NTT DATA UK&I helps transform Three’s employee and customer experience

NTT DATA has assisted Three with the overhaul of its IT Infrastructure. The transformation will ensure better interconnectivity between internal departments, allowing for improved experiences for both employees and end users alike.

As the only operator that meets the ITU’s 2020 standard for full 5G services,[1] Three is the market leader for network spectrum and download speeds. However, many basic systems had remained the same as the first 3G network, leading to the company using over 100 different systems, making it increasingly difficult to serve customers quickly and efficiently.

NTT DATA was Initially brought in to optimise the cloud infrastructure and simplify the present ecosystem. However, due to dramatic growth in cloud services expenditure and the consumption of cloud services, there was an opportunity to drive down costs while overseeing consumption. At Three, digital, data, core IT, and the existing transformation programme were in separate physical locations and did not have any interaction with other teams.

NTT DATA therefore supported a substantial transformation programme which would support an automated and adaptive cloud-based DevOps platform enabling agile deployment across development, test and production environments in a timely, accelerated and consistent fashion. This allowed for the quick and successful retrieval of the right information and, therefore, the agility to make informed business decisions.

Simon Gratton, Three’s Chief Data Officer, said, “In data terms, we needed to be able to have all the information we have at our disposal in a single location, so that we were always ready for that next business question when it comes in.

“Setting up a DevOps cycle where you can deploy daily is a huge undertaking. The strong competency of having NTT DATA engineers in our team, educating our internal team, and delivering that capability is a core reason why we have them with us."

NTT DATA Vice President, David Counsell, said: “In terms of the NTT DATA & Three partnership, I would best describe it as full of excitement and hope. Seeing the business and technology benefits being delivered and enabled here at Three, as well as its position in the marketplace in terms of being competitive, taking leadership and having the potential to leapfrog competition, is what makes it exciting.”