Better Connected

Renowned for its expertise in infrastructure engineering across North America, TrueNet Communications Inc. (TrueNet) stands as a prominent specialty communications contractor. As one of America’s leading companies in the field, TrueNet serves a wide range of industries, including broadband, telecom, and wireless markets. With a comprehensive understanding of various network types, including CATV broadband, fiber, macro cellular, small cell, M2M, and WiFi solutions, the organization offers unparalleled services and solutions to its clients. Through its commitment to excellence and a track record of successful projects, TrueNet drives innovation and connectivity in the rapidly evolving world of communications infrastructure.

Erich Schlegel, President and CEO, and Luke McDowell, VP of Engineering, fills us in on the company’s activities and development over the last 72 months. “From a comparative perspective, our revenue is up 36 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Over the past year, we have experienced significant growth in our headcount, with a 76 percent increase in employees. Additionally, as part of the Fujitsu group, we have expanded our operations by leveraging our relationship with the Fujitsu global delivery center (GDC) in Costa Rica.

“This expansion has allowed us to add 60 engineers in Costa Rica who are fully dedicated to supporting our business. This is particularly important as it ensures that these individuals are exclusively available to us, so we do not have to compete with others in the market.

Finding skilled engineers in our industry can be challenging, and training them can be time-consuming, so retaining them is crucial. As a service industry vendor, our revenue is primarily generated by the work our employees physically perform, so achieving such significant growth is truly remarkable. Moreover, we have introduced new portfolio items, such as digital twin, which is a broad term used across various industries, referring to a digital representation of the physical world,” Erich begins.

Future Investment

Delving deeper into the capabilities of digital twin, Erich explains how it has changed TrueNet’s operations. “We are currently in the initial stages of digital twin as we have launched it just recently, and have our own equipment and software dedicated to digital data capture in the field. This allows us to efficiently process the collected data and swiftly convert it into the deliverables that our customers require. Thus, we have now entered the marketing phase, and our vehicle was showcased at the SCTE event – one of the largest gatherings in the US for the telecom industry- in Denver in October. The event provided a great opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities and explain how we can fulfill our customers’ needs. The time savings that digital twin technologies will offer in the telecom industry are expected to be significant, particularly for our customers who are Tier I telecommunications companies and MSOs.

“These companies prioritize speed to market as one of their key objectives. When they need to build a new section of their network or establish connections with major customers, they face competition from others seeking the same subscribers. Therefore, our ability to expedite these processes provides them with a crucial advantage,” he elaborates.

Erich discusses TrueNet’s projects for future investment. “Our biggest focus in terms of investment for the next couple of years is going to be digital twin, since it is a capital­ intensive endeavor. The equipment, vehicles, and software required are all very expensive. Consequently, it is important that we not only make money from it but also receive a return on our investment.

Talented Development

“Additionally, we continue to invest internally in areas such as workflow management, data management, and analytics. These investments are crucial for maintaining our competitiveness while we grow as a business. Indeed, scaling can be challenging for companies that experience rapid growth, so we must efficiently manage our workload and keep track of everything. To address this, we have developed a robust internal workflow and operational management system. This system ensures that we track all orders, assign work, perform the tasks, quality check, deliver the final products to customers, and perform accurate billing. Although this aspect may seem like the less glamorous side of the business, it is a significant distinguishing factor between companies. When large companies choose to work with us, they need the assurance that we have complete control over all our processes so that they don’t have to fix data errors or address issues such as missing orders or billing discrepancies. Therefore, it is crucial to demonstrate our proficiency in these areas.

“Furthermore,” Luke adds, “we recognize the importance of training, an area that was undervalued until the onset of covid. The pandemic led many individuals, particularly those from the older demographic, to leave the industry after decades of service. This created a strain on the availability of trained and competent human resources within the industry. As a result, finding new talent and providing them with the necessary training to become proficient in telecommunications has become a challenge for all of us. To counter that, we have taken it upon ourselves to invest in training at our own cost by recruiting individuals with no prior experience in telecommunications and providing them with comprehensive training. This investment is crucial for our growth, as experienced individuals who are not already employed in the industry are difficult to find,” Luke concludes.

Through ongoing innovation, investment in digital transformation and new talent development, TrueNet is driving infrastructure connectivity solutions worldwide.

Read in Construction Today’s November edition on pages 48-53.