Telecommunications and Networking in Business

Telecommunications and Networking in Business Environment

The role of telecommunications and networking in business is that of integration platform, accelerator of transactions, and creator of value chains that span continents. In addition, telecommunications networks function as the basis of global supply chains and demand-driven supply networks (Kauremaa, Nurmilaakso, Tanskanen, 2010). From the customer side, telecommunications systems and the many networks that comprise them also function as the foundation of distribution channel management and multichannel management selling and services platforms as well (Sagbansua, Alabay, 2010). The intent of this paper is to show how telecommunications systems and the networking used to integrate them together are the foundation for creating more efficient learning organizations as well, where knowledge, not product or price, becomes the most critical competitive asset (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000). The success of Toyota with their well-respected supply chain network that is supported technologically by a vast telecommunications platform, the Toyota production System (TPS) has been thoroughly studied as to how the company this collegial non-competing group of suppliers to Toyota can create knowledge as the competitive asset over competing on price (Dyer, Nobeoka, 2000). Organizational theorists point to the judicious use of technology to enable more efficient processes and knowledge interchange as indicating best practices over and above the efficient completion of transactions.

Telecommunications as Enablers of Value Chains

At the most strategic and systemic level any company's telecommunications systems are designed to accelerate and make more efficient the most complex and difficult junctures, transactions and connection points throughout their value chains. While telecommunication networks permeate organizational structures for a wide variety of uses, their most visible and pervasive use is in creating more efficient and economical buyer-supplier relationships (Kim, Park, Ryoo, Park, 2010). Telecommunications networks are often relegated to the paper trails of transactions and the auditing aspects of complex interchanges between companies and trading partners (Claro, Claro, 2010). In fact this is just the first generation of the level of telecommunications frameworks and entire industry ecosystems are capable of delivering value and innovation within.

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is just a single data point in an overwhelming level of activity in using telecommunications to unify supply chains to manufacturers who are frankly running out of price and features as differentiators of value. These telecommunications networks are delivering the potential to differentiate on the knowledge gained over time and created through the level of collaboration and cooperation throughout buyer, supplier, manufacturing, reseller, and distribution partner relationships (Sagbansua, Alabay, 2010). The future of value chains is therefore entirely reliant on how effective telecommunications ecosystems are used for creating value through the sharing of knowledge within and between members of the supply chain and distribution network. How any given manufacturer chooses to respond to this dynamic of knowledge becoming the differentiating factor in their ability to compete on value long-term will dictate their long-term survival, as insight and intelligence, not just price or production efficiency, is going to win the battle in so many industries today (Kauremaa, Nurmilaakso, Tanskanen, 2010). Telecommunications are also fueling the development extensions of social networks and the ability to complete sentiment analysis of specific brands and products in seconds just by tapping into the data streams of social media and social websites, saving months of survey work and attitudinal surveys (Li, Wu, 2010). How all this activity on social networks relates to telecommunications networks is that they serve as the foundation for delivering with greater agility and accuracy only the most critical information needed from social networks to attain a specific feedback-based goal or develop a highly targeted strategy (Li, Wu, 2010). Telecommunications can then become highly predictive in scope, serving to quickly capture a breaking trend ascertained from analysis of social media content. Once this occurs, a company can create proactive strategies that seek to capitalize on an evolving trend, whether positive or negative, and align their resources and systems to make the most of it. An example of this is how quickly Microsoft responded to their exclusion of the Internet as a viable strategy shift. Using a global telecommunications system and their global knowledge management network, they were able to quickly devise a product roadmap and recruit developments who knew the Web development platforms better than anyone did globally. This shift in strategy saved Microsoft from facing a daunting task of playing catch-up to Google, who ascended quickly to prominence in the late 1990s, just about the time Microsoft had begun to reach critical mass in their Web-based development plans. Telecommunications and the process-based modifications to the Microsoft business model is what made their response so accurate and fast. If a telecommunications network was not in place or not optimally used, the entire process would have lagged and the entire process of necessary innovation to survive would have fallen flat (Walters, Bhattacharjya, Chapman, 2011). The telecommunications framework and the networks that comprise that innovation framework at Microsoft is an example of how a very large, typically slow-moving corporation was able to turn up the velocity and urgency within the telecommunications network and transform their business. Admittedly this took a completely culture shift on the part of the company, yet everyone knew they were fighting for the future of the business. It is that level of intensity and urgency that can make a telecommunications network transform from being just a reporting mechanism to a catalyst of transformation and change.