Bell Aliant

Aliant’s contribution to Nova Scotia can be viewed from a number of vantage points – as a telecommunications leader, as an employer and as a community supporter.

 
The company’s impact is impressive. Over $2 billion invested in the telecommunications infrastructure in Nova Scotia. Approximately 2,500 employees in the province, and over $300 million contributed annually to the provincial economy through salaries, capital investment, taxation, and community giving and investments. Over $1.1 million invested in community events and sponsorships in Nova Scotia in 2007. More than 3,500 retired and current employees in Nova Scotia serving as Aliant Pioneer Volunteers.
 
Aliant’s roots in Atlantic Canada run more than 100 years deep, and there are many instances of more than one generation of a family working at the company at the same time. Given this history, it makes sense that Bell Aliant, which in 2007 had $3.4 billion in revenue and has 10,000 employees serving Atlantic Canada and areas of Ontario and Quebec, is headquartered in Atlantic Canada.
 
“We want to be near the communities that we serve, part of the communities that we serve, understanding the communities that we serve, experiencing the same kinds of things as the communities that we serve,” says Chuck Hartlen, senior vice-president of customer experience.
                                                           
Aliant draws on its understanding of the community in its voice, Internet, television, wireless, data and support offerings, as well as in their delivery. 
 
“When people lift up the phone they expect to get a dial tone, and when people try to use their Internet service they expect to have service, and when people turn on their television they want to have the television available to them,” Hartlen says. “We have developed the expertise and understanding over many, many years to make those kinds of things reliable, to make them available, and to figure out what to do if things do go wrong.”
 
So when Mother Nature interferes, “One of the first companies that’s there, weekend, weekday, night or day, is the telecommunications company, and we know how to do that,” Hartlen says. “It’s part of our culture, it’s part of our history, it’s the way we’re wired. And we bring all of that history, knowledge, discipline, work ethic, and understanding to everything that we do.”
 
As Hartlen explains, within the customer experience focus there are three pillars: service, value and community. These support the key thrusts of the company overall: customer experience, growth and operational efficiency.
 
Innovation and creativity are vital to achieving these objectives. One example of innovation in action is the IP-based Aliant TV offering. In April, the company announced it was the first in Atlantic Canada to use MPEG-4 technology, which results in strong picture clarity. Innovation can also be fostered through partnerships which lead to more options for consumers. Aliant announced  last fall that it “is the first company to launch an Apple® desktop computer and Internet package in North America.”
 
Another example of innovation is testing. The company has labs throughout Atlantic Canada, including one modelled after a home environment. “It looks like a living room and a kitchen,” Hartlen says. “And we test some of the new products we’re introducing – higher-speed applications and the way we wire things up. We want to make sure that some of the thinking that we’re doing is actually going to fit in and be useful in the real world.”
 
Creativity is another Aliant strength, which Hartlen says, “is allowed to grow and flourish by letting folks be accountable for resolving issues, resolving problems, putting forth solutions and by giving them space to create and run.”
 
Aliant’s commitment to the community goes beyond providing innovative telecommunications services. It also encompasses environmental considerations. A highlight from its 2007 sustainability report states that the company, “saved 22,000 megawatt hours of electricity and 1.6 million litres of diesel fuel in 2007 through energy efficiency upgrades to our buildings undertaken during the past seven years.”
 
And then there’s work with charities, task forces, boards, advisory groups and more, an involvement which Hartlen says, “is part of who we are.” Aliant has a special focus on children and youth. For example, this year’s Aliant Walk for Kids Help Phone raised more than $200,000, contributing to the $3 million raised by the event nationally.
 
“With demand for our services going up, the funds raised at this year’s walk will ensure that kids from across the country have access to our professional counsellors on the phone or online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Tom McAllister, president and CEO, Kids Help Phone, in a news release. He added that the combined Bell-Aliant Walk for Kids Help Phone “is the largest fundraising event of the year, and thanks to this year’s tremendous outpouring of support we will be able to continue providing the immediate help and hope that all kids need and deserve.”
 
A company release in April announced Aliant Pioneer Volunteers were launching a “new multimedia educational program – Power up to Read! – to help parents, teachers and community groups to engage kids in a fun and creative way and help boost literacy rates throughout the region.”
 
Hartlen is happy to make the Nova Scotia community his home, both from a business and a lifestyle perspective. “Nova Scotia makes sense for an awful lot of reasons for a lot of organizations,” he says, noting strengths in “transportation, education, culture, all of those things that attract people and attract companies.”  
 
And then there’s the variety. “In one minute you can be in a metropolitan centre like Halifax, which I believe in terms of skyline and corporate presence, has got the look and feel of a large city. Then  10 minutes later you can be experiencing some of the most wonderful sceneries and environments that rural Canada has to offer.”
 
Aliant’s connection with Nova Scotia has a rich history. With the company’s commitment to creativity and innovation, accessibility and dependability, its future contribution to the province is also full of promise.

Feature Story Written by: Marie Weeren