This company really is clueless. They had iptv going in 2008 but didnt do anything with it to keep evolving. Then at exactly the wrong time they overpay for DTV to go back in to legacy cable tv. Now they want to go into targeted advertising utilizing Xander at a time when people want stepped up privacy. Those in charge are telecom exec's who think they are media moguls and have failed. There are so many problems with this company's plan and customers are leaving in droves. So Elliott Management steps in to question the plan and removes Stephenson. Do you really think Randall just decided to leave without finishing what was started ?. Was this the Path To 2020 he envisioned ?. Nope, another huge failure and he is rewarded handsomely. As for the managers, techs and sales crews they are thinning the herd as a result. They are so behind the curve that they advertise the voice remote as the crown jewel of their technology. This is because years ago when Comcast introduced their voice remote it was the talk of the town. So now much later AT&T has one to rival them. This is the pattern, taking too long to come to market with a product. You cant take a decade to come up with something that relates to this industry as it relies on ever changing technology. And now as all the competition is moving away from hardware AT&T service (whatever it's called today) requires one set top box. If you have DirecTV and want to switch over you better only need 3 streams because that's all you are going to get. Now you arent bringing new customers you are driving away what you have left. These layoffs we are seeing are due to extremely bad management and local management is no different. In the last year a director and a L2 manager were both fired in the middle of the night and never heard from again and reasons were not given. Many more implicated weren't dealt with. And now with the cuts only beginning do you think they will get the axe this time ?, not a chance. The managers with more complaints file against them are always the teachers pets because discipline is all they know. This helps get rid of the techs quicker which seemed to be the only solution to attempt to increase results. Why is it AT&T products and services all become obsolete ?.
Telegraph
Telephone
BellSouth Entertainment
Uverse
DSL
DirecTV
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You are just realizing this. AT&T has made one blunder after the other. Beginning back in 1991 with the purchase of National Cash Register (NCR). Then the attempted purchase of Comcast, which the plug was pulled after spending billions of $$. And the band played on, with more blunders (T-Mobil, etc.).
Since they let Keith Cambron go, Uverse nose dived and was not developed into its full potential, which started about the time the Randall came in. All AT&T did was ride it as far as it could, without sinking development dollars into it. The same can be said for Digital Life, which started as a good thing, but AT&T thru Mismanagement, it nose dived as well. Then there is DirectTv which was doing awesome on its own, until once again AT&T took control of it and ran it into the ground. I think that one of the worst is internet......I was in school with a facilities director working for Uverse and he would discuss with his peers, the issues with continued budget cuts, which resulted in more subscribers not getting high speed internet, as they didn't want to pay to refit existing neighborhoods and were only aiming at new construction. My copper is about 25 years old and is in really bad shape. I'm barely above DSL on my service. My whole neighborhood has defected to Comcast. We do have options that we could have enacted i.e. Mobility High Speed data, AirGig and numerous other technology creations, however management chooses to ride the old car till the wheels fall off, then they get their parachutes (Stephenson). Each of the services was sold to employees,using the old "support your own product" spew and a lot of us "drank the KoolAid" and signed up......All of my AT&T services s— to the point that we are looking to pay the "professionals" to provide services now. The only service that seems to hold its own, without any help from management" is mobility, but they are doing their best (management) to drive it into the ground. AT&T has become followers and not visionaries, as they once were.
How in the hell do you not do due diligence on DTV and find out that millions of that customer base was on low cost promotions? And if they did know were they so arrogant that these customers would just roll over into 100-150 dollar plans?
Problem is that there is no innovation. All they can do is go outside and buy another sinking business at premium price. Instead of developing and modernizing existing products and services. This is not how you add value. Look at Amazon and what they did with simple idea of online selling. We can do it too if we have driven leaders.
truth - att cannot deliver because they just have too much overhead and have to raise the prices or lock people into contracts. att wants to be google when everyone is running away from google and folks want their privacy. really can't make this stuff up. it would be funny if it wasn't so sad and costing people's livelihood.
Not going to give the executives a break on our bad decisions. However technology and automation made a huge impact in my group. Processes that used to take 15-20 steps are now done in 5-10 if they are now needed at all. 50 pair cable damage used to mean 40+ customers affected and 15-20 reports. Now talking about a handful of customers affected and usually 0 reports. When I noticed that even a lot of the older people I know were disconnecting their landlines I knew it was serious. Been reading about the top tier 5 G being put in business areas and only needing a router and no internal wiring and it gets interesting in my Legacy world.
Mostly because the Board of Misdirectors is a bunch of dolts that are best buddies of the CEO and they feed each other pockets. Neither has any imagination. Case in point, after a nationwide thorough search for a new executive to replace Ratty, Stinky was the best choice? What a crock. The Board did not search very hard. The fix was in.