will do so with increasing volumes over time,” opines Patel. “However, it’s timing that’s the most important aspect here. There are many clients who still don’t have Broadband capabilities. Not because they have failed to understand that Broadband’s great. They do. Rather, it’s because they know what they’re used to.”

Staying with the IP theme, Patel continues: “IP is an exciting, versatile and ubiquitous strand of technology, but with that ubiquity comes added risk from a security perspective.” An astute observation that far too many individuals in this industry appear to have overlooked. “With that added risk comes uncertainty. Yes, IP-based solutions are great, but it’s going to take time to minimise the risks and grey areas that surround them.”

So what sort of timescales are we realistically looking at for security manager buy-in en masse? “At least five or six years,” states Patel. “Let’s face it, Broadband has been around for six or seven years now and yet there are still hundreds of thousands of end users – if not millions – on Narrowband.”

In the beginning…

Having emigrated from India in the 1960s, Patel’s mother and father provided a “good, solid and stable” family background for both himself and his only sister. “There was no silver spoon there, but we weren’t poor,” he recalls.

The main reason for the Patels’ prosperity was a family ethic built on hard work (Chet’s father spent over three decades toiling in the factory trade). The young boy recognised the effort that was being put in which, in turn, encouraged him to pull his socks up at school. “I knew I needed to work hard,” says Patel, “so that I could realise my own ambitions.”

Having studied at Walsall’s Allumwell Secondary School and been among the first batch of students to sit the (then) all-new GCSE examinations, Patel developed a bond with the discipline of economics. An ‘A’ Level in that subject – as well as English Literature and Mathematics – framed the way forward.

Patel was lucky enough to have parents not intent on forcing him down any particular career path. Both have only one brother each, it emerges, and both happen to be successful businessmen Stateside. “From my perspective,” recalls Patel, “there was always a chance that if I didn’t do so well at school then I’d be shipped off to help out one of my Uncles. That made me work even harder so that I could prove myself and plough my own furrow.”

From finance to telecomms

Armed with a degree “rich in financials”, it seemed a natural progression for Patel to enter the corporate finance world. Having weighed up several options, he chose to begin his working life at the Birmingham offices of Charles Schwab – one of the big US stockbroking concerns – as a client support representative managing a team of 12.

Initial excitement, though, rapidly turned to disillusionment. “Stockbroking was becoming more and more automated and, if I’m absolutely honest about it, less and less exciting,” he explains. “It changed into a checking and processing function, which isn’t really what I wanted as a young graduate.”

By the time clients realise what level of service they want, it’s usually because they’ve been forced to endure a bad experience. An experience that, more often than not, is of their own making. That is why service level guarantees are vital

His first managerial post wasn’t helped by the fact that members of the team – who sold shares over the telephone relating to the nationalised industries, including British Gas and, funnily enough, BT – viewed their job as a stop-gap. Some were graduates, others not. Neither was he mentored for the task at hand.

“It was a case of learning how to manage by experience,” explains Patel from the comfort of his Mastermind-style chair. “I looked at what other managers were doing, studied them, picked out what I felt were their best skills and put them into practice myself. My preferred state of learning has always been to watch, digest, assimilate and then implement.”

It’s little surprise to learn, then, that Patel is an avid reader of autobiographies.

Patel joined BT in 1994 and dived head first into a York-based customer services role. “To many that might seem a massive transition,” he suggests, “but although Charles Schwab and BT operated in totally different markets, it was not that big a functional leap.” Indeed, ‘function’ and ‘functional’ appear to be two of his favourite words.

Why the move, though? “BT was one of those companies I had pinpointed,” explains Patel. “Again it was a corporate environment, but this time around there was the added attraction that, if I worked really hard, there may be the chance of an overseas secondment.”

In addition, the “massive functional diversity” – that word again – within BT was appealing. “The company has customers in a whole range of sectors, including the corporate, wholesale and retail markets.” For Patel, it would seem, such variety is very much the spice of this particular businessman’s life.

