Fiberside Chat by 3-GIS: What Will the Telecommunications Industry Look Like Post-Pandemic?

 

3-GIS had a pandemic policy ready, but it did not expect to have to use it.

After the SARS-CoV-1 coronavirus crisis in the early 2000s, 3-GIS CEO Tom Counts thought it was important to draw up some regulations.

Even as prepared as 3-GIS was, however, there still were plenty of things they had to adapt to on the fly.

“The pandemic policy did lay out some of those communication guidelines, but it was one of those things that, as you’re going through your policy manual, you kind of skip that page. You think, ‘That was needed for the Spanish flu days, not 2020,’” said Dustin Sutton, 3-GIS’ President. “So, we did have to dust that off and really dig into, ‘How are we going to communicate?’”

Being a tech-first company, there already were measures in place and a high level of familiarity with tools like Zoom, which Sutton pointed out has entered the vernacular as a verb these days with children “Zooming” their friends after their online school.

While everyone has made modifications in both their personal and professional lives, the telecommunications industry has been slow to implement tweaks because of COVID-19 and, more or less, things are continuing as they were at the end of 2019.

“I haven’t seen any fundamental change, really, in the way networks are being designed, built or architected today. There’s a lot of concern. You always hear the phrase ‘new normal.’ I don’t think we know what that is yet,” Counts said. “I think normal is yet to be determined. I think we’re on a journey to a normal, and I really hope to God we get back to old normal.”

Even if we have to adjust to a different world around us, Counts and 3-GIS will be ready to adapt quickly – especially after seeing his team adapt to the current pandemic.

“A beautiful benefit to us that we didn’t expect was increased productivity,” he said. “I would’ve been so happy if we could’ve had the same productivity, but it’s actually up.”

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

mentorship
WAVIT’s Mentorship Program: Cyndie Nelson on Building Careers Through Guidance
July 19, 2025

The AV industry, like many others in tech, often thrives on innovation—but it’s mentorship that sustains it. Behind every successful professional is often a mentor who provided guidance, shared hard-earned lessons, and opened doors that might have otherwise stayed shut. Programs like WAVIT (Women in AV/IT) bring this spirit of mentorship into focus by intentionally…

Read More
mentorship
Empowering Innovation: Kim Porter’s Role in the WAVIT Mentorship Program
July 19, 2025

In an industry where innovation often hinges on experience, mentorship is the bridge that connects the wisdom of the past with the promise of the future. Engineering, especially in the mechanical domain, is traditionally seen as a discipline of precision, but its culture is just as vital as its calculations. That’s why programs like WAVIT’s…

Read More
mentorship
Passion, Power, and the Mentorship Paradigm Shift in Tech
July 19, 2025

In today’s rapidly evolving tech world, mentorship has emerged as more than a professional development tool—it’s a powerful human connection that fosters resilience, purpose, and authenticity. Particularly for women in engineering and STEM, mentorship isn’t just about career guidance; it’s a lifeline to navigating environments where their voices may still fight to be heard. While…

Read More
AV
Lessons in Leadership: Mitek’s Cyndie Nelson on the Power of Mentoring Women in AV Technology
July 19, 2025

Mentorship has long been considered a cornerstone of professional development, but in the fast-evolving world of AV technology and sales, its value has never been more evident. The unspoken nuances of tradecraft—those bits of wisdom not found in textbooks—are often only accessible through the lived experience of mentors. Particularly for women in traditionally male-dominated industries,…

Read More