BT announced today that Jeff Kelly is to stand down as CEO of BT Global Services
(BTGS) to be replaced by Luis Alvarez – 12 year BT staffer who currently runs BTGS Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
We were delighted when Jeff Kelly – a 25 year EDS veteran – was appointed in Jan 2010. See my detailed post on his appointment – Click here. I made the point then (and repeatedly before and after) that running an IT services company is quite different to running a products or telecomms company. I had oft criticised BTGS for its ambitions to become a global IT services company when its top management had no experience of such business. Kelly had the sense to fairly quickly disband the mighty global dominance ambitions and return BT Global Services to what it does best – network management for enterprises (particularly large, public sector and global enterprises). I think Kelly moved BT quite a long way in his nearly 3 years at the helm and our optimism on his appointment was justified. But there is still a lot left to do.
Press reports today still seem to put the blame for BTGS woes at the door of Francois Barrault and his successor Hanif Lalani. But Barrault would have needed real talent to wreak such damage in just over a year at the helm of BTGS from Apr 07 – Oct 08. The real damage had been done by the management regime prior to 2007.
I remember when Kelly was appointed I was immediately promised an interview only to have it cancelled so he had time to prepare! Kelly told me then that he would only spend a short time in the UK before returning to his family in his native USA. He’ll now work part time as an adviser to BT North America.
Let’s hope Alvarez continues in the direction set by Kelly. BT does NOT need yet another CEO with a ‘vision’ to take it to global IT services dominance.