Windstream is partnering with Lifesize (a division of Logitech) for HD Videoconferencing equipment. Paetec has long offered equipment for lease to SMB to go with services.
Windstream has hired Anne Brogan, formerly at NITEL, as National Channel Manager, just about 6 weeks after the channel head, Dan Sterling, was let go and Jeff Howe assumed his duties. Good Luck, Anne!
CloudTC, the Android based IP desk phone that debuted at StartupCamp a couple of years ago, has rolled out to the Channel.
West IP (formerly Smoothstone) has a really cool new website. Luv the madness screamer! With the website revamp comes MediaCloud, a Microsoft Lync offering.
8x8 is going global - to Canada and the UK, according to UC Strategies. A lot of that info was covered in these two blog posts - CMO interview and Agent interviews.
The timing on this announcement couldn't be better: RadioShack launches MVNO service! They are so good at customer service that they have become a service provider. Lucky for them, telecom - much like airlines - has a very low bar for customer care. Oh, they answer the phone and quote you policy but that's about it. RS will fit right in.
Once upon a time, OC-192 networks were the way to measure a network's manhood. Now it is 100G. XO rolled out 100G nationwide.
IRONY of the Day: The guy I wrote about that thought Agents work part-time, just got a new gig as a channel manager. I guess that part-time agency plan went down the tubes. I just hope he works full-time as a channel manager - just not as MY channel manager.
If you will be at the CPExpo next week in Orlando, let's meet up. The TCA is holding its 4th year Anniversary on 9/11 at 7:30 in Orlando. Register here. See you there!
]]>Outsourcing works because the firms pay less and don't have to deal with unions or pension plans.
"Simply by having more experience, a specialty contractor is also more likely to hit upon the most efficient and effective ways of doing things and can quickly adopt those improvements throughout its operations." [in theory]
"The second big advantage that outsourcing firms enjoy is the economies of scale." - due to Specialization.
The disadvantage to Outsourcing is poor management. This is due to a couple of things. Outsourcers just hire Cogs for the Wheel of Industry - no outside thinking involved. Paying less means you get what you pay for. In some cases, bad management, which also comes from hiring cogs.
This might explain why customer service is so awful in the telecommunications industry.
]]>1. Shane McNamara being named VP of the Indirect Channel at XO. It was a shock pick for many in the industry.
2. TNCI Bankruptcy! I understand that the reseller model has been taking a huge beating in the last 3 years, but when you start off hawking "Agent Equity", you need to be better fudiciary stewarts than this.
3. WIND-PAETEC merger - I just didn't see that one coming. It did prove my point about the difference in running a private company as opposed to a public one, who is a slave to Wall Street.
4. Qwest getting bought by CenturyLink - and then CL buying Savvis. It was a big shopping spree. I thought it would have been wiser to buy a cell company, but CL is going all-in on the Cloud.
5. The TCA's Certification program. This is kind of self-promoting because I am a Board member and founder of TCA, but I have seen how the carriers are looking at certification for the indirect channel. I think for agents the CTP (or some certification) will be necessary.
6. The Cloud M&A - there was so much of it! The big one was VZ buying Terremark, which might have been the same plan that CenturyLink used when scooping up Qwest CyberCenters and Savvis. I think the one least spoken about is the TWC-Navisite deal.
7. InterNAP killing its Channel. I don't think this story is over, since the agents have to keep fighting this one or risk more crap like this from carriers who need to rightside their balance sheet like some kind of lipstick on a pig. Cloud companies don't want to see it, but it is this action by InterNAP (and Equinix with Switch & Data before it) that keeps Agents from running to the Cloud. Fear of being cut off at the knees. Not that telcos - remember MCI? - haven't sliced the channel (hello RBOCs!)
8. TelePacific's buying spree - Telekenex, Tel-West, Covad Wireless, and Orange County Internet Xchange. It was fast and furious and quick.
9. Dan Foster leaving then returning to MegaPath to take over for Bruce Chatterly as President of the Business Markets Group. That game of musical chairs was confusing to watch, coming on the heels of the merger of Covad's two largest customers - Megapath and Speakeasy - into one company.
10. Since 2011 seemed like the year of serial acquisitions from companies - Megapath, TelePacific, CenturyLink, Windstream, TDS - let's give a hand to EarthLink, who took New Edge Networks and combined it with One Comm., DeltaCom, and STS Telecom to make a nationwide business CLEC play, then added a bunch of IT/Managed services/Cloud services to that CLEC with Logical Solutions, Business Vitals and the Synergy Global Solutions deals. We'll see how that integration works out in 2012.
11. Comcast hiring Craig Schlagbaum to build and run its Channel indicated that Cable was coming to play in the business space. CLEC's need to take note, because most CLEC"s don't OWN or operate their own network, but lease network from ILEC's and Cablecos. Also, Cox and Comcast are rolling out Hosted PBX nationwide, which means the ITSP space better wake up and get its house in order, since cable has a brand and a network to go with that Hosted PBX service.
