Wake up and slim down

When more competition was introduced into the wireless sector in the mid-1990s via the PCS license auctions, rendering anyone with spectrum a potential wireless contender, one of the criticisms that followed was that the new players weren't paying close enough attention to the underlying operations requirements of their nascent networks. That was chalked up to inexperience, and many of those wireless service providers rectified the situation (or tried to) as they grew. Those that were successful in doing so became the most formidable wireless competitors. Those that faltered...well, suffice it to say that at least one of them is currently in the later stages of being acquired.

A similar phenomenon occurred during the CLEC frenzy later that decade. New competitors with often-tenuous business plans were rushing to get to market to compete or be acquired, and many of them glossed over some of the more important back-office and OSS priorities as they did so. Again, inexperience and gold rush-style enthusiasm were blamed.

Maybe that past behavior can be explained away and attributed to naïveté and enthusiasm about new market opportunities. But what excuse do carriers have now for not paying the proper attention to the operations requirements of their networks? For those that have survived a significant economic downturn--cutting costs, shutting down lines of business, laying off employees, shedding customers and in general struggling to adapt to a difficult economy and unpredictable service environment--what possible explanation is there for not scrutinizing back-office needs and options and putting the kinds of systems in place that can help carriers streamline networks operations, improve customer experiences and save money?

Those questions and more are being explored this week and next in a series of executive forums hosted by Telephony and Oracle. The first was held yesterday in Dallas, where presenters included Bob Moore, VP of information technology for Paetec Communications, and Cliff Faurer, technical director of the TeleManagement Forum's NGOSS program. Experts from HP and Accenture were also on hand for an insightful panel discussion about operations priorities and how service providers can transform themselves into the TM Forum's ideal of a "lean" service provider.

We'll be in Denver tomorrow (August 12), in Atlanta on August 17 and in New York on August 19 with similar programs, featuring keynote speakers from EchoStar Communications, BellSouth and Paetec, as well as the TeleManagement Forum. Click here for more information and to register.

Despite signs of gradual and modest recovery, the telecom service provider environment is as unpredictable as ever, with new technologies, services and customer demands seemingly at odds with carriers' mandates to reduce expenses. All of that makes efficient and effective operations support more important than ever. I hope you can join us to hear ideas from the experts on how those goals can be achieved.

E-mail me at jmeyers@primediabusiness.com