With the market for voice-over-IP and UC services projected to hit $377 billion over the next 5 years, makers of session border controllers like Acme Packet (APKT) are managing explosive growth. The company’s outspoken CEO says the most important part of that growth is hiring the right people, and he works hard to stay involved in that process. “The most important thing that I engage my 150 managers in directly is hiring,” says Ory. “When you look at the cost and the potential value of people you realize the greatest lever point is hiring and retaining and growing your people. … So the only thing I really measure my 150 managers on that don’t report to me is how well they hire. Just because someone has budgetary authority doesn’t mean they can go off and hire people, it means that they have a responsibility to go find the right candidates and they know that I’m going to get involved in the hiring process and meet every one of the candidates at the bottom of the funnel if they’re going to work in the United States.”
Acme Packet currently employs about 700 people. Ory says the sessions border controller business is very strong, and in a recent survey, service providers ranked Acme Packet as the leading provider of these products.
Andy Ory believes that for the most part, enterprise landline phones are dinosaurs scheduled for extinction in the very near future, with voice-over-IP and cellular networks set to take over. Watch the full RCR Wireless News interview here.
