Technology may advance. Business needs may change. But telecom vet Scott Layman is always focused on one thing as the industry changes around him: constantly improving the customer experience.

In the days where massive service providers for phone, Internet, and the like are known for less than stellar customer service (which helps them cut costs), Scott, COO of Pioneer Telephone, says you can wow your clients in every interaction – and still make a healthy profit.

We discuss how to make it happen and also talk about…

• The importance of “instant” customer service – and how to provide it
• Why you should avoid customer acquisition
• When you must say no to huge deals
• What you can learn from having dinner in Italy
• And more

Listen now…

Mentioned in This Episode: www.pioneertelephone.com

Episode Transcript:

David Elmasian: Welcome to Hub of Success. I’m your host, David Elmasian. Today I’m with Scott Layman, chief operating officer of Pioneer Telephone. Pioneer Telephone is a premier provider of hosted unified communication solutions committed to delivering cost effective and reliable business solutions that are supported by best in class customer service.

Pioneer was founded over 20 years ago with the promise of combining outstanding service and savings to its customers. Based in Portland, Maine, Pioneer prides itself on being accessible to its clients, always answering within seconds at state of the art customer service center in Portland.

Prior to Pioneer, Scott’s held numerous sea level positions at several technology and telecom companies in the United States and Europe. An entrepreneur at heart, Scott loves nothing better than the growing scale of business.

Welcome to the Podcast, Scott.

Scott Layman: I appreciate that. Thank you.

David Elmasian: Great. Well, I’m happy to have you on. So let’s get started. So Scott, tell me about how you got started in this telecom field? Am I using the right term? Telecom, is that the right phrase? Am I dating myself?

Scott Layman: Probably. If we throw telephone into the conversation, we might date both of us. So, I started off back in telecom almost 30 years ago. It wasn’t through any real planning or love of the industry. It was coming out of school and somebody asked me if I wanted to pay some phone bills for a company in Washington D.C. I got started in it and began to realize I really like the networking component of it. This is back in the days when telex was on its way out, fax was popular and digital conversations were really at the forefront.

David Elmasian: Wow. That does go back a little ways. You’re dating yourself, you know?

Scott Layman: Yeah, exactly.

David Elmasian: Next you’ll be mentioning pagers, you know? A real throw back. But go ahead. I’m sorry for interrupting.

Scott Layman: No. Not at all. So that’s how I got started into the industry. And then I actually took a jump out, and this ties back to telecom, and worked for a newspaper company and thought it would be great to have that product in hand and something everybody knew about. And it took me about, I don’t know, six months before I was looking for a job to get back into telecommunications where things were changing rapidly.

David Elmasian: Right. Right. So we both know that the newspaper industry doesn’t have much of a future or the future looks a lot different than it did probably back in those days. So kind of, let’s do a little bit of time back machine. What was quote, unquote, “Telecom,” like back in those days when you first got started? What was your typical customer? What were you doing with those types of customers?

Scott Layman: Back in that timeframe in the early ’90s, it was an industry that was still dominated, when you thought of the traditional company, by the Bell Company, AT&T, and then there was an upstart called MCI and a company that went from United Telephone to Sprint.

So it was really a consolidated industry that focused on voice and some data communication. So the standard for customer service was certainly not what it is today, because of the big company domination.

My experience was in smaller companies that focused out in some of the niche environments that focused on customized billing, so they would resell other products and then provide the customer support behind those basic services.

David Elmasian: Okay. So what types of customers were you dealing with in those days?

Scott Layman: We did a lot with a couple of companies that I worked for, with law firms. The billing and customer service was a critical element because they had the need to be able to bill their customers …

David Elmasian: Of course. First priority, right?

Scott Layman: And you don’t want to miss a minute on the phone of billable time and the rates were actually high enough, they made sure they would flow through those long distance rates …

David Elmasian: Yep.

