By Bryan Rader, MediaWorks
Are you educated enough? Do you feel like you know everything about this business? This industry? This space we all vigorously compete in every day? Does it seem like there are no new tricks to learn, secrets to uncover, and concepts to follow?
If you’re like me, you answered “no” to the questions above. You’re a student who continually wants to be educated on our marketplace, on new technologies, on MDU’s ever-changing needs, and on customer trends. You want to listen to professors and other students (operators, owners and suppliers who have been successful in this business) who are faced with similar challenging issues.
If you answered “yes” to the above questions, I know that you must be kidding. Rarely does a student say, “I fully understand Micro Biology. I don’t need to open another textbook about it.” There are constantly new findings, new research and new discoveries in microbiology, which force the good students in that field to continually study this work. The same thing applies to our industry.
In the “private broadband” classroom, there is plenty to learn. So much so, that we could set up our own campus to educate all of the players in our industry. We could even form our own college, possibly “Broadband University”.
There are plenty of topics to fill a semester at “Broadband University.” Courses on bundling, marketing, technical service, operational efficiencies, product selection, technology deployment, business development and customer support systems (but don’t take this course – the professor doesn’t speak good English and he’s hard to understand).
The classroom at this school would be full of eager students from every fraternity and sorority – Alpha Beta Operator, Gamma Phi Owner and Kappa Kappa Supplier. The differing perspectives of each pupil would make the educational process so much more interesting.
There would be required electives at Broadband U. with specific themes such as Geography (“Pick One Region and Stick To It”), Social Psychology (“Treat Your Subscriber Like You Treat Your Mother”) and College Algebra (“Reasonable Revenue-Sharing That Is Still Competitive”).
And this school would have a variety of textbooks that each student must read such as “What DBS Can Teach Us About Customer Service” and “How To Integrate High-Speed Data Into Your Product Mix”.
The Broadband University that I am dreaming of would throw the controversial textbooks off the reading list. Such as a book co-authored by several franchise operators called “How To Lose Friends and Influence Nobody To Sign a Renewal Term,” and a book from a number of current ISPs and former PCOs entitled “How To Conquer 48 Markets and Run Out of Money Within A Year”. (Unfortunately, the Broadband School of Business would not allow this book into its Economics course, because it didn’t economically work).
Like most successful universities today, we would have a Homecoming weekend for many of our alumni to come and share in the exciting festivities. At the Friday night pep rally and bonfire, we would torch the logos of AT&T, Time-Warner and Cox. And at halftime on Saturday our marching band would play fifteen minutes of classical elevator music to represent the “lengthy hold times” experienced with the visiting team (franchise cable).
Also, Broadband University would be a great place for all of us to enroll in, so we could maintain our competitive edge. Especially since this school would not have midterms, final exams or group study projects. The educational process would be geared toward helping its students become more effective in building a solid broadband services business. And, I believe that all of us would make great teachers and students at this school because we have so much to offer one another about what works, what doesn’t work, how to accomplish something, etc.
Recently, Private & Wireless Broadband staged a wonderful two-day educational conference in Dallas. This type of gathering was so valuable for all industry players who attended. Every “student” walked away with a tremendous amount of accredited hours toward his or her broadband education.
And that would be the spirit of Broadband University. Educating the members of the Private Broadband industry to enhance our skills, our talents and our abilities.
If your answer was “yes” before, I hope you will re-think it and turn it into a “no”. We all need more education to remain current and effective in this business. Without it, we will fall behind.
So, enroll in Broadband University with me today and let’s further our “broadband” knowledge together. It’s like I always say, “Don’t be a fool; stay in school.”