Not that you asked, but I have some things to say.

In conversation with a colleague, the question was asked: "What makes you {your company} different?" This question has been something of a new hobby of mine. I started with "Different than what?" It is my belief that our business model is unique, and have seen little evidence to the contrary. I want to constantly challenge that belief, seeing this as the only way to ensure the belief is true and continues to be so; comparison must be a diligent and never-ending part of our message. Of the several competitors listed by my colleague (technically someone who could compete with me in certain circumstances), I easily differentiated our offering. But, stressing the "Different than what?", I quickly moved from comparative offerings and steered towards a less tangible "what?"Our approach was different; our mindset, our essence. I found myself asking the question "What do we serve?"mm My industry is filled with examples of passionate pe...

I've been dreaming lately, not the sort of dream that comes with sleep, but the wide-awake kind. It's a dream related to my business life, and that's all I need to say about the sort of dream it is. I consider this my business blog, and while the below may not seem to have anything to do with business for some, it very much does to me. When I hear or say the word 'dream', generally two things happen. My thoughts go in two completely separate directions; directions that can, if not properly harnessed, become quite debilitating. More on that later... Direction #1: The heavens, sky, to soar, to fly. Ethereal. That place, so precious, but so easily destroyed. Like a balloon untethered, it will float away for no other reason than that no one held the string. Direction #2: Down to earth, grounded. Tangible. That place so solid and necessary, but with a gravity to contend with; every step in life, soil, the path we walk and the foundation of life, but the place th...

I recently read a social media post from a business associate, let's call him Alan. It was an excerpt from a famous quote, from a very famous American business icon, and then a summary of the quote from Alan's point of view. The summary, as Alan saw it, was that the second a person identifies as an expert that they no longer are useful, that they lose the drive that led them to the possibility of even identifying as an expert, and that from there it was nowhere but a downward spiral. The implied message was that by claiming to be an expert, a person would no longer work towards greatness, no longer continues to press forward, that they would find themselves in the stagnant position of resting on their laurels, and no longer "trying to do more." (that last part is a direct quote, and will play in heavily to my point). I couldn't disagree more. I checked the validity of the quote, and it was spot on. I checked to make sure the general intent of the quote was cap...

Disclaimer : The topic of this entry (POTs lines) was specifically requested by a business partner. When I discuss POTs lines, I get confused looks, and typically even confused responses in that discussion. "Why are you dealing with POTs lines?" It's the lowest common denominator of the telecommunications industry, but only as a product. The need it solves is the core of this blog entry. My ask is that you disregard the "widget" ( an ask that is often a challenge for many of the "widget" minded folks I know) and focus instead on the business problem associated with the consumption of this particular technology.  Let's start with a quick definition...the below is the first hit when you Google POTs lines: Short for  plain old telephone service , which refers to the standard telephone service that most homes use. In contrast, telephone services based on high-speed, digital communications  lines , such as ISDN and FDDI, are not  POTS . The main dis...

I was recently working on a recommendation for a client, specific to a process improvement we were looking to implement. This suggestion had been made to the client half a dozen times and had, outside of agreeable nods, gained minimal traction. I felt myself playing a bit of metaphorical pinball, bumping against the silos within the clients corporate culture (nothing new here), and realized if a bridge was to be made between the silos, I would need to build that bridge. I contacted a senior-level Project Manager (PM) who served a critical role in the process we were evaluating. This person, within the initial discussion, showed to be incredibly passionate in their role and truly dedicated to the success of that role. I explained the suggestions we were making, and looked for input. What was given as response was disappointing. This person, who was just seconds ago a shining example of attitude and aptitude, began explaining their role with more focus on what they didn'...

In my last blog, I mentioned the recent trend of merger and acquisition deals in the telecommunications industry. This M&A fever is one of the answers I give when, say at Thanksgiving dinner, people that have some form of understanding of my industry asks "So, what's the big new thing???" Now, I've seen the adoption of MPLS to replace Frame Relay, I've seen token ring replaced by ethernet, I've seen Internet become the driver of a new economy, I've seen VoIP and SIP discussed for years (without much real adoption for the first decade of the discussion) but TDM is finally beginning to phase out (don't fret old-timers, I still have clients with hundreds of POTs lines...a few with pagers...and I'm not kidding about the pagers).  I've left the Cloud discussion for later. There is so much room to editorialize there, I'll leave that for its own entire blog. At one point in time, the response to any of the above evolutions in technology ...

The past few years have seen multiple mergers and acquisitions in the telecommunications industry. I would be hard pressed to name one that hasn't had some form of M&A action, buying or merging with a competitor generally focused on B2B services (AT&T being a bit of an anomaly, their acquisition strategy seems more focused on content and the consumer market). I've seen these happen, over the decades, and generally see a stronger more capable company emerge...at some point...in time...after much, well, pain. For a long time now, I've called it the Tele-Merge Flu. It's cyclical, and I've seen a few iterations over my career. They all seem to have a bit of the following: Disparate systems, painfully complicated to begin with, will now be merged (or attempted to be merged) with generally a Frankenstein's Monster result, a broken shambling, groaning thing, with the local residents always on the verge of storming the castle with torches and pitchfork...