Scott Layman: … to their clients. So we created some customized software that allowed us to do all that billing. So talking about a group that when somebody in their office calls or has a question or a dispute or an issue, they want somebody on the phone almost instantly. So we set it up such that when somebody was calling in from the law firm, that somebody was picking up those phones probably in less than 10 seconds.

David Elmasian: Okay. Just out of curiosity, and you may not have the answer to this, but what was the average … What was the typical invoice for a customer in those days?

Scott Layman: So the customers that we were serving, they were running into the thousands, and occasionally they’d get into 10, 20, $30,000 for our primary customers.

David Elmasian: Wow. The good ol’ days, huh?

Scott Layman: Exactly. When there was a lot more margin on long distance types of services.

David Elmasian: Yeah. Long distance billing now, I imagine, is kind of a diminishing industry.

Scott Layman: It is. It’s still out there. People forget that the calls still need to be handed from one network to the next sometimes. And we actually here at Pioneer still have a sub business in the residential side for people who are still paying long distance in some of those central states in the U.S.

David Elmasian: Really? Ha. I didn’t know that.

Scott Layman: Yeah. Sometimes on the East coast we forget that reliable internet is not always as available as you might think.

David Elmasian: Yeah. Well, even in places like this sometimes reliable internet sometimes is a fallacy as well too. But that’s a whole other discussion. You and I will talk about that off line at some point.

So, let’s fast forward to today. So, we talked about what it was like back in the day when you got started. What’s modern … and again I’m using the word, “telecom,” I apologize. Is unified communication a better term to be using? What’s it like in today’s world? What does the average business … What should they be doing or what are they doing in terms of their communication?

Scott Layman: It’s really … I mean, within telecommunication, it’s really a colliding and it’s more than just the tele component, the voice component. In case, you can look at how you do the voice, say instant messaging, this is where it all comes together, the voice mails, the e-mails, and how you can pull together some of this technology in a manner that either helps the productivity of your company or helps improve the customer experience. That’s where we really try to make sure people understand the benefits of our products.

David Elmasian: Yep. So when you talk about customer experience, are you talking about your customers or the customers of the business, meaning the end user or the company that’s paying for the service, so to speak?

Scott Layman: From our perspective there are two groups that we really need to make sure that we serve well. So if we take care of our customers, the one paying our invoice, and help them understand how best to use our service in a way that makes their customer service to their end users out in that community. If they see that benefit, then we get stickiness, and that is so important to every business out there. Because then they see where we’ve helped them solve one of their business problems.

And at that point, they become a very loyal, long term customer. And that’s really the objective. Because we all know in business, customer acquisition, it’s something that is expensive, and so we’ve always taken, the companies I’ve worked at, the philosophy that says where we’re spending a lot, investing a lot to acquire customers, let’s make sure we spend at least that much to make sure that they stay with us for lots of good reasons.

David Elmasian: Sure. Makes 100 percent sense to me, because, again, I certainly live that life every day as well. And I certainly understand how expensive and time consuming and difficult it can be in customer acquisition. Not just in acquiring the customer, but like you said, acquiring the right one, keeping them happy, because like every business, we all have a lot of choices nowadays, and you don’t want to go through at the time, money and expense only to lose them because somebody is willing to charge 10 cents less or what have you.

Scott Layman: And you bring up a good point with the choices, because it’s not … and it was the case, I mentioned back in the day, where there were the primary companies and then there were those like the companies I worked with that worked around the perimeter creating customized product and services. And that still exists today. It’s a different landscape, but some of the same differentiators are out there. That’s where it’s important as people are looking at service providers, is to make sure they pick one that aligns with some of their business objectives.

David Elmasian: Well …

Scott Layman: The enterprise, 10,000 users, is very different than the needs of the small to midsize business with 10 users.

David Elmasian: Right. Well, I was going to say, give me an example of how that … You know, obviously you see success stories and sometimes when things aren’t a great fit. Could you give me some examples of where sometimes you either acquire a customer or come across a customer and you say, “Wow, these guys are really not a good fit for …” fill in the blank, or, “They are a good fit.” What are some examples of those scenarios that you’ve seen in your career or even just recently?

