Channel Surfing Blog 

VoIP tops the list of hot jobs for college grads this fall, according to research by IBISWorld Inc. The ranking was released on April 1, but I don’t think it was a joke.

Apparently, there’s some real research behind the statement. The firm reported that VoIP providers will lead the way in terms of employment growth over the next few years, with average annualized jobs growth of around 19.4 percent through 2012.

“This is the result of significant revenue growth forecast for the same period, driving more organizations to enter the industry, which in turn will boost employment. And as an emerging telecommunications service,” said George Van Horn, a senior analyst with IBISWorld. “There still is a reasonable way for the sector to go as it gains greater consumer and business acceptance. The outlook is good as household broadband penetration is still rising, facilitating greater use of digital services and helping improve the call quality of industry services.”

For graduates who will be choosing careers based on salary, Van Horn said VoIP providers would easily outpace all other industries with average annualized growth in wages set to hit 21.8 percent – an impressive 16 percent ahead of its nearest competitors. (FYI: The average annual wage for full-time employees in the United States is $44,148, with IBISWorld earmarking growth of about 2.5 percent a year for the next five years.)

This represents a bit of good news in an otherwise bleak economic picture – provided it proves true. And it tracks with what PHONE+ found about telecom being somewhat “recession-proof” compared to other industries.

In case you were wondering, the other hot jobs for 2008 graduates, in order, include:

2. Fashion Design Services

3. Bridge And Tunnel Construction

4. Physical Therapy

5. Interior Designer

6. Home Office Design/Equipment

7. Retirement Communities/Assisted Living

8. Ambulance Services and Ambulatory Health Care Services

9. IT Support, CRM and Business Process Services

10. Open-End Investment Funds

By Khali Henderson

Today, you might have received an email from master agency X4 Communications that was a little out of the ordinary.

Instead of a marketing pitch, X4 invited readers to view a comic strip -- not your mass-market Beetle Bailey variety -- but one written for telecom agents. It's a bit like a Dilbert, but for agents.

The new strip, Uncrossed Lines, is a serial comic just like those in the Sunday Funnies, but it will be published bi-monthly on the company's Website and distributed via e-mail broadcast through services like iAgent Network.

The debut strip features the co-owners of a telecom agency -- Al, "the sales guy", and Joel, "the tech guy" -- pitching a customer on a telecom solution. The first installment pokes fun at the differences between the sales and tech guys and by emphasizing the ego of the former and the standoffishness of the latter. Sound like anyone you know?

So, what's the point? I asked Steve Braverman, "the marketing guy" at X4. He says he came up with the idea while waiting in a bar (of course, that's where all ideas are generated) for Craig Schlagbaum, Level 3's VP of channel and his crew.

"[I was] thinking to myself how every e-mail blast with TA and iAgent are all the same. Everyone e-mails info about great commissions, great rates, great service, great contracts, great promos, another big screen TV, I am number one, I just won another bogus award from some made up telecom agency, etc... and said, 'WHO CARES!!' They all look the same and are all saying things that should be a given in our space."

To break from the mold, Steve decided to do a cartoon about the industry. The company's marketing contractor engaged a writer and illustrator to help make it happen.

"The series will be ongoing and its purpose is to make people smile, differentiate ourselves from the rest, and drive traffic to our site where continuations will reside," Braverman said. Of course, while they are there, they can find out about training and promotions that X4 offers.

In addition to the backstory on the idea, I got the backstory on the cartoon: It focuses on Uncrossed Lines Communications, a telecommunications brokerage run by two longtime friends, Al and Joel. They work out of their homes and meet for business lunches at Maria's Diner, where a number of other telecommunications brokers gather to eat and talk business. The strip will discuss issues routinely faced by brokers through the experiences of Al, Joel and the other regulars.

Here's the cast:
Al -- Co-owns Uncrossed Lines with his lifelong friend Joel. Al is the salesman of the team, an outgoing guy determined to keep the company running no matter what.

