I’m finding it hard to believe that my penultimate week with Telstra is now over! This week I’ve been working with the legal team so I’m in an area I know a bit about. The legal department is located in a different building so this gave me the opportunity to see another part of the city and meet some new people. My work has been largely focused on global contracts and I’ve been creating variations of the contract due to renegotiations between the customer and the sales team. These varied contracts will then return to the sales team who’ll present then to the customers. I’ve also been focusing on outstanding contracts, where the discussions have taken place but no final contract has been agreed.  Thus I’ve been going between the sales team and the legal team to analyse the problems that were met and the subsequent delays, in order to determine the stage the contract has now reached. This can be a slow process and there can be real time lags between the sales negotiations and the signed written contract being received.

I’ve also been completing some work for the product team, calculating costs and using them to create pricing matrixes which will be incorporated into our service description booklets used to advertise the services we offer. I’ve had to incorporate into this the services that we have on offer in different countries. These will vary depending on what’s available and the coverage Telstra have in that particular country so determining this is crucial. In addition to this I’ve been doing more work on cost reduction for the commercial team, working on the process I used for my cost reduction project so next quarter this can be completed smoothly and efficiently. So it has been another busy week! A definite advantage of working with so many teams is that the work I’m doing is widely varied so I’m continually getting the chance to try my hand at new tasks.  

 The telecommunications industry is one which until recently I hadn’t really considered for my career. However the importance of this industry is becoming more and more apparent the more time I spend working within it. As the quarterly figures show, even in times of global recession Telstra are still doing well, internationally and domestically. This is because the services they provide are crucial to the running of multinational businesses; it is no longer a luxury but a necessity for such companies. This is reemphasied by the fact most large companies also purchase back up services to ensure their network will still be effective even if the service is malfunctioning; problems with the service for just a few hours this can have catastrophic effects thus it is crucial to have alternate network paths. Indeed many of the Service Level Agreements (basically the guarantee we give customers) are in milliseconds. This gives an indication of how effective these services need to be and how reliant businesses are on them. It is undoubtedly an ever growing industry.

As it’s nearing the end of my time with Telstra I have had some time to reflect on the experience which really has been truly invaluable both academically and personally. Having the opportunity to work with such a powerful multinational company and being trusted to complete tasks that could have such a drastic impact on company profits has made me determined to give everything I’ve got to show how much potential there is in Scotland. This experience is undoubtedly the most challenging thing I’ve ever done but equally the most rewarding. It’s in the nature of the Scottish to rise to challenges and the Saltire Foundation recognises this and gives students the opportunity to realise the impact they can have. I’ve meet Global Scots, and members from both the Scottish Development International and the British Consulate General all of whom recognise the amazing opportunities the Saltire Foundation has created for students and businesses alike. I feel extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to be involved in such a prestigious programme. Personally I’m now more passionate than ever about Scotland and the huge impact I believe we can have on the global marketplace.