Soap Box

In April 2008, telcoinabox changed the franchisee recruitment process by working with the Franchise Relationship Institute (FRI) to introduce a scientific franchisee selection process called the “Nathan Profiler”. FRI developed the Nathan Profiler to assist franchisors in reducing the cost and indirect negative impact of poor selection on their franchise businesses.  

Wireless broadband is one of the hottest topics in telecommunications right now as consumers demand faster internet speeds and accessibility whenever and wherever they want it. For the last few years there has been much debate over which wireless broadband technology (Wimax or 3G) would win through. As it currently stands 3G wireless broadband services definitely have the upper hand. All 4 of the major mobile carriers now have a compelling wireless broadband offer and are seeing great take up rates across the board.  

TIAB franchisees and service providers are able to beat the ‘big boys’ of the industry through one main weapon – that of dedicated personal account management and customer support. Having some sort of relationship with the person at the end of the line increases the customer’s trust, gives them peace of mind and dramatically improves the chances of finding a mutually benefitting resolution to any situation.  

With the Optus launch creeping ever closer the engaged team thought this would be a great time to introduce you all to our new Optus account manager. Marcus Eley is Senior Business Development Manager (New Markets and Global Accounts) and has been with Optus for 5 years. Prior to joining Optus Marcus was a sales manager for CRM/Data intelligence company. Engaged spoke to Marcus to get the lowdown on life at Optus, what makes Optus unique and Optus’ vision for the future.  

Welcome to the first edition of “Engaged” the new Telcoinabox newsletter. It is part of our commitment to share with our partners, suppliers, family and friends what is happening within the Telcoinabox extended family.  

Welcome to the first edition of engaged, the new telcoinabox quarterly e-mail newsletter. So why engaged? Isn’t that a bad thing in the communications world? A look at the dictionary definition below reveals a number of different interpretations of the word;  

If you were feverishly anticipating a cellphone this year, it was one of two phones: this is the other one. That's because the BlackBerry Bold is RIM's most powerful, polished handset ever. With 3G, a glossy new UI, a real web browser, serious hardware and an almost beautiful body, the Bold doesn't redefine the BlackBerry experience, but it does elevate to the highest point its ever been.  

Such was the question posed at a recent seminar delivered by Ovum, one of the world’s largest telecoms and IT research companies, attended by Telcoinabox and a host of other companies involved in the wholesale telecommunications market. Luckily for us the picture painted by Ovum was a fairly positive one.  

Financial markets are in turmoil around the world, bank lending has been cut, consumer and business spending will fall, businesses will fail due to bad debt and poor cash flows. Most of the western world will experience varying levels of recession. The length and severity of this is difficult to predict as is the likely impact on Australia. As a country we are better placed compared to many of our western trading partners due to a strong mining and resources sector and just as importantly a strong banking/finance sector.  

Last year my brother-in-law attempted the 100km Oxfam trailwalk, and he said to me then, Tash next year you’ve got to do it, it’s the most amazing experience to be part of. My response back then was no thanks its not for me, there’s no way I can do something like that. Well little did I know myself.  

Telcoinabox has a policy and commitment to our staff that we will always advertise new job positions internally to give our team members an opportunity to grow within our business, before opening the roles up to external agencies. We strongly believe that promoting within is one of the reasons that we have very little staff turnover, and our teams are committed and passionate about the business.  

This year’s conference, like so many conferences and road-shows before it, was a hearty mix of priceless information and drunken debauchery, hosted in the heart of Sydney’s Darling Harbour.  

After arriving into the UK in early March and being given one of its only free things, the world’s worst flu, TIAB’s first international office didn’t exactly get off to a flying start.  

Welcome to the second edition of engaged, keeping you informed on what’s been going on in a whirlwind few months for Telcoinabox. This year’s annual franchise conference, held in Sydney for the first time, was undoubtedly the highlight. To get the juicy details on the goings on during conference week read Tom Fry’s conference diary in this issue but suffice to say that every year we seem to raise the bar a little higher.  

