Leadership Corner: Michael Ruley
Interviewed by Rick Daysog
Advertiser Staff Writer
Name: Michael Ruley
Age: 45
Title: Chief executive officer
Organization: Hawaiian Telcom
High school: Shawnee Mission East, Prairie Village, Kan.
College: University of Kansas
Breakthrough job: Vice president and general manager of Teleport Communications Group. "The Telecom Act of 1996 had just passed, and the company was the first in history to compete against a 100-year-old monopoly," Ruley said.
Little-known fact: "My wife cuts my hair, and I'm afraid of snakes and that's why I live in Hawai'i."
Major challenge: Learning to surf and raising four children to be great people.
Book recently read: "Leadership" by Rudolph Giuliani
Hobbies: Golf and time with family
Mentor: Dan Akerson, former boss at Texas-based XO Communications, who "basically taught me a lot about this business and leadership."
Q. You came in when Hawaiian Telcom took over Verizon. What kinds of new services can customers expect from Hawaiian Telcom and when?
A. We launched our wireless service in May, and this year we will promote better bundled values for our consumers, such as DSL with wireless products. Right now, we are using Verizon's billing platform and there is only so much we can do while we're on their system. We're somewhat limited by using Verizon's system. Next year, with a new billing platform, we'll really be able to offer new product bundles and new values.
Q. What are the customer service benefits that will result from new ownership?
A. Ultimately, the main benefit will be that the customer experience will improve. Today, we have world-class people and second-class tools. We've heard lots of things about how long it takes to do things in our company. The systems that we are using are not integrated. The customer experience when they call in isn't near what it should be. One of the reasons we are investing in our back office system is that the system will be a catalyst for launching many new services and products that are better, faster and cheaper.
Well, we are going to do things faster. We want to champion the loyalty of our customers by giving them that.
Q. What are the prospects for a rate increase?
A. For basic phone services, you won't see a rate increase at least until 2008.
Q. How much does the company plan to spend to build up its back-office operations?
A. Approximately $100 million.
That's pretty much in all areas but in the information technology area, there are massive systems investments (needed). What happens in most telcoms is that their systems are acquired over time through mergers and acquisitions between different companies and are melded together and they're not integrated.
(In the sale of Verizon Hawaii) there were parts of the system on the network management side that were conveyed to us but most of the system needs to be built and reassembled. What's different here is that we will have an integrated platform.
When we depart Verizon's system next year ... we'll have the ability to create a better customer relations management system. This will be monumental for us.
Q. Any plans for laying fiber to the home?
A. We lay fiber every day. That will allow us to push broadband deeper into the network.
Q. What sort of opportunities do you see for the company in today's new regulatory environment given the convergence of Internet, cable, wireless, etc.?
A. One of the areas is seamless mobility services. It would allow us to bundle products and services better and provide better values.
(Unlike Verizon), Hawaiian Telcom doesn't have a national mass-marketing agenda and that gives us tremendous opportunities to tailor our products and services to the local marketplace.
Q. How does your background with competitive local exchange carriers help now as head of an incumbent local exchange carrier?
A. I think it's a great background because I understand the competitive threat they represent and will position the company for an ever more competitive marketplace.
I remember what it was like when I started at Teleport Communication (which is now a part of AT&T), which was the first CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier) to compete in history against a 100-year-old monopoly.
Q. Since taking the helm at Hawaiian Telcom, what sorts of mistakes do you think were made?
A. Our first goal is to make sure the transition between Verizon and Hawaiian Telcom was a smooth one.
We want to be transparent to our customers during the first 30 days. I wanted to have the company operating the same from day one as it was operating as Verizon Hawaii.
I guess the best thing is that nothing major went wrong.
I think that transition went on as planned without major glitches but there were minor glitches that we have worked to resolve. There were some minor glitches at first in order processing for some customers.
Q. What would you do differently?
A: If I had to do it over, I would like to have more hours in the day to talk to more employees and more customers about their ideas.
