What's the Goal?
When it comes to your network voice interconnect business, what is the goal? Is it to improve quality? Is it to increase margins? Is it to increase overall traffic? Is it to increase network yield? Is it to reduce credit risk and cash flow float? Is it to lower termination costs across the board? Is it to reduce overhead expense for managing it? Is it some of these? Is it all of these?
Here at GCS, we spend way too much time thinking about this stuff. We talk to our customers and we talk to our partners, and we try to get their perspectives. Then we take this information, churn it, analyze it, reflect upon it, churn it again, analyze it again, and reflect upon it again. This cycle repeats itself a lot before we finally crystallize around a conclusion or an idea. It’s how we identify the features that we need to build. It’s how we improve our understanding of the marketplace and our customers role in it. It’s how we are able to understand the wants and needs of our customers. It’s why we have capabilities like Dynamic Credit Watch, Dynamic International Ani Based Routing, Dynamic Blending, Dynamic Reporting & Analytics, etc.
But, the question we are posing here is, “What is the goal for the interconnect voice market?”. If you are a voice services provider, “What is your goal?”. If you are an OTT pure-play retailer, “What is your goal for interconnect voice?”. If you are an “all-the-above” carrier (Retail, Wholesale, Business/Consumer, Domestic/International), “What is your goal?”.
It sure would be great if there was consensus around the goals for the marketplace. And while there is general agreement on the goals, the priorities shift from carrier to carrier based on their needs and the pains they have experienced over the past 6-12 months. Pain is a great motivator both to individuals and to organizations. Pain will make people and companies react quickly and decisively. It spurs action. It is a catalyst for moving a company forward. That’s what pain is and that’s where we find the most opportunity for us to help, when a carrier is experiencing specific pain. That pain gets translated into goals.
When we discuss goals, we tend to start at the Macro level and dig in from there. Maybe a goal is to increase margin. That is a common one. But what does that mean? Is it margin % or is it actual margin dollars? Is it margin on the buying side or the selling side, or both? What is minimizing your margin today? Why? What have you tried to improve so far? What do you think can be done to improve it going forward? See, goals are tied to pain and when you peel back the onion on goals, you find the real pain. That’s what the goals should be for every company, to solve the pain that is plaguing the organization. First, solve the pain, and then focus on how to become better.