State of the Industry – Q2 Snapshot

I thought I’d comment on two recent studies centered around trends in the telecommunications area that are generating a number of headlines with different providers. Interestingly, both studies point to a common trend, that the majority of companies are wholly unprepared to handle the continuing increase in demand required by cloud computing, social media, mobile devices and data analytics. In fact, according to an IBM analysis of more than 750 CIOs across the country, less than 10% say their infrastructure is properly scaled to meet demand and 62% intend to increase infrastructure spending over the next 18 months in order to try and meet the demand. The IBM study also points out that 46% of respondents struggle with maintaining a secure environment and self-admit that they lack a strategic infrastructure road map. The full study will be published in July but the preliminary results do not come as a surprise to us. We see many of the same issues confronting both our existing and prospective customers during our conversations.

Thankfully, according to another just released study by Akamai, the world just recently reached a critical plateau in terms of available average connection speed in that all ten of the most populated countries or regions in the globe now surpass the high broadband threshold. In fact, on a year over year comparison, global average peak connection speeds increased 38% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to 2012 and analysts forecast another sizable jump when the end of year numbers come in for 2014.

All of this means it’s a buyers market out there and a good time to evaluate your options about infrastructure planning – even if your existing contract has plenty of months remaining. These types of projects require significant advanced planning to deliver quality service and a clean, painless transition

Big Telco Customer Service Levels Rise?

In a joint news conference today, the major domestic telecom carriers announced that they were adopting new customer service protocols for all customers.  "We believe that, as a group, we can do much better by the people who use our networks," said organization leader Jack B. Quick in a prepared statement, "it's time for us to work together and to take responsibility for our service rather than blame the local loops or the communications equipment at a customer's location.  In fact, we are so tired of finger pointing that we're literally cutting our fingers off just to show how serious we are."  Mr. Quick attempted to wave to the crowd following the announcement but onlookers were horrified by the bloody stumps on his hands where his fingers used to be.

Hopefully you realize this is an April Fool's Joke.  Sadly it's probably more likely for Telco execs to cut off their fingers than to improve their customer service commitments and take true responsibility for the performance of your services.   That's why customer service is - and will always be - our most important deliverable to our clients.