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ISPCON Coming Soon
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Interested in learning the Internet industry's latest take on wireless, web apps and more? Come to ISPCON November 11-13 in San Jose. Register today.
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So where's YOUR mobile?
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| You reach for your mobile and realize it isn't there. You're not alone. Credant Technologies just did a survey indicating that NY cab passengers left behind 31,544 mobile phones and 2,752 other handheld devices over a 6-month period this year. Prevent identity fraud and keep it close!
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Food for Thought
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 Alliance is proud to announce our new Food for Thought program. Want an industry expert to come speak to your team about testing best practices, revenue assurance must-do's or other hot topics? You provide the crowd; we'll provide the food and the thoughts. Email us today to find out more. |
Please contact us any time with questions, feedback, or just to exchange ideas about telecom industry issues. You can reach us at 847-782-1500 or info@atswireless.com. For the latest information, visit us at www.atswireless.com.
Sincerely,
Dick McFarlane
Alliance Telecom Solutions |
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Message from Dick McFarlane, President
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There is an ancient Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times", and it seems we are indeed living in interesting times. Between the political and economic climate, there is much to think about and a limited range of options open to us to act on. It may be more "interesting" than many of us need right now.
At Alliance, we will continue to do our best to support the execution of your tactical and strategic initiatives. Today, however, we share a little humor from UPS, courtesy of an internet post. Check it out. I hope this will add a bright spot to your day. If you run across pieces like this, please forward them to me to share with the group.
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Meet Our Staff
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Featured Consultant: Shane Shen, Lead Solution Architect
Shane
has more than seven years of telecom industry experience designing,
developing, implementing and testing customer care and billing
software. As a lead solution technical architect he has led multiple
large implementation and migration projects.
TT: How/when did you get into telecom?
SS:
Amdocs hired me when I graduated with my MS degree in 2001. I was
brought to Amdocs US Cellular team in St. Louis working as an backend
programmer. Later on, Amdocs created a new TELUS team and I joined as a
Subject Matter Expert. The TELUS billing system had been continuously
rated the most client satisfaction system among Amdocs clients. As a
key player in this team, I am really proud of it. Amdocs then sent me
to help on projects for Qwest, RCC, and Sprint teams, where I had
opportunities to understand different kinds of telecom billing systems.
TT: What is your subject matter expertise and how did you develop your knowledge in that area?
SS:
My expertise is in technical architecture in telecom billing systems.
Coding, unit testing and writing detailed design were the primary tasks
I did at Amdocs from 2001 to 2004, where I grew from a programmer to a
skilled application designer. I joined Alliance Telecom Solutions in
2005 working as a consultant on AT&T's Long Distance Customer
Service Management (CSM) team, where later I became a technical
architect and, as a lead solution technical architect, led a few
important projects including U-verse and Bell South migration projects.
At AT&T I have developed a further understanding of the
architecture of the whole telecom billing system, with focus on CSM. In
those U-verse projects I not only designed flexible, extensible and
efficient functionalities inside CSM system, but I learned how all
kinds of other modules work together, such as OMS (Order Management
System), CRM (Customer Relation Management) or Enabler. In the Bell
South migration projects, I gained the precious experience of
converting 8 million customers from a Bell South legacy billing system
to AT&T's current billing system.
TT: What do you feel is the biggest contribution you've made to a client?
SS:
When I joined AT&T in 2005 there were about 60 open defects for the
CSM team. With tremendous help from Alliance folks, the team achieved
big "0" defects by 11/1/2005. It was a team effort and everyone played
a important role. I remember Alliance was awarded the prefer vendor of
AT&T at that year.
TT: What is one of the most interesting projects you've worked on?
SS:
I have been a lead technical architect for a few AT&T billing
projects. The most interesting one is a Light Speed Core Billing where
a new product, Voice Over IP (VoIP), was added to the system. VoIP is
the future voice service that uses the Internet to transfer voice
signals and has a different rating mechanism and features from a
traditional telephone service. Working on the project made me feel on
the top of the industry. This was the first time for me being a lead
architect. It was a challenge but it was a success and I developed
non-technical skills of project management, scheduling and planning.
TT: What is your favorite city/country to work in?
SS:
My favorite place to work in is always the current one. I have worked
in two places in the US, St Louis and Chicago. St Louis has the most
beautiful botanic garden in the nation and the amazing landmark - the
Arch. And Chicago's lakefront is my favorite place in summer.
TT: What do you like best about working with Alliance?
SS:
Alliance knows exactly what your expertise is and what a problem
clients are facing, and places you where you fit best. That way our
consultants can quickly benefit to clients who are always satisfied
with performance of our consultants. Alliance also has a highly
efficient management staff who can turn around things like
administration, health care and immigration affairs faster than any
other consulting company I know of.
TT: What hobbies do you enjoy in your free time?
SS:
Playing tennis once a week during the summer in beautiful suburban
Chicago always keeps me revitalized, fresh and healthy. Playing guitar
is a another way to relax and unwind after a tough day.
To request Shane for your next project or to view his full profile, visit our web site.
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