IMMCO’s CEO Keith Hayes was a technology leader at Charter Communications for nearly a decade as Senior Vice President – Network Operations when he departed in 2016.
Thursday, February 11th was a normal day for him – supporting IMMCO customers, reviewing contracts and RFPs, and engaging with the engineering team on enhancing network design processes. Around 11 AM, a voice mail popped up on his phone from Holden, MA – Dan Deedy, the Director of Business and Finance for the Wachusett Regional School District.
He had left a message asking for help as the entire school district’s internet, supplied by Charter under the brand name Spectrum, was not functioning. Many years ago, Keith ran Charter’s Commercial Business Network Operations Center (CBNOC) and ensured every commercial customer, from large manufacturers and medical organizations to small retail business and legal practices, had his direct mobile phone number and could call anytime they needed support.
Mr. Deedy had retained Keith’s number, unaware he was no longer at Charter, and had called for help as the outage was affecting their ability to get in touch with the Charter CBNOC. Keith called Mr. Deedy back several times but was not able to get through, and to ensure the Charter customer was repaired as quickly as possible, Keith contacted some of his former Charter teammates. They internally escalated the outage and ensured the appropriate technical teams were engaged to repair the issue.
Following the escalation, Keith emailed Mr. Deedy to inform him that the school districts’ issue had been affirmatively escalated to leadership and received this response:
“I sincerely appreciate your help with this given the fact you left Charter several years ago. I'll await communication from the person you spoke with. I cannot thank you enough.”
About 3 hours later an announcement was posted on the school district’s website that the outage had been restored and follow-up network optimization was underway.
When asked about the event Keith responded,
“After 40 years in cable/telecom, many folks, from residential customers to commercial businesses to city council members, have been provided with my direct phone number – and I am always delighted to help them connect with the right team at Charter or other telecom network operators to get their issue resolved.
It is gratifying to know the network teams of most operators relentlessly focus on delighting their customers by providing well-designed and operated networks and quickly engaging to resolve any problems."
Here at IMMCO, we embody this philosophy of intelligent network design, quick responses, and delighting our customers, exemplified by our CEO’s actions!