Scott Layman: Well, the best examples are the ones where somebody comes in and brings you a huge deal and immediately you start thinking of, “Oh, I’m going to make 25 percent of my annual plan if I just do this one deal.” And everybody starts counting commission, you know, how they’re going to do well to their performance measures. And what they forget to look at is, how well did that customer fit into your target zone?

It creates a couple of different issues. One is, are you really going to be able to take care of all of their unique needs? I mentioned the 10,000 feet enterprise, Pioneer for example, we don’t have the technical and integration experts on hand that would be able to make that customer happy with integrating with their dozens of existing internal systems.

David Elmasian: Sure.

Scott Layman: So we went ahead and all started high fiving when that contract got signed. We could really bring our company to its knees trying to figure out how to support that. And key up a couple of issues, but not to be discounted is all your existing customers suffer because of the focus on that one large deal …

David Elmasian: Of course.

Scott Layman: … and the ability to support it over the long term. So I always found that it is really important that you stay focused on what you decide is important to your company.

David Elmasian: Yeah. And I think that’s a common trajectory that we see. I know I’ve seen it many times, both in my own businesses and in working with other businesses. We all kind of go through that, right? You start out, you want to take any and all customers that come your way. You’re desperate for business, obviously, because you need that revenue. And then as you progress, hopefully as you progress, you realize you can’t be a one size fits all for every circumstance. And if you try to be, sometimes that potential gain turns out to be a negative, not just for yourself and your company, but more importantly, for the customer.

And it’s difficult to say no sometimes to a customer, because A, you never want … Your inclination is always to say yes. And the second part is you don’t want to offend somebody, right?

Scott Layman: Absolutely.

David Elmasian: But again, knowing who you can work well with and can be effective with goes a long ways towards, again, what we were talking about originally, which is keeping those long term clients.

So, that brings up a thing. And again, we’ll go old school again, and I apologize for people that are listening if we’re doing too much of that, but in our business, it doesn’t happen very often anymore, but when I first got started back in the early 2000s and [inaudible 00:13:00] was just coming into it, we would bring it up and customers at that time would have a huge loyalty to, let’s say, Verizon. I’m using the term old school Verizon. You know, what’s the correct term? Is it POTS, P-O-T-S, plain old telephone system? Is it copper?

Scott Layman: Yep.

David Elmasian: Am I getting too techy here or outdating myself? But people would have this huge loyalty because they were afraid that if they switched to one of these crazy new companies, that customers couldn’t reach them. And do you get that objection still nowadays?

Scott Layman: We really don’t see it as much as we used to. I mean, to take it back to when you’re talking about, I mentioned back in the day that upstart company called MCI, and there was a phrase, nobody ever lost their job for doing business with AT&T, even if that cost twice as much. In today’s world you see less and less of that. Some of it is [inaudible 00:13:58] that company and understand what they’ve been doing. And it’s created a more intelligent consumer in many respects.

The other thing we’re seeing more and more of in the industry, having been in it for a long time, is more and more companies are working with trusted partners or advisors, working with IT management companies. Sometimes there’s the telecom management where somebody comes in and takes a look and does an assessment and makes a recommendation. We’re seeing more and more people are looking to those folks who are going to know more about the technology to help them through that process.

David Elmasian: Which is a wonderful thing. Right? It’s a great thing. It’s good for you. It’s good for me.

Scott Layman: Absolutely. But we also find that it makes for a better educated customer. We all have a better chance of making sure the expectations are met.

David Elmasian: Sure. And again, not to get off topic, but I think it’s relevant to this discussion. One of the challenges, I think in both of our businesses, is customers get caught in the crossfire, right? Meaning, there is an outage. And because everything, you know, is dependent on their data feed, which is to say, for lack of a better term, they don’t care what the problem is, but I’ve seen it first hand or second and third hand where the telecom provider says, “No, it’s your network.” The network person says, “No, it’s the telecom.” And the end result is, the customer is frustrated and angry, because now their customers can’t reach them or vice versa.

