OFF THE TOP - THE IDEAS OF MARCH 2021

Chad Punchard, President, and Todd Rhen,
 SVP Sales for Comstar in 2018

It’s been almost a year to the day since we scrambled to clear out our offices, and we sent the majority of our employees to work from home, thanks to COVID-19. At no point in time did I think more than 300 days later we’d still be operating under these conditions. But here we are.

I’ve said it in multiple communications since the day we shifted operations, but it’s worth repeating again in this forum. I remain amazed at how resilient the broadband industry has been in coping during these challenging times. We were rightfully categorized as “essential employees” – something we were already aware of in more ways than one. And so the building of fiber-optic infrastructure continued despite the rest of the world basically shutting down.

 In fact, what we’ve all known in the industry became mainstream news as people began to rely on the services we provide to learn, work, and be entertained. The digital divide we’ve all been striving to decrease became even more evident as some rural areas struggled for adequate Internet connectivity. So, although the work required to bridge this divide remains, we continue to make inroads and the rural broadband push remains the true last mile we’re all working our tails off to fix. 

Comstar Supply Teams meeting in 2020

Specific to Comstar Supply, I feel it’s important to publicly recognize the amazing effort by the entire company as we transformed our business. Several hundred Teams meetings with employees, customers, and prospects later, I look back in amazement at how we accomplished the feat while making it nearly seamless for our customers. Even more remarkably, we in many ways improved on our largest differentiator, our superior Comstar customer service. It is my hope that you, our customers, experienced this in your dealings with us, and will continue to do so when we’re all together again. 

As we moved our team to a virtual world, our IT department was focused on updating our operational system. The first phase was completed last month, which consisted of an overhaul of the look and feel of our internal system. Consequently, we were able to streamline some manual processes while increasing efficiency of our employees. Over the course of the year, we’ll introduce new enhancements that will advance our business processes. All of this will be a seamless transition for our customers. I expect that the progress we make this year will be momentous and will power our business into the first half of this new decade.

 
Without doubt, 2020 challenged us in ways we never could have imagined. But because we were built to overcome obstacles, we embraced change and continued charging toward our goals, reaching or exceeding our targets. I’ve never been more happy to say that a new year is here, we’re ready for it, and we’ve already accomplished major initiatives that will have an even greater impact on our operations and our customers’ businesses.

It’s my sincerest hope that this note is the last time I speak of COVID-19. I’m heartened by the progress we seem to be making and fully expect we’ll have more than 50% of our workforce in office as we enter the summer. While I imagine most of our employees enjoyed not dealing with me in person, I can’t wait to walk into a crowded lunchroom where we’re sharing laughs and catching up. That time is coming; we just have to be patient. But rest assured, when the time does come, we will be celebrating in typical Comstar fashion. 

So, get ready for what I believe will be a great 2021 for both Comstar and the broadband industry. We have some exciting opportunities ahead that could take us into new geographies and result in working with new customers. In addition, we have increased our stock of critical connectivity components and fortified our position in fiber cable. We’ve also introduced new manufacturers and products into our portfolio to accommodate the rural broadband push.

Now that’s not to say that 2021 won’t be without its challenges, as commercial real estate slowly recovers and employees begin to transition back to the office. But as we all proved this past year, we can accomplish anything when we come together.
I sincerely thank you for your continued business and trust in us.

 

Chad Punchard
President, Comstar Supply