KEY POINTS:
Customers calling Telecom's helpdesk could find their questions about broadband and calling plans answered by the company's new boss.
British telco analyst Mike Cansfield of Ovum - who has known Paul Reynolds for 20 years as both a workmate and a sector analyst - says Telecom's new chief
executive will take time in the first six to 12 months getting to know his staff.
"Don't be surprised if he does spend some time in a call centre, either talking to customers directly or sitting with one or two of the agents understanding the questions that the very front line of the organisation has to take from customers."
Cansfield said it was not Reynolds' way to sit behind a closed door in the big corner office. "He will be very hands on and does operate a genuine open-door policy."
Today Reynolds is taking his "hands on" approach on the road, meeting staff, customers and making his first public appearance before shareholders at the AGM in Dunedin.
Cansfield said that in his previous role as head of British Telecom's wholesale division Reynolds was able to explain his strategy using words like "plan on a page" - effectively setting out the company direction on one side of paper.
"That gives you an idea of what a clear communicator he is, not least because we've all been in these strategy presentations where you listen to someone talk for two hours and you come out where you're none the wiser."
Cansfield said a new leadership strategy could result in some staff changes, particularly at the more senior levels, with Reynolds looking to assemble the best team drawn from existing resources and new people.
Already he will be hunting for a new chief financial officer to replacement Marko Bogoievski, who steps down in January, and looking at how to replace retail head Kevin Kenrick.
According to Cansfield, when he joined BT Wholesale Reynolds said he did not believe he could take the division forward with the senior management team he had at the time.
Over two years the senior team changed, with staff either moving within the company or leaving.
"It's not a case of slash and burn, it's a case of managing through change," said Cansfield.
When Reynolds' Telecom appointment was announced in June, there was speculation in Britain that it signalled an acrimonious split with BT after restructuring which saw the company's next-generation network project moved out of wholesale into another division.
But Cansfield believes that was not the case.
"I think this was planned ... I think he decided now was the right time for him to move on. I think the opportunity to run his own trainset was very difficult to turn down."
Cansfield said Reynolds would attempt to build a better relationship with the Government and telecommunications regulator - "not because it was a nice 'to do' but in the interests of moving on".
But Cansfield said the question was really "does the regulator in New Zealand, do the competitors in New Zealand, do the consumers in New Zealand want to move on also?"
In a research note last week, Morgan Stanley analyst Sachin Gupta said the new chief executive could be the first step towards an improvement in investor sentiment.
He highlighted the issues and opportunities Reynolds faced in the next 12 months, including the operational separation of the company, management appointments, the acceleration and extension of the network transformation and a review of the consumer strategy as Telecom's market share comes under attack..
Telecom shares closed down 1c at $4.58 yesterday.
A2 RATING AFFIRMED
Bloomberg
Telecom has had its A2 corporate credit rating affirmed by Moody's Investors Service after the Government last week said it wanted the company to separate its network and sales units.
There is no immediate effect on the rating from extra spending needed to achieve the separation, Moody's said.
Telecom estimates capital costs of $200 million and annual operating costs of $40 million a year to achieve the Government's directive. Still the additional spending "has weakened Telecom's position within the A2 rating", Moody's said, and it would be monitoring implementation of separation.