So, you know, in the scenario you described where you have, let’s just again, we’ll use the term IT provider and a telecom provider working together, it provides a uniform front to the customer so that that finger pointing can be eliminated out of the equation and working towards resolving any potential issues is really the focus. And that’s really what we want, and I’m sure that’s what the customer wants as well too.

So I think it’s a very smart, unique way of doing it. So I applaud you and Pioneer for really making that part of your equation of how you do business.

Scott Layman: Yeah. We’re also … I mean, we’re the voice guys out there. We really focus on taking care of people’s voice needs. But our network, as you point out, is now much more intertwined or dependent on the data networks. And those data networks are the ones that are within somebody’s facility, you know, their switches, their cabling, their routers, firewalls. And then we all hand it off to the internet where we’ve got another element, which is digitizing everything in terms of our voices conversations.

So there are a number of moving pieces and a little more complexity that goes in with all these great service capabilities that are available today that didn’t exist 20 years ago.

David Elmasian: Definitely.

Scott Layman: That’s where that tight partnership is really important, because particularly the small to midsize business, these folks have businesses to run. Customers to talk to, employees to manage. They don’t have the time and most of them the inclination to become experts in telecommunication and data networking and everything else.

David Elmasian: Well, plus they care. And again, not to slam other industries, but if you’re a monopoly and your phones aren’t working 100 percent, and customers can’t reach you, yeah, they kind of care. But do they really?

Scott Layman: Absolutely.

David Elmasian: I think we can give some examples of when caring is maybe not so much of a concern.

So, that brings us to the next point, which is, what makes you guys different? We talked about the integration or working together with trusted partners and advisors, whether it be IT or telecom advisors. Any other things that sets Pioneer or what you guys do or how you do it different when people are out there shopping and, of course, they’re always looking at price? But there’s other factors they have to look at, right?

Scott Layman: Yeah. And two of the top items we lead with is our customer service. Moving phone companies, we do it every day, we don’t think much about it. But if you’re a small business, there’s a little anxiety. “Am I going to be out of service,” and these types of things.

So we assign an individual to walk all of our customers through, whether it’s four employees or some of our larger ones that might be over 100, to walk them through the process. Somebody to get in touch with so that they feel a little more confident in that process.

And then after we get them installed, we provide customer service so that they can give us a call. And we answer well over 90 percent of our calls within 30 seconds or less. And what we figured out with small businesses over time is, most of the time they have a really quick question that they need answered so that they can get back to their day’s work. “I forgot how to do this. My boss wants me to set this up differently.”

And then we can quickly get them their answer and get them back to doing their job. And it’s really what they’re looking for, is what we found out as a telecommunications partner.

David Elmasian: Yep. I agree 100 percent. And full disclosure. We’re both partners and customers of Pioneer, and you know, everything that you just described, or probably the Number 1 and 2 reasons why we have both partnered and been customers of Pioneer. And we just recently went through a migration, both with one of our customers and with one of my businesses. And having that single point of contact was huge, because like you said, it might not be an earth shattering question or dilemma, but being able to reach an individual that’s familiar with what’s going on is just so much easier and so much more effective.

Whereas in the past, when we’ve worked with other vendors for our own telecom needs, it was always call into a general support number and you kind of have to start all over again with somebody, and you didn’t know if that person, how experienced they were, how familiar they were, how much the previous person you spoke to had documented the issue. And that makes just a huge difference. So if I saved 20 bucks using somebody else, did I really save any money? I didn’t. I know that. You know that, and I think anybody that’s been in business would realize that as well too.

So, you know, again, let’s kind of switch gears a little bit. In doing my research on you … Another term I use for research is stocking you on the internet … I’ve discovered a couple of things about you, Scott. And you can either confirm or deny these things. I’m joking. But I know that you’ve worked at a number of companies that we touched on. And some of them were not all in the United States. Some were in Europe. Is that true, first of all, and if it was, tell me a little bit about that.

