Approaching On Several Fronts

To bring its electronic commerce solutions to market, BT is collaborating with third party channels that are already in regular contact with the customer in a related area of business.

However notional that 'focus' might appear on the balance sheet, owning an asset and converting this into a viable business stream can be two different matters. Whether BT assumes centre stage in electronic commerce solutions - rather than simply providing the conduit over which the electronic data passes - depends on an array of factors as diverse as the products which it has chosen to bring to market, its pricing policy and, not least, the nature and quality of its relationship with customers.

Given that BT is committed to a developing solutions around a limited number of platforms, few doubts could be expressed in the marketplace about the quality or interoperability of the electronic commerce 'products' that the company is offering. BT's pricing policy has to reflect both the increasing