Speaking at a panel at the Microsoft AI Tour, Brady explains how they are changing their business to become more AI ready.

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[L-R] Anthony Miller, CEO & MD, Westpac; Vicki Brady, CEO & MD, Telstra, and Jane Livesey, MD ANZ, Microsoft

As Telstra continues on its AI transformational journey, Vicki Brady, CEO at the Telco highlighted the drastic changes internally the company has made to be “a leader in connectivity”.

Speaking at a panel at the Microsoft AI Tour in Sydney, Brady gave attendees insight into their AI journey.

She emphasised the importance of getting the foundation of tech and data right, then went to note how they’ve slashed the amount of data platforms and technology partners that the Telstra uses.

“A few years ago, we had 80 platforms where our data was held, our target is to get to three. We’re at 20 right now. Making progress, but you’ve got to be relentless,” she explained.

“Relentless on removing complexity and getting much simpler.”

Brady said they had more than 400 software partners, “We consolidated down to two to move faster,” she said.

“We’ve got a goal this year to get 85 percent of our teams using AI tools at least weekly, and we’re at 75 percent now. That’s been important foundationally.”

Navigating AI

Brady noted that to be a leader in connectivity, the telco must be a leader in embedding and applying AI inside the business.

“That’s a whole of business transformation. The way we engage with customers, the way we empower our teams, even the way we run and operate our network,” she said.

One question she always asks herself is “are we going fast enough?”.

“The world is just changing so fast. To be competitive, we’ve got to be moving at a scale and a pace,” she said.

Brady also highlighted the importance of skills and giving her staff opportunity to grow skills.

“We use the Data and AI Academy we’ve just put in specific learning pathways for jobs. We’re working with Microsoft on a pilot for an AI learning agent, which would be great,” she said.

Another factor Telstra thinks about in navigating AI is the national conversation around the technology and how the benefits are going to be shared across Australia.

“AI is a whole of society transition. It’s not just affecting business, it’s affecting the way we work, and it affects the economy,” she said.

“We’re thinking about things that are important, around trust, around inclusion, around skills, and we do think about some of those groups that are going to need more support, small businesses, regional communities, people facing barriers to digital inclusion.”

She added, “But I think businesses need to be in that conversation alongside government and industry and helping contribute to those solutions.”