On the Line: Funding, staffing and keeping current are telecom’s biggest hurdles

Recently, I asked dozens of people - primarily those who work in enterprise IT: "What is the biggest challenge for IT and telecom managers and executives today?" The responses I received suggest people struggle with keeping current, finding funds, finding staff, and cutting through the vendors' hype.Keeping up-to-date "I think my greatest challenge is getting current information to keep up to date on emerging trends. The telecom industry seems to have ‘dried up' with respect to trade journals/periodicals and trade shows/exhibitions....For general information on new products and services, I find a lack of information. Even the vendors, including the major ones, don't appear to be offering the seminars or product announcements that they used to do.""Changing technologies? In this fast paced, ever changing telecommunications industry, equipment obsolescence is occurring three to five years after significant capital investment, not like the old days....What to do with legacy systems that are functioning well? Mass replacement or upgrade to some path that will likely lead to nowhere.""Staying current with the technology...understanding what is available so that I can help my business sponsors meet their business needs."Getting money"Our biggest challenge is to balance the aspirations for ‘best of breed' technology with the reality of a 'shoe string' budget.""In healthcare it's getting the budget to proceed with critical initiatives. Direct patient care initiatives are seen as more important.""Being able to manage with a diminishing budget."Cutting through the hype"Too many changes. The old saying, "If it isn't broken why fix it?" should apply to IT. With all the constant changes, and employees constantly asking for the latest trendy devices...things seem to have gone overboard. We have technology overkill in many instances.""The confusion caused by "unified communications". My server staff - even the techs - are not familiar at all with telephony, nor are they paid to be. Yet Microsoft is effectively telling us we're fools for not integrating the two environments more closely.""Separating fact from fiction. There is so much hype out there and my business people are reading this stuff. They believe it all even if it isn't true."Putting out fires"Lack of time. I simply do not have the time to attend the few seminars that are available. Companies are expecting more from their employees these days and it takes more time now to attend any of the events.""The biggest problem facing IT/telecom managers today is meeting user expectations.""In most cases IT/telecom departments within a company are made up of several diverse pieces of hardware and software that need to interface and communicate as part of a total system. Quite often ‘buck passing' occurs by vendors...driving companies to choose a single vendor (wherever possible)."Finding skilled staff"Finding and maintaining skilled staff. In small organizations it is not practical or feasible to have redundancy....This can leave a company quite vulnerable."What's Changed?In this industry, dealing with complexity has been a challenge that all end-users have faced for as long as I can remember. The day-to-day job of managing systems, networks, suppliers, and so on means ensuring that the right resources are in place to support the organization and, in many cases, to drive/enable new ways of doing business.Conclusion One: Despite technology advancements, the top challenges cited years ago remain the top ones today, e.g., understanding the impact of change, keeping current, finding skilled resources. And most expect that this will not change in the near future. Their primary task will always be to keep a busy and hard-pressed operation humming along as smoothly as possible.Conclusion Two: Front-line people give front-line answers. Why wouldn't they? Ask fire fighters what their biggest challenge is and they'll say, "putting out the fires" ... or perhaps "getting people to stop starting them."Conclusion Three: There is no single answer to the question, "What is the biggest challenge for IT and telecom managers?" Not even a main one. Answers vary as do the industries, organizations and management practices of my survey respondents.I decided to ask telecom consultants I've worked with the same question. I received replies from many long-time associates and colleagues - people who, like me, deal closely with IT and telecom folks and their organizations.Next month, I'll provide some of their responses, compare answers with the telecom and IT managers' answers, and suggest conclusions."On the Line" is written by Henry Dortmans, president of Datex Management Services. Henry welcomes comments and suggestions (names are withheld and specifics disguised to protect the innocent...and the guilty). Send an email to dortmans@sympatico.ca or call him at (416) 849-2896.

On the Line: Funding, staffing and keeping current are telecom’s biggest hurdles

News | August 7, 2007

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