Telstra & Internet Industry Survival

[Robin Whittle]

I support what Larry and Jan wrote.

This is a very messy industry - beyond the ability of anyone to 
properly comprehend or predict.

I can't justified totally untimed calls - like calls that run for 
months at a time.  However, since Telstra is currently raking in huge 
sums of money, I would have thought that they should concentrate 
their energies on the BR-ISDN rollout (which they are doing), HFC 
(likewise), reducing profligate advertising (apparently budgets have 
been halved), and enhancing genuine efficiencies without hacking away 
important functions in the name of cost-cutting.

This timed data call business is going to be very messy - but I
suppose it has to be faced sooner or later.  Generally it can be 
assumed that people will not talk all day, or generally for hours at 
a time, but with data calls, people may be inclined to do it for many 
hours, months or years.

There are many "Telstras".  It is a company - or actually a number of 
companies - but to what extent it can be considered an organisation 
is a matter for debate.  

It is certainly wrong to characterise Telstra as being of one view or 
disposition.  It all depends on who you talk to, and I have had 
positive experiences with more Telstra people than I have had 
negative experiences.  This is speaking as a customer, as a consumer 
advocate and as a technical writer.


> Another scary thought is that according to a colleague of mine Telstra
> touts itself as being a "Quality" company, in the ISO 9000 sense of that
> word.  Is that true?  If it is, then we have bigger problems because if
> they believe they are acting with quality standards in mind, then they
> will also believe they are doing the "right things" in the "right way"
> simply because they believe themselves to be a "quality standards"
> organisation.
> 
> Can anyone shed any light on that?

In lesser minds - and there are plenty of them - terms like 
"Quality", "World's best practice" and even Total Quality 
Management's attempt to break the second rate thinking of staff in 
large organisations "Quality is what the customer says it is." can 
become mantras - dulling the critical thoughts which are essential to 
progress.

People beleive that because they are a "quality organisation" that 
their organisation's actions must be well thought out - so they don't 
seriously question them.


- Robin


. Robin Whittle                                               .
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