Having spent a good amount of time in the telecommunications industry from the late 80s through the 90s, I remember when WorldCom rose out of nowhere to become a darling in the industry. With Bernard Ebbers recent conviction, it has been easy to focus on WorldCom only. Then I run across an ePrairie column (a Chicago tech newsletter) by James Carlini (a Northwestern professor) that reminds me of the greater wake (bold emphasis is mine) …
While AT&T should have been
the least-cost provider due to its network infrastructure, the company
was baffled on how WorldCom could keep cutting and showing more
revenues. In trying to keep up by cutting quality of service and job
stability, the whole industry imploded. Cutting costs cut into quality.
If you don’t believe that, ask any customer or former employee.