Change in today’s telecommunications environment has required everyone, in every part of our industry, to take a hard look at the services they offer -- and how they offer them. Thanks to technological advances like IPTV and VoIP, and new regulatory parameters, opportunities to expand your service opportunities are becoming available even as new competitors move into your areas. To succeed amidst all the turmoil, you must assess how competition is affecting your service area … your operations … your customers. You must arm yourself with strategies and tactics that will enable you stay financially stable while you provide the latest services to your customers and grow even as competition flourishes.
To respond to VoIP and other competitive challenges, one must meet them with full force. Competition in essence is an opportunity to set yourself apart … to better fit your products and services to the market you serve … to take the lead in making a difference in customers’ lives. In short, competition presents us with an opportunity to prevail. With new service providers moving steadily into many markets, it’s imperative that you plan, develop, and implement innovative strategies to educate your customers on both the role you play and the benefits you offer. How your company positions itself under the microscope of change in fact will determine your long-range viability and success.
The key to being recognized in the marketplace as providing top-quality, value-added services rests in the renewal of commitment. Our industry has seen unprecedented change in the last five years, and it’s likely we’ll continue to see more. Technology evolves at an incomprehensible pace; economies shift; regulation and legislation rise and fall; new markets emerge and disappear; customers' demands change. Yet, one overwhelming constant holds fast: the dependency of rural and small-town America on independent, community based providers for the services that will carry them along in the information economy. The conditions under which you provide those services may change, but your core values and commitment to your customers, and communities, remain steadfast.
These very strengths perhaps afford advantages that independent providers may at first glance overlook. They serve as a resource to re-emphasize your position both as the local telecom expert in the community, and as a vital business partner and economic advocate. As you deploy new services reflecting all that telecom promises, you have the chance to explain to your customers exactly what you bring to the community … services that embrace technology, spur economic growth, and add value to their lives. Similarly, your commitment to service quality, your "it’s what we do" tradition — time-honored practices such as customer attention, accountability, and one-to-one relationships — represent key competitive assets and are what makes you so much more than "just another utility company." As in all competitive enterprise, always play to your strengths.
As for commitment, JSI has always focused its gaze on ensuring both profitability and long-term success for our clients. With the industry in such drastic transition, JSI’s commitment has never meant more. We continue to expand our reach and our capabilities as our clients do the same. JSI is prepared to journey with community based providers from start to finish as they progress through planning and executing vital business decisions. Highlighting both the promise of the services they offer and the tradition of service and community commitment they boast, we intend to ensure that our clients stay financially viable, achieve their potential, set themselves apart, and remain successful participants in the competitive arena. We look forward to renewed roles and relationships as clients broaden their business vision to thrive in the Broadband Age.
Leo Staurulakis
Executive Vice President
