The Three Cs of Successful Partnerships

Glentel Inc. is one of Canada’s leading telecommunications companies and in 2013, celebrated its 50th year. Their success has not been without significant challenges.

The-three-CsClients differ tremendously, as do their needs and the nature of their concerns. Glentel has overcome this challenge by developing and maintaining a great relationship with clients.

A successful partnership requires three key elements: comprehension, collaboration, and communication. These are not ground-breaking concepts. In fact, they are simple and applicable to any business. But it is how you perform them that says a great deal about your company and what you can do for your clients.

Firstly, get to know your customer, build trust, determine their needs and establish a relationship. Secondly, find a suitable supplier that will provide the equipment needed to support the client and your proposed solution. Then collaborate with the supplier to ensure that design and functionality of the system meet specifications. Lastly, communicate with the supplier, the client and your team so that all issues are addressed in a timely manner before project completion.

Glentel has always stressed the importance of partnerships. In the last fifty years, they have formed great partnerships with several suppliers such as Motorola, Zetron, Kenwood, Tait and Airbus DS. However, it is their relationship with clients that Glentel believes drives their organization.

According to Rick Christiaanse, General Manager at Glentel Inc., “Building a solution to a telecommunications problem is all about the customer. We want to ensure that all requirements are satisfied and that all concerns are addressed. As a solutions provider, Glentel’s vision is to not only offer unparalleled expertise but to also serve customers so that they themselves can succeed in their line of work.”

For Glentel, a recent example of a successful client-contractor partnership is the Kawartha Lakes Police Service. Kawartha Lakes is a small community located north of Lake Ontario and has a population of approximately seventy thousand people. The Police Service’s communication system was approximately ten years old. It had reliability issues with uptime that caused an immediate public safety concern. Glentel learned of the problem with their radio system through an invite from KLPS’s Inspector Mark Mitchell. As a result, Glentel’s team of technical services specialists offered to do a technical consulting and needs analysis.

Glentel’s needs analysis involved understanding how the Kawartha Lakes Police Service did business and how they communicated. They conducted focus groups and interviews at all levels of the agency, job-shadowing the officers, supervisors and dispatch people to determine the organizational structure, communication protocols and procedures and essentially, how they went about their work day both in the office and in the field.

Through these activities, Glentel was able to gather information for a comprehensive report, which addressed their suggestions and concerns. Significantly, the process meant Glentel was able to build a relationship with their client that resulted in appropriate recommendations and solutions that met the Kawartha Lakes Police Service’s specific needs.

The Glentel report outlined three different system solutions, each detailing technical details such as the types of devices, the life cycle and longevity. All three solutions were designed to meet the needs of the Kawartha Lakes Police Service but also addressed varying financial constraints. By doing so, the Kawartha Lakes Police Service was better able to make a decision based not only on their communications needs but the finances available to them. After further discussion and consideration, the Kawartha Lakes Police Service chose the highest spec solution of the three. Glentel then immediately began the 18-month process of collaboration with suppliers. During which time Glentel was readily available and contactable, building on the relationship already established with their client. The end result was a successfully implemented Tait P25 System with three-site microwave backhaul.

At the end of the project, the Kawartha Lakes Police Service’s new radio system not only resolved the reliability issues but drove team performance and overall efficiency. KLPS Inspector Mark Mitchell said:

“Glentel is one of the leading companies in this industry and was more than capable in meeting our needs. We appreciated the initiative they showed in reaching out to us and the persistence they exhibited during the bid process. They were proactive every step of the way.”


This article is taken from Connection Magazine, Issue 6. Connection is a collection of educational and thought-leading articles focusing on critical communications, wireless and radio technology.

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