Technology may change but making connection still aim

Peter Thomas takes the time to listen to his clients. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Peter Thomas takes the time to listen to his clients. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Dunedin man Peter Thomas has spent his career in telecommunications, adapting to suit the changing needs of customers and the industry. At 64 years old, he has decided to reinvent himself. Business editor Dene Mackenzie talks to Mr Thomas about his career and his plans.

Peter Thomas left Spark New Zealand's employ at the end of April after a career spanning 45 years in what was the New Zealand Post Office, then Telecom and later Spark when the company was split up into two entities.

The pace and focus on change had changed the business model for information and communication technology (ICT) suppliers dramatically, he said.

Cost pressures meant teams were smaller and there was a constant need to refocus on the change and rationalisation required to survive, grow and remain profitable.

Teams like those in Spark and other suppliers were more skilled than ever and highly motivated to provide great solutions for their clients.

But the engagement model had inevitably had to change, as resources were continually stretched.

Collaboration technology was one solution whereby clients had access to national, rather than regional resources but the one resource becoming increasingly scarce for clients and their supplier was time, Mr Thomas said.

One thing Mr Thomas did now have was time after he had moved from Spark to start his own business.

He planned on using his business experience and knowledge in ICT to fill the void left in the market through the ongoing change.

A growing trend was Chief Information Officer (CIO) for hire. Clients brought in specific skills for advice and consultancy to provide governance to their supplier and to manage projects.

"This aims to achieve more from their limited resources and time. The model does not necessarily replace or challenge those in the ICT supply chain but it is designed to improve the productivity and effectiveness of all.''

One of his more immediate goals was setting up a collective of consultants in Dunedin.

It had been talked about for a while but Mr Thomas said if consultants could share their skills, they could offer a holistic approach to providing services to clients.

"In my sales career, I have sold the expertise of others. Selling my own expertise is a new issue but if we can join up the consultants, I have no problem selling their expertise.''

All this seems a far cry from the February 1971, when Mr Thomas turned up for his first day at work as a trainee telephone technician in the South Dunedin exchange.

He worked across the city in several suburban exchanges, in the PABX support team and in the central CBD electro-mechanical exchange, which was in what is now the car park of the telephone exchange building at the end of Tennyson St.

It housed technology pre-dating World War 2. After three years, Mr Thomas moved to Christchurch and worked there as technician until the mid-1980s.

"My fondest memories of that time was servicing the many small rural exchanges on Banks Peninsula and days of sailing on Lyttelton harbour.''

He remembered being called out to Pigeon Bay, a tiny exchange on Banks Peninsula at 2am, having to leave the car lights on because once the exchange lights were switched off, he was in complete darkness.

At first, technicians travelled those distances on their own.

Then two were sent before finally, the decision was made not to do the middle-of-the night calls because of safety concerns.

During his time in Christchurch, Mr Thomas helped replace several manual exchanges in North Canterbury with computer-controlled exchanges.

"This was a fundamental change for many small rural communities as the operators who knew and heard everything were removed from the local fabric.

"We spent several months working in these small communities getting to know the locals, which included the operators we were replacing.''

The access and convenience of the new exchanges overcame the nostalgia when national dialling and call privacy became the norm, he said.

When Mr Thomas applied to come back to Dunedin, he did not know where he would be working.

He had gained a New Zealand Certificate in Telecommunications Engineering and eventually took up a role in the customer engineering group, later to become Telecom Business Sales.

Initially, his role was to engineer long-distance circuits.

These were designed to bypass the high toll costs of the time, enabling Dunedin clients to have a presence in cities such as Auckland.

This was before 0800 calls and other low-cost calling models were introduced.

Mr Thomas recalled an incident in the 1970s, when the Chief Post Office received a bomb threat.

The calls were put through to the toll floor and the caller said there was a bomb in the Post Office.

In an effort to trace the call, twine was attached to the electro-mechanical exchange by the operators.

When the bomb threat call came in, an operator called through a loudspeaker they had the call and people rushed to their terminals to pull the twine, so the call would not be lost when the person hung up.

Mr Thomas believed the call was eventually traced to the Dunedin Exchange phone box where someone was watching the staff evacuate the premises.

Until leaving Spark, Mr Thomas was the regional sales manager in Otago and Southland. He paid tribute to his "talented team'' of sales and engineering people.

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