MetaSolv Emerges from a Successful Transformation (cont'd)

Pipeline: What principles have you found paramount in leading MetaSolv, and how does that affect the company's approach to doing business?

Holmes: In 2003 we actually revamped all of MetaSolv's corporate values. We made significant investments and focus-group efforts to re-evaluate ourselves. We said that integrity is our cornerstone, and that we would hold ourselves and our employees to the highest levels of integrity and accountability. When we established our values we put them into four categories.

First, customers are our number one priority, and this isn't true for everyone. In the past someone might have said that MetaSolv 'sold and left', but that's not what we're about today. That [approach to business] is not our priority. We also don't commit to things we don't intend to do for our customers. We share our plans of intent, and our plan of record that shows what we commit to do. We operate in a very open and accountable manner with our customers. When it comes to the way we do business, we will always take the high road because we feel that's what's best for our business in the long term.

Second, employees are our strength. You have to imagine how hard this idea was to promote during the last few years given the realities of the marketplace, reduced carrier spending, shareholder pressure and so forth. So you can imagine what our employees said - 'okay we're your strength, but look at all this restructuring.' So we gave them opportunities to learn through education and training, and have experience with our customers. While people are working hard they can have fun and grow in the process.

Third, if we focus on customers and do a better job of treating our employees as they expect to be treated, we would increase shareholder value. We've put things in place to provide more value to our customers that are going to pay off in increased shareholder value.

And finally, we have a responsibility to give back to the communities in which we work. We work with United Way, with Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and we have donated equipment, time and dollars to help our communities.

As a leader I feel accountable to our employees, our customers and our shareholders.

I have to walk the talk as well. So while we're under tremendous pressure to increase revenue and shareholder value, and achieve that next level, I can't do that in a way that is suffocating or demoralizing. We don't want to point fingers when things go wrong. We want a culture of teamwork and accountability, but we do have high standards and expect people to perform with their A-game.

Pipeline: If we can change gears a bit - Can you describe how you won the VoIP deal at BT? Our readers are interested to understand the products involved, how they're being used, and the process involved in building a relationship like this.

Holmes: BT has been a great customer for us and has been leveraging our solutions for a while in different parts of their business. They saw the need to roll out VoIP in a more automated way, and asked who could get them there. They wanted a strategic partner.

We had a strong sales team focused on this customer, we had strong products, and we have a great willingness to partner with BT. At the last TeleManagement World event in Nice, France, they shared with analysts and customers that it was, one, both product scalability and a multiple vendor approach; two, that they wanted a solutions and not a product approach for order to activation; three, they looked at total cost of ownership; and four, they wanted a long term strategic relationship.

If you think about that, our differentiation is why BT chose us for VoIP. They're using our inventory, order management, and service activation capabilities to achieve things like 100 percent flow through provisioning; 97 percent order success rates; a 50 percent reduction in time to provision that allows them to support a 100 percent increase in service growth. They are doing 800 VPN orders per week. These are the numbers they've been presenting to the industry.

The thing that was also important to BT was our roadmap. We were willing to continue to invest in the products going forward, and BT said 'you're moving in the direction where we're moving, and it makes sense for us to partner.' I believe in 2003 they were our largest customer.

«Prev    Next »   |   1   |   2   |   3   |   4   |   Subscribe

Send Comment

© 2004, All information contained herein is the sole property of Pipeline Publishing, LLC. Pipeline Publishing LLC reserves all rights and privileges regarding the use of this information. Any unauthorized use, such as copying, modifying, or reprinting, will be prosecuted under the fullest extent under the governing law.