Market Changes

Here is my observation so far on the beginning of 2009 for telecom. Once again there are going to be failed CLECs and changes in the ILECs. This happens every few years anyway so the economy is not the driving factor. What will really change are the ways these telecom companies handle evolving customer needs. Customers are getting smarter and often in such a way they know more than their providers do.

What this means for telecom is that there needs to be a larger ear to the ground. I see a larger and larger need for customers to justify getting more than dumb bandwidth. If a customer is going to invest money for services it should be about time they get something else out of it. I disagree with comments from some providers that IP is a commodity and prices will continue to erode. This works well until usage outpaces capacity and someone has to front the next wave of build outs. So customers will want to ask carriers what else will this do for us? It makes more sense invest in quality that has more benefits than to buy whatever is cheapest.

The future seems to be paved in not just combined solutions or managed services; but rather open architectures that let customers evolve their usage as needed. A connection to a carrier should mean having a chance to grow and shift. This goes against the traditional bandwidth = X price. The model should be usage of any products (voice, data, storage, managed, private lines, security, etc) are Y price without being locked into one product. Use what you need when you need it. Let the customers choose their environment no differently then loading software on a cell phone.

In fact I have found in my own job that is quite possible for carriers to do just this. Hopefully we will see some progression and make telecom more of a business asset than a monthly charge.

First Blog

It's kind of ironic that I never took the time in the last few years to create a blog. Much like my Myspace, Bebo, Facebook, and other accounts that were created and look so very sad. Considering I have a background in web technologies one would think that I would have done a little better. But my schedule is so booked as it is that I never got around to it. Here is a page in my life: work, my wife and kids, work, writing software, research, learning, an occasional tv show or movie, cooking, cleaning, and sleep. So by the time I get through all that I run out of time to blog or socialize. Yet over the fourth I was at a BBQ and a friend of mine was discussing a common band we like, FAR. I have been saying for years, which I am not exaggerating, that he seems to have the uncanny ability to keep track of all this interesting stuff. I define stuff in this case as music, movies, art, and other news. So I decided perhaps I should put a few minutes into trying to take advantage of these social services to keep in touch.

To serve as a deeper irony I work with a lot of these social companies on a professional level and I use most of them, but not to their fullest extent. I'd like to blame it on my exceptional customer service and workaholic methodology :)

So here is my first blog, I'll be filling it with interesting things in my life until I have a chance to become important enough for people to read it. (I read a ton of other people's blogs).

-Ryan