Scott Layman: Yeah, I was fortunate I had the opportunity to work in Switzerland for a couple of years. We were building five rocket networks in a number of European capitals over there. And the race to get band would have been in the early 2000 frame. And that was just a great experience. Loved the country, a lot of outdoors. I happen to be a skier. There’s nothing like being back … or being into the Swiss Alps, get out and enjoy a day trip.

David Elmasian: I just had a mental picture of you skiing down, like you said, the Alps, with a cup of hot cocoa in your hand.

Scott Layman: It more likely was a mobile phone. I was supposed to be in the office at some point that day but couldn’t let another beautiful day go by.

David Elmasian: We’ll keep that amongst ourselves. We won’t share that with anybody else.

So besides Switzerland did you live or work anywhere else in Europe?

Scott Layman: I also had the opportunity for about a year and a half, I worked and lived in London, and that was actually working for a company that would put wifi into hotels, which my kids laugh at today, because I tell the story, we were really at the very beginning of that back in 2002. In fact, our biggest issue was there wasn’t a computer hole when we started this that had wifi built into it.

David Elmasian: Yeah. I remember those days. Yeah.

Scott Layman: Some of the crowd may not remember when you had to slot in, what was it, the PCMIA card or something. So, that was our Number 1 business challenge when we were launching that. Needless to say, now, forget about hotels, if people can’t walk down the street and grab a wifi signal, typically if you’re under the age of 21, you wonder if you’ve gone back to the dark ages.

David Elmasian: Yep. The world has changed quite a bit. So, what was that experience like working and living in Europe? Did it give you a different perspective than living in the U.S.? Do you want to go back?

Scott Layman: Yeah, I might be interested in going back at some point. The experience was … We really enjoyed it. We still have very close friends of the family from both of those locations. And it just gave you a perspective on there’s a different way to look at things. And sometimes you’ve got to take an extra minute to try to understand the context that somebody is bringing their issue to you and figure out what they’re really trying to get to, what is their understanding.

The second thing that really stood out is, sometimes we think our way is the best way, and it’s because we really haven’t seen it done differently. Taking the time to consider, well, when we’re building fiber optic networks, maybe there was a better approach on how to do this in a different landscape. So it really gave a different perspective on tackling issues and working with people.

David Elmasian: Sure There are differences. I’m certainly no expert, but three out of the last four years, my wife and I have traveled to Europe on vacation. And the first time we went, I remember we flew into Italy and we went, of course, to a restaurant, right? And we ordered. And the pace was … I don’t want to say slow, but we looked at it as being slow. You know, “Chop. Chop. What’s going on here?” And we realized at first, that aggravation, which is our natural inclination, I think, for us that live in the U.S., realized that it’s actually kind of a nice thing. Not everything has to be immediate. It’s okay to savor the moment, so to speak. Again, when appropriate.

And I think we don’t really do that in this country. And again, I’m generalizing, of course. But it did, and it sounds like you got a little bit of that yourself having had the good fortune of living over there and learning about that as well.

Scott Layman: Yeah, it was very interesting. And the idea is, if you reserve a table for dinner, you’re reserving a table for the evening. There’s not a 6:00 sitting, then you’ve got to be done in two hours so the 8:00 people [crosstalk 00:25:24]

David Elmasian: Right. And they’re hovering over you by 7:30 like, “Hey, somebody else wants to be here.”

Scott Layman: Exactly. So you can sit down and enjoy your meal. A number of the restaurants in Switzerland would often ask you if they could open the bottle of wine for you so when you arrived, it had already taken its time to breathe and you could enjoy it. So there are just different ways. But until you realize the different underlying principle behind going out to dinner, you think of slow service.

David Elmasian: Sure. Yep.

Scott Layman: They come here and it’s like, “What’s the hurry? You’re hanging out with friends. You don’t like your friends that much?”

David Elmasian: Right. Yeah. I know. It is definitely different. So, you’ve been an executive at a bunch of companies over the years. If my research is correct you actually started some businesses too. Am I correct in saying that?

