Telecom

Are you in control of your content experience?

Midcareer employees and managers, who should be at their peak of productivity, are the most disaffected segment of the workforce. Companies need to find ways to rekindle the fires of this vast, neglected group of people—or risk losing them altogether.

Many economists argue that monopolies stifle innovation. But before the breakup, AT&T and its R&D units constituted probably the most potent innovation...

A big bank headquartered in New York had to make a decision about its information technology. The bank was expanding its London operations and needed a new computer system there. Technical specialists in London were certain that only one particular vendor could meet the requirements. The information-systems people in New York were equally certain that […]

TelZip, a small mobile-network operator, has decided to shake up the European telecommunications market by offering "free forever" broadband service to...

The logic of economic value has changed forever.

Iqbal Quadir, the founder of Bangladesh's GrameenPhone, discusses the failure of foreign aid to rescue moribund third-world economies and the need to...

At age 26, while slogging through 14 voice mails on her phone, Christina Domecq realized there might be a business in converting audio messages into text. Within a few months, in 2003, she had turned that idea into the start-up SpinVox. The Marlow, England–based voice-to-text service has already been picked up by a dozen carriers […]

During the soar-and-swoon days of the late 1990s, many people believed that information technology, and the Internet in particular, were "changing everything"...

Since Alexander Graham Bell’s day, businesses have bought telephone services the same way they’ve purchased electricity, janitorial functions, and water for the cooler—as packaged offerings defined by an outside provider. Sure, companies could choose from a menu of configuration options and service plans, but, in the end, the phone company or vendor called the shots. […]

Pension trustees should worry less about the stocks their managers pick and more about getting the asset mix right.

When is a buyer not really a buyer? How can the best product at the lowest price turn off buyers? Are there anonymous leaders who make the actual buying...

A survey reveals what writers really want to see.

In recent years, sales leaders have had to devote considerable time and energy to establishing and maintaining disciplined processes. The thing is, many...

If sales and service organizations are to improve, they must learn to measure and manage the quality of the employee-customer encounter. Quality improvement...

Successful innovation requires tracking your partners and potential adopters as closely as you track your own development process.

Top executives often feel uncomfortable making hard choices about information technology. But when they abdicate responsibility, they set their companies up for wasted investments and missed opportunities.

Even as loyalty programs are launched left and right, many are being scuttled. How can that be? These days, everyone knows that an old customer retained...

Some projects have such diverse requirements that they need a variety of specialists to work on them. But often the best-qualified specialists are scattered...

I have spent most of my career chronicling the power of business at its best and highlighting strategies for making positive change in difficult situations....