Staying on Top of Rapidly Advancing Technology

When it comes to telecommunication networks, nobody can know everything about everything anymore. That was maybe the case in the days when switching was done with electro-mechanical exchanges and transmission was done with analogue carrier groups, but those days are long gone.

Today, the technology associated with telecom networks is moving at a very rapid pace. Many telecom professionals both technical and non-technical are facing the challenge of not fully understanding the technology anymore. In their daily working life, they are exposed to a multitude of new terminology, acronyms, abbreviations and buzzwords without actually understanding how they relate to the task at hand. To make life even more difficult, many operators and vendors have different names for the same functionality running on different hardware.

For new employees, this must be even more difficult.

So how important is it to have at least a good working knowledge of the network and services that earns the Telco its revenue? Opinions differ on this depending upon for instance, the type and organizational structure of the Telco, the level of technical competence within the Telco and the complexity of the services and supporting network.

Overall however, Telco’s place value in project managers who have a good understanding of the products and services they are tasked to deliver, customer care agents who have a sufficient knowledge of telecom networks to keep their customers satisfied and marketing professionals who understand the impact of a new service on the network’s performance.

Nobody can deny that Telco professionals with “the bigger picture” are more motivated than those that don’t. A general understanding of telecom, its networks and its services as applicable to their own Telco, raises staff morale, helps to minimize confusion and misunderstandings as well as increasing productivity, staff value and independence.

Technical and semi-technical procedures become self-explanatory and fewer decisions require escalation to senior management. Internal promotion becomes easier as staff already understand the relationship between the business, the technology, the procedures and the telecom professionals who are involved with it.

Understanding the technology trends is just as important as understanding current technology. A general appreciation of the fundamentals of new technology will mean that when it is introduced, the learning curb for staff will not be as steep. The ability to work with the new technology will not only be limited to a selected few.

With so many advantages to being savvy with telecom technology, can there be any reasons for working in silos and watching technology advance, without becoming even a little bit interested?