Two of the largest challenges facing today’s telecom carriers are their existing IT systems and their employees. And both need to become more flexible if companies plan to prosper in today’s changing-at-the-speed-of-light market, according to telecom execs who spoke at Andersen Consulting’s recent Global Communications Forum.
While wireless is the studious pupil who produces quality work and needs little supervision, telecom teachers are spending their extra time tutoring the Internet student-that raw, bright genius who must be taught good study habits in order to reach his full potential.
The Internet has changed everything.
If you think yesterday’s business plans can fit in tomorrow’s world, think again, said Joe Nacchio, chief executive officer of Qwest Communications International Inc. “Seeing the coming change isn’t enough; you have to be able to act on it.”
The very leadership steering the company must change, Nacchio declared. In this business, speed overwhelms precision. Decisions must be made quickly, even though mistakes will be made on the way. (And make no mistake, Nacchio noted, mistakes will be made along the way. But as long as the vision remains on track, those mistakes don’t have to sink the ship.)
Australian telecom operator Telstra is a fundamentally different company than it was three years ago, said the company’s Peter Shore.
Telstra discovered it was losing its best customers in a new competitive environment. In order to reverse that trend, the company changed its focus from cutting costs and cleaning up inefficiencies to a focus driven by the customer.
And the single biggest challenge in changing the company was redefining the culture within the company, Shore said.
One speaker phrased it this way: It’s easier to transform technology than to transform people.
So while incumbent carriers have to struggle through legacy systems, and new fleet-footed carriers will have their own legacy systems to deal with in a few years, it turns out the greatest legacy system is personnel.
Luckily, each one of the speakers who talked about the challenges of changing their businesses ended up telling a story of achievement, leaving me only to conclude that employees are one legacy system that can be successfully changed.
