The greater a team’s deficit at halftime, the more likely they are to lose. This linear relationship holds true, unless, the losing team is down by a small margin. With the NBA playoffs in full swing, I thought it was interesting that a 16-year analysis1 of all NBA games (corroborated by a 10-year analysis of all NCAA basketball games) discovered teams that are behind by one point at half-time are actually more likely to win. Underpinning this dynamic, you have the fact nobody likes to lose, plus the motivational effect of having an achievable goal in sight. By the way, a similar anomaly exists in March Madness: between 1985 and 2021, 9s have beat 8s 51% of the time2.
Think of the coming summer slowdown as the corporate equivalent of the half-time break. A chance to take stock of the progress made towards our annual goals, make any needed adjustments and return on the proverbial playing field re-energized, with a renewed sense of purpose. As an added bonus, service providers can reframe and reset their goals across many variables, enabling them to challenge the organization with realistic, achievable objectives. Ahead of plan? Set a stretch goal! Falling behind? Assess the situation and determine how best to move the needle. While a plan to maximize sales is important, communications service providers can’t afford the natural propensity to neglect the cost side of the profitability equation.
When a regional fiber-based CLEC needed to improve margins, they decided to benchmark current vendor costs to determine where expences might be higher than necessary. Core partnered with the internal team to gather and validate data across various markets and providers. By correlating revenue, margin, and cost, we not only determined where savings might be realized and cost optimized; we were also able to shine a light on areas where revenue was missing due to billing and process errors. Based on our findings, we redesigned the network and improved their processes to help maintain the gains they had realized.
Game plan need an adjustment?
The answer can sometimes be hidden in plain sight. An netex audit and market-based analysis can uncover savings opportunities and inform your priorities for the second half of the year.
Back-office organizations have competing priorities vying for their time. It is easy for important things to fall behind. We have been working in telecommunications for over 20 years with companies large and small. We would love to help you get caught up and ahead.
1 Valdesolo, Piercarlo. (2011, June 28). Bet on the Losing Team. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bet-on-the-losing-team/
2 Jones, Jack. (2021, March 16). Bracketology: NCAA Tournament Odds by Seed. BetFirm. https://www.betfirm.com/seeds-national-championship-odds/
