IT Life: Colin Lees, BT Business & Public Sector CIO

How will the Internet of Things affect your organisation?

At BT we have a clear view of what IoT means for us and it’s all about the network connectivity for an enormous number of devices. Our view is that all these devices will need to connect to one single point and, thanks to our integration with EE, we’re creating this single point. In essence we’ll be delivering sensor enablement through fixed and mobile technology.

At any one time, I’m using a couple of different ones. This might sound strange, but because our customers use Apple, Android and Windows devices we offer apps for all of them.

To better understand the functionality we need to provide and to experience the apps for myself before we launch them, I make sure that I use the relevant smartphone extensively. For example, next year we’ll be launching a new app for Apple devices, so one of my phones at present is an iPhone.

What three apps could you not live without?

Email – it might be a bit old-school but I still use it a lot, especially for work-related communication.

Facebook – it helps me to keep in touch with friends and family from all over the world.

Spotify – I’m a massive music fan and I love the convenience and easy-to-use functionality of Spotify.

What new technology are you most excited for a) your business and b) yourself?

In terms of business I think AI (artificial intelligence) has enormous potential. At the moment the industry seems to be focused on bots, but in three years’ time I bet we’ll be talking about other things you can do with AI. Automation and predictive intelligence are going to have a massive impact on our lives in the next two years.

In terms of personal tech, I have to own up to being a bit of a technology geek – I love to try all the latest innovations. I’m really interested in the evolution of the personal assistant. At home, I control my heating and sound system via an app but I’m keen to try Alexa and similar services.

I’m also looking forward to seeing the impact that the personal assistant will have on the keyboard and mouse. I’m sure we’ll be interacting with machines in very different ways in the not-too-distant future.

If you weren’t doing the job you do now, what would you be doing?

When I was a teenager I very nearly became a professional tennis player. I was offered a coaching scholarship in the US, but I felt I was a bit too young to leave my family in Northern Ireland.

To be honest I don’t think I’d have been a great tennis pro, although it would have been a lot of fun. Instead I’m a tech professional. I definitely think I made the right decision and my career so far has been more rewarding than life as a tennis player would have been for me.

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