Verizon Business reshapes around IP applications, managed services

E-learning modules make it easier to do that kind of on-demand training, Toohey said. "We have people in 52 countries, and we have to make sure they know what they have and they have it when they need it," he said. "There is a tremendous amount of resources that we put out to our sales force and our product teams to make sure our engineers are up to date. How we deliver it is via our technology, and we make it on-demand so they get what they need when they need it versus show up at the classroom on Tuesday."

Toohey maintains it's not hard to find talent, although, "on occasions it's hard to find what you need where you need them. That becomes the challenge – making sure you are finding the appropriate amount of resources in all the right regions of the world. I might be able to find them all in New York, but am I deploying them in the right place? It's always a challenge to finding these resources – there are a lot fewer of them in the world. You can talk about IT applications services – is there the same amount of candidates to do that as straight TDM? Probably not, so of course it's supply and demand. And with fewer of them, you have to make sure you capture the best ones."

The challenge of getting the right people exists for the entire organization, Toohey adds, not just for technical staff.

"For us – we have this great opportunity," Toohey said. "We are moving the organization in the marketplace. How do I make sure the organization is moving with us, whether you are in finance, customer service, whether you are in IT or you are in HR – any organizations that are part of this? We have to make sure they understand where we are going and they are all aligned to getting there, which they are."