Hi there,

First off, on behalf of all of us here at Worldline, I wish to pass along our sincerest appreciation for your continued patronage. It is because of valued customers like you that we are able to provide our telecom services to so many Canadians, and it’s something we never forget.

That is why I’m writing you today. I feel you deserve a thorough explanation for the interruption of service that occurred on Friday afternoon and went on into Saturday.

On October 18^th at 12:24 p.m., a number of fibre optic cables were accidentally cut by a piece of construction equipment drilling across the street from one of our primary data centres in Toronto.

This cut impacted us and hundreds of other companies who rely on this location for critical services, and, as you can see from the map, the range of the interruption was extensive.

By 2 p.m. our staff arrived on site to discern what had happened and to assist in the repair. Due to the extensive damage and the large number of repairs required, services were not all restored as quickly as we would have liked.

By 5 a.m. on Saturday, services in Kitchener/Waterloo, Sarnia, and Windsor were restored and all were gradually restored over a 28-hour period.

This was an unprecedented event, and we are committed to learn from it and will be implementing several strategies to avoid the severity of this impact in the future.

While we strive for 100% up-time when it comes to our network, there are those rare occasions, like when a drilling rig cuts a cable, that there will be interruptions. The best way for you to be kept apprised of what is going on at Worldline is to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, (and not just for service updates, but for things like product information and contests as well).

I hope this helps you understand  the rarity and complexity of last week’s problem and again, we appreciate your business and continued patronage.

Sincerely,

Roy Graydon
President – Worldline

Is it good to be the underdog?

According to Malcolm Gladwell no less, it is.

In David and Goliath, Gladwell turns how we think about obstacles and disadvantages on their heads, offering a new interpretation of what it means to go up against formidable opponents.

Great book, and something we actively believe in at Worldline, and it makes us feel good that a guy like Gladwell sees things the same way we do.

In battling the bigs, Gladwell puts forth three rules of engagement:

1. Changing the Shape of the Battle
2. The Act of Overwhelming Odds Produces Greatness and Beauty
3. Substituting Speed and Surprise for Strength

How is Worldline Changing the Shape of the Battle?

By not playing by the same rules as the Big Three. First, let’s be honest, we can’t. Their marketing budgets dwarf ours by several orders of magnitude. However more importantly, in striving to become more of a major player in Canadian telecom, we don’t want to become like them. We don’t want to replace them. We want to be better than them. Canadians are being overcharged for their telecom services by our opponents due to a combination of insane overheads and blind greed. We are lean, we are fair, and we are into providing the best services at the fairest prices for our customers, now, and always.

Are we Producing Greatness and Beauty? You kidding? Does this answer your question?

Our Superhero kids really are our kids – and we dare you to not call them beautiful!         We double dare you…

And finally, are we Substituting Speed and Surprise for Strength? We are nimble, we are quick, and what we are not is stuck with complexity and process that makes us, like a Supertanker, unable to change course when there is danger ahead. Do you think companies like Rogers, Telus and Bell want the terrible reputations they’ve earned over the past few months? Of course not, but they just can’t help themselves because that’s the course they have set.

Gladwell’s David and Goliath is a terrific book, and not just because it reaffirms what we are trying to do.

It’s also a great reminder how success is so much sweeter when you are beating the odds.

The 2013 Junior Achievement Business Spirit Awards

Every year Junior Achievement, through their Spirit Awards, recognizes “individuals and businesses who have dared to reach beyond the norm and opened their mind to possibility, inspiring others with their creativity and passion along the way.”

This year we are honoured to be nominated in the “Marketing Innovation” category.

For us this is especially cool because, unlike most businesses our size, we are doing it all ourselves. Our small in-house team work very hard (if I do say so myself) at getting the word out about the best kept secret in Canadian telecom.

Until this year, Worldline relied on non-traditional marketing to grow our business. While it was working well, it wasn’t getting our “high quality, money-saving service” message out to enough Canadians. We had to change, and that’s why we started things like this blog, and our Facebook page and Worldline Twitter feeds.

We launched our Superhero kids campaign, and instead of using professional models, we decided to feature our own kids instead  – because they really are super!

Who is that masked kid? (He’s Sharon in accounting’s son – shhhhh)

We’re all over the Internet, on the radio, we’re coming to TV, and wherever else we think of to let as many people possible know they don’t have to take it anymore. They have options.

So thanks to Junior Achievement for recognizing what we are doing and win or lose, it’s simply terrific to be nominated. (Although we want to win. Big time.)

Winners to be announced at the The Business Spirit Awards ceremony on November 7th.