Joel --Al's partner at Uncrossed Lines. Joel is the team's tech expert. He's on the nerdy, introverted side, and he and Al sometimes get into arguments thanks to their very different personalities and approaches to business. In the end, however, they can always reach an understanding.

Jimmy -- Another communications broker and regular at Maria's. Jimmy is an unscrupulous hotshot who will jump on any bandwagon and take any opportunity to turn a quick profit, even if it hurts his business in the long term. Al and Joel are wary of Jimmy, but they still sometimes get burned by his bad advice.

Rory -- An older broker who's been in the business for years; he sometimes has trouble keeping up with new technologies, but he knows the business inside out and has a lot of wisdom to impart. He sometimes offers advice to Al and Joel.

Maria -- The owner of Maria's and a client of Uncrossed Lines. She's a sassy waitress type who often chats with Al, Joel and the other regulars.

"Topics will focus on sales, product offerings, working as an agent, working with master agents, and there will be a lot of goofy back and forth with old friends from the telecom days who hang out at Maria’s Diner," Steve said.

X4 also is soliciting feedback on the strip -- although the emails are going to X4 President Curt Allen and not Steve. Hmmm!?

Anyway,  I'm sure they wouldn't mind a few good ideas and even if they do, I've no doubt they will be getting them. This is the perfect weapon to get back at your business partner for the last bonehead manuever they made.

It will be interesting to see how daring the strip gets in addressing hot-button issues like compensation and contracts. From an observer's viewpoint, it should be fun to see the the agent world parodied. 

The question is, can agents laugh at themselves? Will it hit too close to home? What do you think?

Kelly M. Teal

Oh, to be a discharged executive. No matter what they do, they manage to snag the chi-chi severance packages.

To wit, if you were Level 3’s Kevin O’Hara, you’d receive $585,000 – the equivalent of a year’s pay – plus exercisable stock options as of this Friday.

I’ve been patiently awaiting the 8-K on the deal O’Hara – Level 3’s former president, COO and co-founder – would sign with the company since his March 10 resignation was announced. These filings contain all the good stuff and let me tell you, this one does not disappoint (that’s probably a relative perception).

Besides paying the lump sum, Level 3 will lift the restrictions on the 684,057 stock units O’Hara owns. Those restrictions will end April 1. But what we care about is the dollar total. Level 3’s filing says O’Hara’s stock is worth $1,272,346.02.

It gets better. For O’Hara, anyway.

You see, Level 3 has hired O’Hara as a consultant for a year. Per the 8-K, he will provide the following: operations analysis and support, capital raising support, regulatory and government affairs support, market positioning and strategy, customer targeting, sales, mergers and acquisitions support, and any other activities related to his prior responsibilities with Level 3, requested by a group vice president or higher level executive, and approved by CEO James Crowe.

How much will he make for these services?

Get ready.

O’Hara will earn an eye-popping $100,000 per month as a Level 3 consultant, plus get reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses.

Does Level 3 not get it? Analysts told me O’Hara was a key reason why the company has had such a terrible time integrating its six acquisitions and, frankly, ended up alienating some channel partners. People thought that shedding the O’Hara albatross would pave the way for change at the wholesaler. It doesn’t look that way now. O’Hara might not be an executive anymore, but once you’re ingrained up-top in a company’s culture, you know how to play the game to your best advantage. Guess we’ll be seeing whether anything really does change for the better in Broomfield.

Cara Sievers

If you haven't been to Coronado Island right outside of San Diego, you're definitely missing out. It's its own little microcosmic cooperative that reaps the benefits of being a small town, while still tapping its larger feeder city for advancement, growth, survival.

Much the same could be said about TAG (Technology Assurance Group), a training organization and buying consortium, which recently held its eighth annual TAG National Convention on the island. TAG's 118 members, all interconnects who are territorially protected, gather throughout the year at meetings like these and other training sessions to share best practices information and be educated on the latest business growth, management and sales techniques and tools.

