It’s hard to believe that it’s been a decade since Y2K. We survived that “world ending” date with a sigh of relief that was perhaps uttered prematurely. Indeed, the first 10 years of the millennium have not been easy. Time magazine in its Dec. 7, 2009, edition called it “The Decade from Hell.” The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Iraq war, dot-com crash, the Enron scandal, Hurricane Katrina, the mortgage crisis, the recession and 10 percent unemployment are among the many reasons for this negative assessment. And, the competitive telecom industry has had its share of problems, too, including the so-called “telecom nuclear winter” when capital dried up following the dot-bomb, the WorldCom bankruptcy, the elimination of the UNE-Platform, the partial reconstruction of the Bell System, Nortel Networks’ demise, Google getting into telecom (bad or good?), etc.
But during that time we also saw incredible change in technology. The iPhone is representative of a whole new era of not only of devices, but of ecosystems for apps and services. We’ve also seen advances in infrastructure with Carrier Ethernet, voice over IP, WiMAX, etc., helping to make service cheaper and more ubiquitous and introducing more competitors into the marketplace. And, there’s been a wholesale change in the way technology is beginning to be delivered with the advent of cloud services and managed services. And social media has taken off, transforming not only the way we interact, but they way we buy and sell.
The indirect sales channel for telecom services also has evolved, becoming stronger and more formalized, taking some cues from the IT channel. Technology convergence and service delivery are impacting all tech channels such that they are in many ways becoming more similar.
To get a snapshot of the past decade and predictions about the next, we asked PHONE+ readers — agents, carriers, associations, consultants and analysts — about where we’ve been and where we’re headed.
Where We’ve Been ...
What was the most significant development in the indirect channel in the last decade?
What was the most significant development in communications technology in the last decade?
What was the most significant development in the competitive landscape in the last decade?
Where We’re Headed ...
How will the communications industry’s indirect channel be transformed in the next 10 years?
How will communications technology be transformed in the next 10 years?
How will the competitive communications environment be transformed in the next 10 years?
