Mood is changing at WorldCom

Last week, WorldCom’s chairman and CEO Michael Capellas introduced his 100-day plan for the company. He laid out important goals including filing a reorganization plan with the bankruptcy court, offering new incentive programs for the company’s sales force and absorbing the increased costs for health benefits for all employees.

His plan also included an increased focus on customer service, product development and new services for residential as well as business customers.

But what he really did was paint a picture that includes a future for the embattled service provider. That was something WorldCom employees and customers needed.

Imagine working at WorldCom. Between the bankruptcy, corporate scandal, indictments, management shifts and layoffs anyone’s morale would dip from time-to-time. And prior to the floor dropping out from under WorldCom in July, the company was lead by Bernard Ebbers who simply was not known for creating warm fuzzies for employees or customers.

Capellas seems committed to change that. While the proof is in the pudding, his commitment deserves some credit.

Based on his plan, customers can expect new efforts to improve WorldCom’s customer service overall. Two specific plans Capellas mentioned include the creation of CIO focus groups that will offer feedback to WorldCom about what the company is doing well and not so well.

WorldCom is also dedicating key executives as point persons for the company’s top 50 to 100 accounts. These are efforts that would have never seen the light of day under Ebbers’ watch.

 Capellas also talked about putting more efforts toward product development and converged services.

While WorldCom’s future still is unpredictable, at least Capellas is trying to create an environment where the company could emerge from bankruptcy with at least an improved foundation to build a successful business.

If you watched Capellas’ Webcast at https://www.worldcom.com/ and had some thoughts about his plan and presentation drop us a line. We’d like to hear your thoughts.