Determined to stay on the ball in a fast-moving, hi-tech world

Chief executive Andy Baker speaks to Bernard Ginns about the march of progress, access to broadband and his plans for Plusnet
Plusnet CEO Andy BakerPlusnet CEO Andy Baker
Plusnet CEO Andy Baker

As a child of the early 1980s, Andy Baker’s first experience of home computing was through the sleek black box of the Sinclair ZX81.

More than 30 years later, the new chief executive of internet service provider Plusnet is marvelling at the progress made.

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“It’s amazing the journey we have been on,” he says, gesturing at our two smartphones resting on the table in his large office in Sheffield.

“The power of one of these devices... they are everything from your watch to your camera to your atlas to your home computer.”

Increasing numbers of his customers are using pads and pods and iPhones and Androids.

The days of having a big desktop computer in a fixed location seem almost as distant as Sir Clive Sinclair’s home computing revolution.

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Baker ponders the advances that his young children will see over the course of their lives and, in the shorter term, the more immediate changes in consumer behaviour.

“The planning to stay on the ball… as customers move the need from big screens to smaller screens is really important.

“We must make sure that our websites open and work as well on a screen that’s three-by-two as a screen that’s TV-sized.

“I suspect that my little whippersnappers will enjoy a world that’s quite dramatically evolved again.

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“Wearable technology… information on the move, anywhere at the touch of a button… I suspect they will look back on black spots of coverage and wonder what that was about.”

Download times will be instantaneous, he says, through a variety of devices, including wristwatches, credit cards and glasses.

To better understand the opportunities for Plusnet, Baker is heading to Silicon Valley, the birthplace of many of these innovations, later this year.

Parent company BT has a network of technology scouts posted in North California, China and Israel to keep abreast of developments.

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Baker asserts that Plusnet will bring “the latest and greatest stuff at the right moment”.

The company is not into the cutting edge, but will offer products that customers want that are becoming mainstream at a better price with a better service, he adds.

Plusnet, now 17 years old, qualifies as an elder statesman of the UK technology sector. BT acquired the business in 2007 to safeguard its dominant position in the internet market.

Baker, appointed CEO in December, says his ambition is to continue to grow a successful business. He is inheriting a good operation: figures at Companies House show turnover rose 24 per cent last year to £140m.

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Baker, formerly head of BT’s wifi business, has spent eight years with the telecoms giant.

Raised in Essex, he started his career at Dixon Stores Group, working on marketing mobile products in a fast-moving technology environment.

He spent five years at Dixons, mainly at mobile phone chain The Link, learning how to translate complex technology with “mind-boggling” tariffs into something that customers could understand.

“I like to think one of my core skills is simplifying technology into words, language and things that customers wanted to buy,” he says.

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Another core skill he says is knowing how to extract the right level of benefit from a parent company. He describes BT as “a strong backer that’s willing to invest and support the growth story”.

He describes himself as a “challenging... but equally supportive” boss. He says he is a strong believer in teams and spends time coaching people.

Outside work, Baker describes himself as a “sports nut”, but it is the demands of his young family that takes up most of his leisure time.

Plusnet has 830 employees in Sheffield. It opened a call centre in Leeds in December and has quickly grown this to 100 people. Baker says total headcount will hit 1,000 at some point this summer, “a significant milestone” for the business.

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He expects the Leeds operation to continue to grow. It provides business continuity and access to a wider talent pool, he says.

The company’s growth is being driven by relentless demand for broadband.

Baker says: “Over the last five years, broadband has gone from a want to a need in the customers’ minds.

People now need broadband at home because there are so many fundamental things that you do on the back of broadband that are part of daily life, from organising your shopping through to monitoring your home alarm system.”

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He says broadband is driving the UK economy and enabling Britain to compete in the worldwide marketplace, while creating jobs in enterprises of all sizes and transforming the way that businesses engage and transact with customers.

He is not surprised at stories that access to broadband is now affecting house prices and says he can understand in the short term why some people might insist on superfast speeds when they look at buying a new home, but he expects “a normalisation” of access over the next two to ten years.

“I equally think that the download and upload speeds available are still in advance of most customers’ needs.

“There is an element of ‘because these high speeds are available I must have them’, but probably using significantly less of that than they need.

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“Clearly there are households where there are five occupants and they are all gaming like mad, connecting to each other and streaming videos, then it starts to get a bit picky, but the typical household is not like that.”

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