August Message from the CEO

Hello Fellow Industry Professionals,

Welcome to the 26th edition of AOTMP® Insights, the resource for telecom, mobility, and IT technology management professionals across the globe.

As I reflect, it’s just hard to believe there have already been 26 editions of AOTMP® Insights, something we launched during the height of the Pandemic. But then many other things are hard to believe as well.

It’s hard to believe …

• There are over 10 million industry professionals who support the telecom, mobility, & IT management industry worldwide.
• There is over $4 trillion being spent on telecom, mobility, & IT products, services, and solutions.
• We just completed our first AOTMP® Industry Solution Showcase, where we re-imagined how industry buyers and sellers connect.
• We just released the prospectus for our 15th annual AOTMP® Engage conference, taking place next Apr 30 to May 4.
• Our Women in Tech program has taken off like it has, with even more initial interest than we anticipated.
• The start of the major shutdowns from the Pandemic are 29 months in the rear-view mirror.
• The economy is where it’s at, creating a new set of challenges for so many.

But most of all, it’s hard to believe the TEM segment of our industry continues to struggle, as evidenced by the lack of vendors over the $50 million revenue mark–let alone the half billion-dollar mark–the high levels of buyer dissatisfaction and churn rates, and the amount of value placed only on cost savings by both the buyers and sellers. It’s concerning in an industry segment with so much opportunity for buyers and sellers. So, the real question is: how do we move the industry forward? How do we move to a new level? Or can we? If not, what happens to the industry?

Given the industry opportunity, offset by the significant growth inhibitors, we started with two articles, the first focused on vendor recommendations for buyers followed by buyers’ recommendations for vendors. Now we are going to take it a step further and explore it all in an eight-part series. Watch for more to come in future AOTMP® Insights releases. In the meantime, I would love your comments at tim.lybrook@aotmp.com.

As always, don’t spend too much time driving by looking in the rear-view mirror.

Tim