TAG develops relationships with vendors that work to give TAG members the best deals for reselling their wares and services, based on the idea that these members are among the most successful and educated in the channel. And according to TAG cofounder and director of strategic planning and business development, Dale Stein, the members represent $390 million in telecom products and services.

The formal activities of this year's convention kicked off at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort & Spa on Wednesday, March 12. There was a golf tournament at Steele Canyon Golf Course, a U.S. Navy Seals Team Training outing and a trip to Sea World. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend any of these events since I was busy finishing up at PHONE+'s Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, but I heard nothing but good things about the daytime activities from the members at the opening cocktail reception on Wednesday evening.

More than 40 exhibitors and roughly 400 attendees flooded the expo hall Wednesday night to meet up with old friends and business contacts and to make new ones. The exhibitors, TAG's strategic partners, were eager to educate TAG members on their leading-edge solutions and partner programs. A spokesman for Toshiba, a Platinum sponsor, said the company keeps coming back to recruit new partners. He said the TAG convention was a place to showcase quality products to quality dealers.

Dave Foxall, CEO of strategic partner Tigerpaw Software said it's great to get feedback and say hello to everyone at the show. "It's like going to camp once a year," he said.

Shawn Puddester, director of channel development, U.S. for Siemens, also a Platinum sponsor, said it was the company's first time exhibiting, but he was very impressed with TAG's leadership and excited to see what the next few days would bring.

"Recognizing it's a group of more accomplished resellers in our industry, we felt it was a good relationship to begin," said Bill Hall, vice president of strategic programs for Elite sponsor esi. "We wouldn't be here eight years later if it wasn't a valuable resource and partnership." In fact, 68 percent of TAG members work with esi already and Hall said they most often sign new dealers at the show.

TAG members chat with strategic partners on the show floor.

 
Attendees see what's new at the Zultys booth.

 
Members network at the Samsung booth.

Cheryl Kassner of Teleco of the Rockies has been a member of TAG for five-and-a-half years and said the education and expo hall are great. "It's like no other as far as coming and seeing people that are going up against the same things you're going up against on a daily basis," she said. "It's nice always having someone there to go to for advice and always having someone to back you up."

"The range of products and services that are at the exhibition are incredible," said Michael Joos, vice president of sales with Finleyville, Penn.-based David Davis Communications Inc., a new TAG member. "It's valuable to get this face time with the people in our industry and to learn about new advancements in training and technology."

Also on the show floor, TAG showcased and demoed two of its latest offerings, a technician productivity tool and TAG U Online. The technician productivity reports provide an objective and timely view into individual technician productivity by analyzing billable hours and call-backs. The two versions, one that works with Tigerpaw and also another standalone tool, were developed in-house by TAG and are currently available. TAG U Online is an on-demand learning solution that enhances the student retention of the TAG curriculum by using pre-assessments to create customized coursework and then monitoring the student's progress. Members utilizing a TAG training package will be able to participate for $250 per month with a one-year commitment. Members not participating in a training package will be able to use TAG U Online and the technician productivity reports for $500 per month with a one-year commitment.

Complete TAG membership, including unlimited training both live and remote and TAG U Online is less than $2,000 per month. In special circumstances, a lower-cost membership with a la carte live training at $795 per seat is available. Stein also pointed out that TAG members usually incur savings generated from the partnership agreements that TAG has negotiated with its vendors.

"It's a significant investment for an interconnect to make," said Matt Duray of Connect Telephone & Computer Group, a TAG member. "But I can honestly say it's the best investment I've made for my business."

Thursday kicked off with energetic opening remarks from TAG president and CEO, Dale Johnson. "We must learn if we are to lead ... We must cooperate and collaborate," Johnson said, speaking to the convention's theme, "Advancing Your Business Through Education & Cooperative Effort."

