Internet giant Telstra practises what it preaches when it comes to devising and adhering to concrete company objectives, according to CEO Ziggy Switkowski.
Addressing a CIO-CEO summit last week, Switkowski advised CIOs and CEOs of internet-enabled companies not to falter in pursuing strict company goals and employee monitoring processes, despite the increasingly "loose and porous" boundaries of the internet economy.
He held up Telstra itself as a working example of dot-com discipline.
Internally, he said, 80 per cent of Telstra's own purchasing of commodity items would be online by January 2001. By the end of 2001, Telstra intends to purchase all commodity items over the internet.
Furthermore, Telstra plans to have all high-volume administrative processes online by the end of 2001. All of Telstra's staff will be web-enabled by that time, he said.
Switkowski said Telstra would use the quick-time data availability of the internet to conduct "360-degree" staff performance reports. The internet meant there was a greater transparency in employee activities, he said.
Telstra has articulated its goals for customer service in similarly specific terms.
Switkowski said Telstra planned for online ordering and information to be available for all new Telstra products by December. By June 2001, all new Telstra products will be supported by online processes from their date of launch, he said.
Telstra is aiming for 50 per cent of all orders from major customers to be conducted over the internet by June 2001. By the end of 2001, Telstra hopes that 30 per cent of small-to-medium businesses will have followed suit, he said.