From a learning perspective, Patel suggests this initial post was crucial. He ran a team of 20 operators handling customer enquiries from a Call Centre and, by his own admission, picked up so many pointers about good management. By the time he left, promotion had seen him take charge of the Centre’s 120 staff and what was a big cost base. Balancing an excellent service offering with the need for being competitive on cost wasn’t easy. “Really challenging,” he chips in. “So was the need for motivating the staff. After fielding so many calls it was difficult for them to be bright and perky. It’s then that they must be motivated. If you can succeed there, you can pretty much motivate anyone at any time.”

The intervening decade saw Patel realise one of his many dreams by “making the move down south” to the bright lights of London and blue chip commerce. He has spent time working on product management and launches, pricing, marketing, business development, sales and – surprise, surprise – finance. You name it, and Chet Patel seems to have done it!

His introduction to City life was challenging, to say the very least. Working with BT’s finance sector, Patel had to ensure that the network services in place were operational 24/7 and supported by adequate contingency planning. It was ‘mission critical’, that’s for sure. “The financial services companies play hard ball when it comes to service and cost, and those with whom BT was dealing at the time proved no exception to that rule,” adds Patel.

Cannot the same be said of the security sector, where there is nearly always a tendency – not to say desire – to drive down costs?

“I don’t think the security sector is that much different to any other,” comments Patel with not a little assuredness. “Not from my experience, anyway. What we have seen in other sectors is the drive towards value for money. When things aren’t going so well for your company, that’s the time to call on business partners to help solve your problems. Some companies will be there for you, others will not. You get what you pay for.”

One of the stark lessons Patel learned in the financial sector is never to undersell that last point. “By the time clients realise what level of service they actually want, it’s usually because they’ve been forced to endure a bad experience. An experience that’s often of their own making. That is why service level guarantees are vital. In terms of a company’s future, it could literally be the difference between life and death.” For the financial sector read corporate security provision.

A need to be Together

For a time, Patel served as general manager of BT Retail’s ‘calls and lines’ portfolio. Wanting to make an impression, he was instrumental in introducing new and innovative packages including BT Together and flat-top tariffs. Both moves represented a sea change for the telecommunications sector and the company.

“We could offer customers peace of mind,” recounts Patel. “They paid a single fee and could then make calls during the evening or at weekends, or even 24/7, and their bill would never vary. We had to change the customers’ mindset from one where they would pay for what they used to the idea of a one-off fee whereby they could then use the service as much as they wanted. BT Together only took three or four months to launch from concept. Hundreds of people were involved. The package still exists under a different guise. Millions are signed up to it.”

One senses great pride in the utterance of this statement, and with good reason.

Interestingly, Patel also helped launch BT’s Broadband portfolio. The company had already dipped a toe in the Broadband waters at a wholesale level, and instigated a small, independent ISP called OpenWorld. Ever the inquisitor, Patel was baffled as to why, across his portfolio, BT couldn’t seem to sell Broadband lines as simply as it ‘shifted’ PSTN or ISDN services. Apparently, there were “a whole load of technical issues” focusing on variables including e-mail and preferences.

In conjunction with his team, Patel came up with what we now recognise as BT Broadband. Put simply, a ‘no frills’ offering for the mass market consumer. The idea was that clients could log on to the web site and pick off whatever services they wanted, or were most comfortable with. “It was all about process and ease of ordering,” continues Patel. “We didn’t want to dazzle buyers with science. Instead, we offered something simple which they could then build upon.”

Yet another trick which the security industry has apparently failed to grasp, certainly from a systems perspective at any rate.

If the time taken for everyone to embrace solutions like IP and Broadband is long then so be it. The technology should never be seen as more important than the security service

Patel proudly describes BT Broadband as his “biggest achievement to date”. Its phenomenal success on home shores – there are now millions of satisfied customers – is testament to the philosophy that it’s not about the technology and how flashy the kit may be but rather how the service is explained and sold to the client. Evidently, Patel’s explanation skills are rather good.

