InformationWeek

On Track

TCI's Sadie Decker uses SummitTrak to bring reengineering to a higher level

By Katherine Bull
Issue date: Nov. 20, 1995

Sadie Decker doesn't like to take credit as an innovator at Tele-Communications Inc., the nation's largest cable-TV operator. In fact, she passes that credit on to her boss, TCI CEO Brendan Clouston. But while Clouston came up with the idea that TCI needed to revamp its information infrastructure, Decker is the one who's making it happen.

Decker came to TCI three years ago from defense contractor Martin Marietta to head SummitTrak, a multimillion-dollar reengineering project at TC I where the software costs alone will be at least $100 million Her assignment was a tough one: Design and build a new billing system from scratch.

TCI wanted to build a system that was completely different and that, by definition, was truly leading edge. The company looked at leveraging the systems it already had in place, and concluded that if it did, it would have to turn around and tear the entire operation apart in only three years.

"There was realization at TCI that the fundamentals of the business are radically changing," Decker says. "Clouston was the first to recognize that you can't get from here to there. You pay more now or pay a lot more later. We had to create a whole new way of looking at how we do business."

That required a completely new information structure. "Before, you didn't really need to market or sell cable TV because it was sold by franchises. But now, we have to market directly to customers and make sure our customer service is impeccable," explains Decker.

To ac hieve its customer service goals, TCI is counting on SummitTrak. When completed in 1997, it will enable 6,000 TCI service representatives to quickly sell and deploy services, or order repairs.

SummitTrak is based on Sybase's SQL Server 10 relational database and uses a graphical user interface from Neuron Data Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif. Even though Sybase recently introduced an improved version of its database, SQL Server 11, TCI will not upgrade its database in the near term. "We'll move to SQL Server 11 after its gone through rigorous testing at other Sybase customer sites and those customers' applications have been successful," says Decker. "We're not going to take any chances."

There also will be 16 Sybase databases running on Sun Microsystems SparcCenter 100E servers. TCI will use five of those servers as Sybase Replication Servers, which will serve as backups in case any of the remaining 11 databases have problems. Those Replication Servers are at TCI's Dallas site and will mirror the databases in Denver. The servers will be connected to customer service representatives through a combination of private and public wide area networks. There will be 350,000 miles of fiber-optic cable. TCI says this is the largest network in the cable industry.

SummitTrak should cut the time it takes TCI to get a new national service up and running to customers to a mere one hour, down from the current one month. Decker believes this capability will give TCI a leg up on its competitors. "We're easily two-and-a-half to three years ahead of them," she says.

But TCI is reengineering more than just its billing and customer service. The reengineering project touches every key part of the company--from financial operations to human resources. "You can't expect to re-architect one part of your company's structure and not do the rest of it," explains Decker.

Helping drive this reorganization is TCI's need to take advantage of new opportunities. With Congress rewriting the regulations for the telecom industry, TCI n ow can sell a plethora of new services, including wired and wireless phone services, instant access to the Internet, commercial online services as well as other digital programming services.

Decker's biggest challenge lies ahead. TCI needs to successfully integrate the variety of services it offers now, as well as ambitious new services in the future, such as interactive digital TV. "This isn't a perfumed pig," notes Decker. "We have to make it work in order to beat our competition."

--with additional reporting by Mary E. Thyfault

Comments on this story?

InformationWeek http://techweb.cmp.com/iwk