"As we migrate from 2007 to 2008, we hope to provide some insights and some capacity to change what we do going forward," he said. "Let's make change our companion."

Dale Johnson and Dale Stein take a moment to smile for the camera during a busy convention week.

Johnson then introduced keynote speaker, Dr. Nido R. Qubein, which I have to say is by far one of the best keynote speakers I've ever witnessed. Qubein kept the audience members on the edges of their seats for three entire hours with inspiring and comical anecdotes from his rise to success. Qubein, who came to the United States from Lebanon in his teens, is now chairman of three companies, president of High Point University, a celebrated author and speaker, and winner of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans, among many other feats and honors. He spoke to attendees about change as it relates to management and reculturing an organization - all information completely off the cuff, highly relevant and educational.

 
Nido Qubein delivers an engaging keynote address.

"The name of the game is mindset," said Qubein, explaining that how you behave gets you where you are. He encouraged members to make a "To Be" list instead of just a "To Do" list – a bird's eye view of where you're going will tell you what you need to do to get there. Qubein advised that continuous improvement and change is necessary for success. "What I like about TAG is that it reminds its members constantly … that they really need to be doing what works," he said.

The afternoon address from author Rob Slee on the conceptual age of business echoed this sentiment. "In the conceptual age, intellectual capital is king," said Slee, explaining that intellectual capital now trumps financial capital. He further discussed how innovation comes from knowing a particular skillset and applying it to something new and different, urging TAG members to share ideas and collaborate on developing best practices for their businesses.

Rob Slee educates attendees on the conceptual age of business.

Thursday evening rounded out with a cocktail reception and dinner at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. Members and Elite and Platinum sponsors made it to the aquarium just in time to share their fellowshipping hour with a colorful Pacific sunset. It was beautiful!

Members enjoy the sunset at Birch Aquarium.

Friday's education continued with addresses from N-able Technologies' Gavin Garbutt, Achievement Tec's LD Moran, and TAG's Stein. Stein talked about what's new for 2008, including a revamping of the organization's live financial training and a new live sales curriculum, in addition to the developments of TAG U Online and the technician productivity reports. He mentioned that 2008 will also see the organization and its members further developing and understanding the transition to the data side of the transaction.

Friday evening, the event culminated in the annual awards banquet, where the crowd gasped at impressive numbers with one sales award after another.

Members grab a cocktail before Friday evening's awards ceremony.

 
Elite sponsor esi's Bill Hall speaks to members.

Dale Johnson presents the TAG achievement awards.

CTS Technology Solutions accepts its Silver award (Dave Heuman, Kelly Ethington, Warren Heuman).

Brian Wakefield accepts the TAG Special Achievement Award for unsurpassed excellence in sales for BTS Technologies.

The convention, reported to be the largest TAG meeting yet, rewarded its members for record-breaking achievements from the past year, and the education, tools and encouragement to break more records in the year to come.

Parties interested in TAG partnership details can contact Larry Chupp at larry@tagnational.com.  

Photos by Luis Garcia

Kelly M. Teal

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is trying to sell his 158-year-old Georgetown home, I found out this week. The brick Federal actually has been for sale since August 2007 with no change in the $1.13 million asking price. The FCC’s potentially most controversial head owns a two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath, two-fireplace beauty (which the real estate agent glowingly describes as having “one of the deepest gardens around and bountiful glass allowing natural light to pour into every room”). Sounds fabulous. So why does he want to leave?

The boring answer would be that Martin needs more space (no showings are allowed between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. daily – naptime for Martin’s two children, perhaps?) or wants to live in a different neighborhood. The more interesting speculation is that the cable-hating, RBOC-loving politician is planning his D.C. exit as Bush’s presidency comes to a close.

But that seems like a stretch considering reports this week of a deal Martin wouldn’t sign. You see, it’s tradition for an FCC chairman to step down when a new administration takes office. Sometime recently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was reported to have pressed for Martin’s resignation. Reid said he’d extend Commissioners Tate and Adelstein’s terms if Martin would promise to resign if the new president is a Democrat.