“The most important thing we did,” he confirms, “was to put Broadband within easy reach of the average consumer. We did that through an attractive pricing package, the simplicity of the selling message and the ease of installation. There was a huge focus on the customer experience. That is just as key in the security market as it is for telecommunications. Always talk the language of the buyer.”

Security: the initial impressions

Patel accepted the CEO role at the BT redcare Group on the basis that he strongly believes he can bring much to the party, with a focus on “customer experience and the creation of mass market products that are wanted, easy to implement for installers and ultimately beneficial to the end user.”

Initial impressions of the security industry thus far, then? “To be honest, you wouldn’t design the security sector the way it’s designed now if you were starting from scratch today. However, we are where we are.”

That said, Patel is far from being a sceptic. “There are thousands of security-focused professionals in the industry’s ranks,” he states with great positivity. “Given the nature of the times in which we now live, the focus is solely on what we do. The market may be well developed, but there’s much room for growth.”

For Patel, the industry’s installers and Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs) are the security industry. “Everyone else is there to support them, including us,” he feels. “The industry will thrive just as long as these guys have the right tools, level of knowledge and appropriate commercial structures for them to be able to succeed in their own right.”

Security and trust are fundamental to the BT redcare Group brand. Of late, of course, there has been much attention on the security issues relating to Broadband and Internet usage, the sinister practice of intercepting and recording telephone calls involving landline numbers and the physical security of people and business premises. Will the gradual move towards new technologies (including IP) be driven by a shift in the type of security professional looking after business protection? Patel answers – as always – without a moment’s hesitation.

“It’s important that we do not throw the baby out with the bath water. Changing the security mix too much too soon could be very damaging. A band of dedicated, professional people have built this industry on certain foundations, ethics and principles. That should not be immediately consigned to the history books by a new wave of manager. The underlying principles stand true and tested whatever technologies are deployed above. The way in which we, the service providers, do things will be the determining factor as to the security landscape of tomorrow.”

In a neat link with BT’s business, Patel feels that security’s ongoing metamorphosis can be viewed in parallel with the introduction of the mobile telephone. “We simply must encourage change in the security industry in a proper, orderly and timely manner. That change has to be customer-focused. We must also ensure that we help, support and train the industry’s key operatives every step of the way. If the time taken for everyone to embrace solutions like IP and Broadband is long then so be it. The technology should never be seen as more important than the security service.”

Patel is also adamant that there needs to be stringent regulation and standards focusing on the IP arena. “A clear message must be sent to the installers and the ARCs that security solutions have been tested and verified by the British Standards Institution or whomever,” he urges. “If that doesn’t happen, the reputation of the security sector can only suffer.”

Planning for tomorrow

In terms of the future and the development of his own role, Patel – an avid supporter of Liverpool FC – is quick to point out that there are “many more services and applications” for the BT redcare Group of companies to consider. “We have the common capabilities and building blocks in place.”

When pressed as to what those services and applications might be, Patel plays the classic businessman. “No comment!” As mentioned, brand protection is paramount.

Patel’s own ambitions are straightforward – to learn more and more about the security industry and drive it towards increased growth, profitability and, naturally, a greater focus on the customer. “These will be the measures of success for myself while I occupy this role.”

For the time being, however, the imminent arrival of his second child – Sumi is due to give birth in October – occupies the Patel mind, alongside all of the latest news he picks up on an hourly basis from The Times and The Independent’s plethora of print-based and online offerings. “Sky News and BBC News 24 feature quite highly in our house.”

If Patel had to impart one message to corporate security managers – in other words, the readers of Security Management Today – one wonders what it would be?

“Security practitioners should only change their outlook and philosophy if their security demands can be better met by new technologies and new or different ways of working. If the industry is to take a quantum leap forward, everyone involved – the managers, the installers and the ARC operators – must be on board and fully-focused.”

And then it was time to send out yet another e-mail via the BlackBerry. Chet Patel does indeed prefer to be busy.