We are excited to share that we have added CCG Consulting as a value-added
consultant.
To familiarize our customers with CCG, we sat down with Doug Dawson, President and
writer of the famous POTS & PANS blog, for Five Questions with our Fiber Family!
Five Questions with Doug Dawson
1. How did you got into the business of fiber internet?
I’ve been in the industry since 1978 in a wide range of both operational and
consulting roles. I created CCG Consulting in 1997 in reaction to the
opportunities that came from the FCC’s decision to allow for competitive voice
service. Our original goal was to help clients launch new businesses, enter new
markets, and launch new products and that is still a key piece of our business
today.
We historically did a lot of work with all triple-play products, but over time our
clients have become more focused on broadband. We are not strictly a fiber
consultant – but that is the bulk of our work today. We also assist clients in
operating copper, coaxial, and wireless networks.
2. Tell us about CCG Consulting – what’s your mission and how can you help ISPs working feverishly to close the digital divide?
Our mission today is two-fold. We work to help ISPs fulfill their goals and we offer
a wide range of consulting services in areas like regulatory compliance,
engineering, strategy and planning, operations, budgeting, and billing. But our
mission has expanded, and we also work with a lot of communities that want
better broadband. I personally think America will only thrive if we get broadband
to everybody. A tiny number of municipalities want to become ISPs, but most
want to partner with ISPs to find better broadband, so we are spending a lot of
time helping to facilitate public-private partnerships.
3. Your blog is great! What is your inspiration for POTs and PANs and how do you keep up with generating relevant content?
I started the blog ten years ago at the prompting of my wife. I told her I was
having trouble keeping up with all the hectic activity in the broadband industry.
She suggested writing a blog as a way to force me to think about the industry. It
was hard work at first, but I’ve published every workday for ten years. The blog
looks at the wide range of topics that I think are of interest to my clients – and
that’s a lot of topics these days!
4. What are the common remediation strategies you employ as a consultant for your growing ISP customers?
That’s not an easy question to answer because every one of our clients wants a
unique solution. We don’t have a lot of pre-packaged products, although one
popular product is a turnkey regulatory product that takes the regulatory process
off the plate for a client. One of the greatest things about being a consultant is
that we are asked new questions every day – and we dig in to solve whatever
issue a client is interested in. That might mean weighing the benefits and costs of
outsourcing certain functions; it might mean helping to raise money or figure out
grant programs or t might mean helping find vendors in these days of complicated supply chains.
5. How can VETRO customers utilize CCG services?
How a VETRO client uses our services depends on their specific goals. We’ve
had over 1,200 clients in the last 25 years, so we’ve seen a huge array of ways
that different ISPs tackle issues. We have a team member who is well-versed in
the VETRO FiberMap platform who can help VETRO customers maximize the
benefits and efficiency of using the software. What we like most about VETRO
FiberMap is that it's flexible and allows for a wide range of ways to implement it.
We can help VETRO customers with tasks like workflow creation or
understanding how VETRO FiberMap can interface with existing platforms. We
think our unique value proposition is that we can help VETRO customers figure
out the specific ways to get the most out of the software to meet their specific
internal goals. We bring a big-picture perspective that considers all parts of an
ISPs operations that we know some of them will find of value.
About VETRO, Inc.
VETRO builds software that makes it radically simpler and faster for broadband providers to plan, design, deploy, and operate their fiber optic networks. Our map-based SaaS platform is easier to use and more powerful than traditional tools, and enables network owners, operators and sponsors to benefit from a modern, integrated, and connected digital hub for their physical network assets.