I'm certain we will see more M&A in 2012 since companies are flush with cash and can't organically increase revenue. And I am also certain that Cable will be making a big impact in the SMB space in 2012, much to the detriment of CLEC's and VoIP providers.
]]>Tele-Pacific is looking for ]]>
Every online sale takes away from brick-and-mortar business just as Wal-mart has run over mom-and-pop stores, each resulting in empty storefronts and unemployment. When we start automating basic jobs - like robots to make fast food burgers - we have to realize that the unemployed and the unemployable will grow. (There 's a great article in The Atlantic about what it's like to be unemployed for an extended time.
As more jobs become 1099 (contractor jobs), more and more will make less and less. Workers shifting from W-2 (an employee) to 1099 will experience anxiety over the loss of benefits and a steady paycheck. There's more to being a contractor than just performing the tasks in the contract. You have to market yourself for the next contract.
You can't blame the Administration for not creating jobs. It's not what any Administration is good at. And they are up against a lot of factors. Shovel ready jobs take months to move a mound of dirt. Politics get in the way by adding needless hurdles.
Seth Godin made the case in his book, Linchpin, that the free education system was designed to create consumers and factory workers. When the masses are out of credit, our consumer spending index crashes. And without factories our workers have no where to work. This is the foundation of today's problem.
The massive layoffs that we have seen in telecom from the synergies of the mergers have resulted in many unemployed. But also underemployed and unemployable. By that I mean, there are many that were earning 6 figures, who simply cannot find another position that pays that. Certainly, even as a consultant (the word many unemployed use instead of job-seeker) trying to grab a 6-figure salary is a challenge. Unemployable means that the worker does not have a skill set that is valuable in today's workplace.
[Blogger's note: I could make the case that most of these mergers have not resulted in any noticeable consumer benefit.]
For example, Florida's economy tanked because it has been (and continues to try to be) based on real estate development. So construction workers, real estate agents, mortgage brokers and title workers lost jobs. The new jobs are paralegals, bankruptcy and foreclosure lawyers and credit-repair specialist.
The start-up world in Tampa Bay needs designers, programmers, business minds and venture capital. Those are skills that are scarce in the job pool.
That's the unemployable issue. We have seen the under-employed issue before. In Florida, that issue is dragging on the housing market because without cash it's difficult to buy a condo - even a foreclosure. And as the larger employers - the governments, schools, telecom, real estate industry - layoff, the result is under or un-employment.
As we make more and more tools of productivity and couple that with a flat world where we do not value the worker, the American economy is going to have a huge Digital Divide. To heck with whether or not they all have broadband, what will they do with it? Other than buying stuff on Amazon or playing on Facebook (or Google+) or comparison shopping to save every dime, broadband may not make that much difference in the economy.
Broadband can offer benefits but it would need to be coupled with a desire to connect, a desire to learn, and the capacity for self-education. Plus, we all have to become marketers and salespeople - marketing our skills online and selling ourselves into 1099 projects. Most people do not have these skills. Hence, why jobs are put on a platform like eLance.com and the bidding process begins. [Blogger's note: I won't get into the price war on creative jobs in this post.]
For all the talk about Indeed.com and Monster, the desirable jobs are not online. They are available mainly through your network. Another skill for workers to learn (and master). Another time consuming task to be done, when we are already stretched for time and stressed out.
As we battle at every local government over education (and other spending), we may find that we are sliding into a third world. The divide grows between the haves and the have-nots. It's funny that the US is exporting the American Dream abroad, when it might not even be available at home to many, including those serving in the Armed Forces delivering the Dream abroad.
Immigrants seem to take to the American Dream better than many who were born here, especially those with roots a few generations old. How do we transfer that passion for success to inner city and poverty stricken areas?
I don't have the answers, but I do know that no one in DC has the answers either. I'm not even sure that anyone in DC knows what the problem is. When Senator McConnell states that the President owns the economy (and the insuing problems), I have to ask, "Why isn't it Everyone's problem?" I know the answer is politics, but this is America. Shouldn't we all be working to make it better instead of just working to make a buck? Who knew that America would become the Land of the Selfish Bastard.
In Tampa Bay, a group of us talk about the issue of growing start-ups often. Start-ups are the engine for job growth and economic prosperity, but take a lot of elements to grow (kind of like a farm). There are very few hotbeds for this incubation - Silicon Valley, NYC, Boston, Austin, and RTP. How do we make it spread?
UPDATE: Gary Kim writes that while the Wireless Industry is booming - revenues have grown 28% since 2006 - it's employment numbers are dropping by 20% -- even amid the 4G roll-out. "The disconnect between employment and industry growth reflects the broader head winds lashing the U.S. job market, as consolidation, outsourcing and productivity gains from new technology and business methods combine to undermine job growth," the Wall Street Journal says. BTW, it's mainly non-union workers that shrunk.
In another note: Rich Tehrani writes that 71% of Austin Companies Complain of Tech Worker Shortage. So Dice.com will be hosting a Job Fair at the ITEXPO in Austin in 2 months!
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