Jennifer Hyland: Elevating Telecommunication Industry by Leveraging Disruptive Technologies

Racol Technology Solutions serves businesses by providing innovative remedies to even the toughest telecommunication problems. Racol operates on the understanding that business stability and profitability depend on design, implementation, maintenance and recovery of the lifeline of almost every business, its data and communication networks.

Racol specializes in network diversity, optimization, hosting and disaster recovery services. By working with established networks of over 175 telecom vendors, the company helps businesses acquire affordable and reliable telecommunication services. From the management of vendors and contract negotiations to oversight of local and global data and voice service, Racol is prepared to work with any business structure in addressing telecommunication needs. Networks are fully maintained, beginning with design and implementation, and continuing with support services that treat every business as a top priority.

By leveraging Racol's expertise, clients can focus on their core competencies instead of the time-consuming tasks associated with procuring and managing telecom services. Clients can also leverage the 25 years of experience to help negotiate contracts and realize additional cost savings.

Tenets of Uplifting Leadership

Jennifer Hyland is the Founder and CEO of Racol Technology Solutions. Having extensive experience in the telecommunications industry since 1996, she started the company. As a global account manager for major telecommunication companies, Jennifer helped develop and manage comprehensive and practical multimillion-dollar solutions for major corporations. She has a Master of Science degree in Telecommunications and Information Management from NYU Polytechnic University.

Jennifer says that the telecommunications industry is a male-dominated place and there are many occasions where she was the only woman in a meeting. However, Jennifer's experience, attention to detail and creativity helped her overcome many preconceived notions. Jennifer highlights that her years as a top-performing salesperson at large corporations helped her learn about the industry and develop a solid reputation. Jennifer proudly mentions that she can now walk into a meeting with confidence and focus on the client's requirements and goals. Jennifer also believes that as a successful woman leader, she is more empathetic, which is portrayed in almost every interaction with her clients. Jennifer adds that she calls them clients because they are more to her than mere customers. She learned that everyone has professional and personal goals. And, Jennifer wants her clients to achieve both.

Jennifer learned to have boundaries. As a working mother with two children, Jennifer wants to ensure that she spends quality time with her family. During the first phases of her company when Jennifer was travelling and networking, she lost some of that quality time. Jennifer regrets and tells that she now blocks time on her calendar for family and tries to stick to it. She underlines the fact that it has made her a better mother and more focused leader. Jennifer learned this and other tools from her personal and professional development coach, Karen Garvey, which also led to a dramatic increase in her business.

Breaking the Challenge by Staying Confident from the Very Beginning  

Jennifer presumes that even after working in large companies for over fifteen years, starting her own organization was no easy task. She left a base salary, commission and benefits behind, which Jennifer envisions was like jumping off a cliff. Not only did Jennifer watch her savings diminish for about 18 months before she started to become profitable, but she also had to perform every role in the company such as review and negotiate contracts, track expenses, develop marketing plans, track commissions, order office supplies, etc. Jennifer reassures that she continued to believe in herself and didn't give up. She was the only employee in her company and working out the guest room in her home.

Jennifer claims that she networked extensively to get new clients exclusively through referrals and networking organizations. She walked on the fact that 'No large company is going to trust someone with their network services unless they have a referral. They should be trustworthy.' Jennifer recalls that after landing in work with a couple of large clients, she was able to take a breath and expand further. Jennifer now has an office outside her home, manages over US$7 million in telecommunication services each year, and is very grateful for her clients' support that helped her be successful.

The Three Pillar Attributes for Transformational Leader

Jennifer believes that every transformational leader should be a great listener and able to think outside the box and persevere. According to her, these attributes are important to hear what clients want, create creative solutions to meet their needs and progress without letting obstacles halt their success. Jennifer's longest deal took over three years for the client to sign and it was worth the wait.

She also instructs that it is very important to be approachable. Jennifer's employees and clients have her cell phone number as her main source of contact. She also highlights that there have only been a few occasions over the past seven years when someone had to reach her in the middle of the night, and she knew it was due to an outage or something urgent overseas. Jennifer handles those situations personally and, consequently, her clients trust her with a commitment to their success.

Innovation Comes from Listening to Target Audience

Jennifer shares that in such a competitive industry, it's imperative to innovate solutions and listen to the target audience. She now offers an online portal to her clients, so they can see all telecommunications services in one place. This also enables the company to look at the overall scope, contract end dates, and detailed inventory. In addition, Jennifer states that she uses her online tools to view fiber and datacenter

services globally in seconds. This has enabled her to propose custom solutions and multiple options to meet the customer's needs without using traditional, time-consuming methods.

Jennifer articulates that her model is unique because she relies on her vendors to provide telecommunications services to her clients. She always thinks of innovative ways to ensure that she has a myriad of reliable and cost-effective vendors who can provide those services.

Disruptive Technologies as a Catalyst for Innovation

Jennifer remarks that Cloud Services and Remote Access are changing rapidly. Henceforth, companies are looking for innovative ways to move services from a traditional data centre model to a cloud-based model. She adds that this enables them to be more resilient and nimble, and manage fewer resources. However, the challenge lies in integrating these services with the existing infrastructure and determining which services can easily be moved to a cloud-based model. Jennifer opines that usually, a hybrid model is the best solution for mid-sized and large companies.

Many employees are working from home, this has shifted the focus and innovation to a developed solution for this virtual model. Jennifer reveals that this can be quite challenging because companies cannot rely on their redundant and centralized networks they installed in their offices; they are now at the mercy of the remote worker's residential services and the security challenges associated with it.

Jennifer affirms that the role of leaders has changed over the past few years. Instead of focusing on simply growing the existing infrastructure, they are now focusing on disrupting the environment to make more drastic changes.

Moving Towards a Technological Future with Remote Working

Jennifer alleges that the industry is evolving quickly, especially for remote worker solutions. She envisions this as a source that is permanently changing the telecommunication industry in the future. When workers were moved from their offices to their remote locations, it was considered a temporary solution. However, it has been eleven months since workers from New York City and surrounding areas moved out of their offices. Companies are realizing that they can function quite well without being in a traditional office space. Jennifer mutters that now, these companies are looking at a permanent remote worker solution, which will change the network, data centre and security infrastructure.

Jennifer states that this evolution has also changed the services she recommends and how she conducted her own business. Although virtual meetings are convenient and more commonplace, she misses in-person meetings and is looking forward to seeing her clients again.

One Phrase Slogan 'Believe in Yourself'

Jennifer advises emerging women leaders to believe in themselves and trust their intuitions. She hints that there are many times it will seem difficult, but asks leaders to stay focused on what they want and what they can persevere. Jennifer also keeps herself surrounded by soulful people who are positive and help lift her energy. A prime example is Jennifer's VP of Operations and Sales, Laurie Troisi. Jennifer says that not only does Laurie help her with the business, but keeps the positive energy in Racol's office. Jennifer concludes by mentioning that with all this, Racol is handling the challenging days, continuing to move forward and growing the business year-over-year.