As the Managing Director of one of the most successful franchise systems in Australia I was recently invited to speak at the Franchise Council Of Australia (FCA) national convention here in Sydney. I was asked to speak about the success of Telcoinabox including what and how we did it. One of the guidelines provided by the organizers was the question, what would I not do again?. I addressed this is true Damian Kay style, bluntly!  

Finally the Doom and Gloom of the global economic crisis has got to me. There is no doubt that there are issues with the financial framework and the actions of some greedy bastards in the financial sector have been the catalyst for the current situation but really!!! It is a self fulfilling prophecy. If we stop buying our lunch from the food court at work then the guys that own the food outlet cannot buy the Holden car they were going to buy and then the Holden company need to lay off workers and so on. The key here is to keep spending. I take a "cautious aggressive" view to recession. Like any chaos within business, and a recession is definitely a chaotic situation for business, it creates opportunity. While my competition clams up like a hetro guy at a rave party, we have employed more sales staff and more resources to handle that growth. from July 1 alone our wages bill increased by $500K. Bring it on I say.  

In this 3rd edition of Engaged with have a special treat for you. We have managed to pin down the hard working and friendly Carolyn Myers. We ask her the hard hitting questions about where she comes from and we delve deep to find out what makes her tick. So get comfortable and read on! 

The National Broadband Network (NBN) presents an interesting situation for players in the $40 billion telecommunications industry and to some degree it will level the playing field between network operators and resellers.  

We all know that it costs infinitely more to acquire a new customer than to retain a customer.  If this is the case, why is the Telecommunications industry so crap at account management.  It forms the corner stone of any business that has high value customers (or for that matter any customers).  Businesses can be made or lost on the quality of their account management. 

In this edition of Engaged we took the time out to have a chat with  the hard working Rich Branson of IF Telecom. Rich gives us a little insight into what it takes to run a successful franchise, why he chose the Telco Industry and how the Credit Crunch has affected them. 

In each edition of engaged we catch up with key people from within our supply base.  This month we thought we’d eschew the usual telco people and focus instead on Debb Lowe, Director of Operations for the Franchise Relationships Institute.  Here’s what Debb had to say.  

Telcoinabox continues its global expansion with the establishment of an office in Wellington, New Zealand and has appointed Shannon Fisher as CEO. 

Who would have thought that when I agreed to sponsor Leo Rodriguez in the 2008 Sydney to Hobart Yacht race that 1. I would participate in the race and 2. the "Telcoinabox" name would be exposed through every newspaper, radio and TV station in Australia.  You could not have written the script that well.  Initially I was not to participate as it was possible that Tash and I would be on our way to London with the boys in February, when this changed I eagerly joined a great bunch of guys on one of the most dangerous ocean races in the world.  Given my sailing experience was limited to racing "Lasers" as a kid, a few corporate sailing events and a couple of bareboat charters, I am not ashamed to say that I was more than a little anxious.  Tash was incredibly supportive of my decision to partake in the race and this made it a lot easier as I had someone to talk to about what I had agreed to do. 

Welcome to the third edition of Engaged.  It's been a while since you last heard from us but we wanted to give you all time to recover from your seasonal festivities and Australia Day celebrations and get well and truly over your back-to-work blues.  It's been a fairly hectic few months at Telcoinabox since the last edition.  Among other things we've gone out all guns blazing with our largest product launch ever on Optus mobile, wireless broadband and Blackberry, signed an agreement with a master franchisor for our New Zealand operation, sponsored a yacht in the Sydney to Hobart race and conducted our first ever global business review in London (taking in the GSM expo in Barcelona and the slopes and après ski of St Anton in the process). 

The debate around the functional separation of Telstra presents a very varied set of opinions.  This depends on who is making them and what their interaction is with Telstra.  As a pure reseller customer of Telstra Wholesale (TW), Telcoinabox enjoys a strong relationship with Telstra that is pro-active and mutual.