5). The following is an example of a company not in synch with this theme. US WEST, a large phone company serving 15 states Downsized several years ago in order to cut costs and improve service. This quotation from the February 1996 issue of the Boulder Weekly is an example of problems we want to avoid. Terry Bote, spokesman for the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, says the agency has been swamped with complaints about US WEST by Internet users and access providers. However, he says the bulk of the complaints about US WEST still come from new residential customers who can’t get basic service to their homes. He says US WEST has improved its performance at meeting new orders, but is a long way from meeting demand in a timely fashion. (p. 4) For years the DoD has been imposing very strict government standards on commercial companies when buying equipment and services in an effort to assure reliable equipment and services. In some cases it's needed to avoid problems like those above however, in most cases it just drives up the cost. Our military contractors are Downsizing just as we are and must be allowed some leeway with some of these burdensome standards in order to compete. This would enable them to develop and market more items that have dual uses without sacrificing the reliability we need (NPR, 1993).At a more local level the BCTF has been working with many commercial companies to insure that the off-the-shelf equipment we buy is reliable. In the past year we have been testing the Windows 95 software on various systems and configurations. Any bugs or problems we found were forwarded to Microsoft for corrective action. Information from this testing has allowed us to provide our customers with a reliable software package and provided our technicians with the knowledge needed for skillful installation and support. Worker Skill and Consistency:Just as important to the customer as the hardware and software is the s...
