This post is primarily for leadership positions.  So much focus goes into designing the current solution, that few think about what will happen at the end of the term.  It is common that a “ramp up” provision is in place for bringing services in, but not so common that there is a “ramp down” provision for when services are being moved off.  Obviously it is not in your provider’s best interest to make it easy for you to move away from their solutions.  One of my clients recently commented on this regarding cloud based services – how easy it is to move services to the cloud but not so easy to move them back.  I’ll have a separate post in the near future on pitfalls to avoid with cloud based services, but regardless of the type of services or solution you are buying, there is a possibility that in a few years there will be a better solution available.

This is one where your IT and Sourcing people need to work together.  It will be important for your IT people to try to anticipate what it will take to “deconstruct”  the solution and implement an alternative.  Your sourcing people will need to make sure that this is factored in.  The danger is that no one gets a pat on the back for avoiding a problem 3-5 years in the future.  And 3-5 years in the future most of the people working on the current solution will be gone.  Leadership can make sure that this has been factored in, and most importantly documented.

Either I was late on this or it’s happening way too soon. Verizon is reacting to the increased demands put on their wireless data network. As always, BGR provides the scoop: Verizon CTO hints at tiered data plans. Read the BGR analysis and then hit the jump to see more from the Broadband/DSL Reports blog. Read more…

Recently, a friend of mine who works at big blue told me on the quiet that AT&T had a major reduction in force – like 10%. I checked it out with a few other sources within AT&T in different cities and it appears to be true. In the first few days of November, as the word goes, managers were calling employees to let them know if they made it or not. Apparently, several weeks before when AT&T was sharing its earnings internally, the word was that there would be big cuts coming before the end of the year. Well…

Interestingly, both Sprint and Verizon have been steadily releasing their numbers in drips and drabs over the last few months. Perhaps the media has lost its appetite for this kind of news. Anyone left out in the cold who can confirm this?

By the way, my condolences to anyone who got shook out of the trees.