Martin refused. Seems he’s thinking of staying at the FCC whether he’d be the chair or not. I’m not clear on what that means, exactly – could he stay on as a commissioner (wouldn’t the new president have to nominate him? And then wouldn’t Martin have to face Senate confirmation, which, with a Democratic majority, seems like a no-go), or maybe become a bureau chief? I don’t know how any of that would work in an agency filled with presidential appointees.

Regardless, Martin has to prepare some kind of exit. Yet, after viewing photos of his home, I think the answer for the home sale might be the boring one – a gorgeous house that’s just too small for a growing family. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of Kevin Martin in the Beltway.

Kelly Teal

It’s so easy to feel insulated from real life when I’m traveling to events like COMPTEL and NARUC. I’ve walked through so many hotel hallways this month that they all look the same. Food no longer is distinguishable by dish – it’s all the same starch, protein, vegetable or chocolate and red wine. Events and faces and names blur. I wonder when I’ll finish falling through the rabbit hole. And then bad news is passed on. And the sadness I feel is genuine, about the most genuine emotion one can experience in an insulated world that doesn’t shield us from death.

I’m talking about John Sumpter, whom I met at COMPTEL in the fall of 2005. John died of cancer in late January; his passing was announced this week at COMPTEL. He was a lawyer, for the longest time, for Pac-West Telecomm. Before that, he had worked for AT&T. But for me, he was the teddy bear masquerading as a grumpy old man who, when I was a baby telecom reporter, took the time to sketch the entire history of telecommunications on a series of 4x6 notepad pages. We hung out at the PHONE+/xchange booth for something like an hour that afternoon (and he was worried about taking up too much of my time! Are you kidding??). I still have those sketches in my office – crude pencil drawings of telegraph poles and the black rotary phones AT&T leased in the ‘60s, the cordless landline phone, the mobile phone. John gave me an education – and, subsequently, story ideas – that I will always appreciate.

And I know it’s not just me. John was very special to others in our industry.

John will be (unable-to-quantify) missed. His sense of humor, drier than a cracker, damn near made me double over. The kicker was that he combined a knowledgeable brain with a big heart. There are several people like John in my life and with John’s passing, I am reminded to tell them that I treasure them, just as I treasure the memory of the time John spent with me, for no benefit to him at all.

How messy is your office? Is it messy enough to be worth a $10,000 prize? That’s the question MyFax, an Internet fax services, is asking office workers across North America. Rather than chastising people with messy offices or trying to change their ways, MyFax is actually celebrating the clutter with its MyFax Messy Office Contest. To enter, contestants submit photos of their messy offices to www.messyofficecontest.com by Feb. 25. A hand-picked team of organization-challenged experts will select the finalists, and then the world at large will be able to vote on their favorites. The top prize is $10,000, so you know they’re taking the search for the messiest office very seriously. MyFax will also be awarding additional prizes to the other finalists.

The winner will be announced on March 3 … so check back here to see if one of your colleagues was the winner!


Does your messy office have what it takes to bring home the bucks?

UPDATE: Working Mom’s Home Office Awarded $10,000 Grand Prize in MyFax Messy Office Contest

After five weeks of intense competition between slobs from all across North America, MyFax has announced that Susan Johnson of California has won the $10,000 Grand Prize in the MyFax Messy Office Contest. The cleanliness-challenged Johnson, who works out of a home office that would actually have to be cleaned for a day to be described as merely “messy,” was chosen from 10 finalists in an online poll open to the general public.

“With my winnings, a shredder, wastebasket, and a MyFax account are on the top of my list of things to purchase,” said Johnson. “Although, at this point, it might make more sense to rent a bulldozer and dumpster and start from scratch.”


MyFax Messy Office Contest winnerSusan Johnson's office.