Scott Layman: Yes.

David Elmasian: Okay. So, you know, for those that are listening that are either working for another company and maybe have dreams or aspirations of starting a business, or in the process of starting a business and kind of saying, “Hey, how can I grow this?” And all that, what’s your perspective on start-ups? Do you miss it? Do you hanker for the old days, so to speak at times saying, “Wow, I really wish I was involved in that”? Or do you kind of do the opposite and say, “You know, it’s kind of nice getting a paycheck every two weeks,” or whatever it is and all that?

Scott Layman: There certainly are benefits on both sides of it. Right now I really love what I’m doing at Pioneer, particularly with our SMB focus. But when you’re out there looking at a start-up, obviously it’s something not only do you have to have really passion on, you have to ask yourself why is your group or your approach to the market, why is it unique? Everybody heard it a hundred times. Is the problem that you’re solving equally important? Who are you solving it for? So you’ve got that identified market straight out of the gate. Who are you going to really go out and pursue with your great idea?

And it was actually an interesting thing, is we did it with the Wi-Fi company. What we thought was a great idea and we could really build a business out of, we started to see the phone companies move in really quickly. And what we realized is, it was going to turn into more of a product, not a real stand-alone opportunity to build a company around it. And that’s where, as you talk about growing, we realized that, and pivoted, with the help of our investors, came to the decision that it was really time to sell the business, that that transition was going to be into something that we weren’t going to be able to really effectively compete.

And that’s always a tough one as you’re growing your business.

David Elmasian: Sure. Absolutely.

Scott Layman: Fight it out and really be the market leader, or are you really going to be finding yourself in an environment where you may not be equipped to compete with the other companies.

David Elmasian: Yeah. And I think it’s a tough challenge, because as an entrepreneur, your mindset is full steam ahead, right, no matter what. You have to have a thousand percent belief. Never mind 100 percent belief, in what you’re doing and why you’re doing it and all the rest. And then to be able to step back and kind of look at it and make a decision like that can be very challenging. But again, at the end of the day, what makes the most sense? Not about your stubbornness, or your willingness or unwillingness to look at what’s happening around you.

I think that’s a very good perspective on it, Scott. And I think that’s an interesting, unique view of looking at a situation I think a lot of people are in, either now or have been in the past or will be moving forward.

So, you know, let’s kind of wrap things up with some lighter topics. Because, again, speaking of attention spans, we don’t want to go on too long. So in talking with you, I understand that you went to the University of Michigan, is that correct, for college?

Scott Layman: That is. Go Blue.

David Elmasian: So my first question obviously, being a Boston guy is, what was it like to be roommates with Tom Brady?

Scott Layman: Yeah, I wish I could say I was that close to Tom Brady or even that I was at the University of Michigan when he was there.

David Elmasian: Are you saying that you’re a little bit older than him?

Scott Layman: I’m a little older than him.

David Elmasian: All right. Okay. Well, I was hoping. I was grasping, but I thought you could give me some good Tom Brady stories, you know, that kind of stuff.

But, from a larger perspective, and this is my own personal curiosities more than anything else, honestly. I attended a relatively small college, which, you know, around the New England area is a little more common place. There’s definitely some larger ones, but not like other places in the country. Because, even when you were going to Michigan, I mean, how many students did they have there at that time, do you recall?

Scott Layman: Undergraduate was probably about 24,000.

David Elmasian: Yeah. Pretty good number. Why did you choose a big school like Michigan and what was different about it? What was the appeal?

Scott Layman: There were a couple of things. One is, I actually grew up in Michigan, so the in-state tuition …

David Elmasian: Oh, there you go.

Scott Layman: … was cool.

David Elmasian: So your parents appreciated that too.

Scott Layman: Yeah. I think the comment was, “Yeah, we’ll pay for tuition at any place the equivalent to the University of Michigan.” The private schools had a whole different ring to them.

David Elmasian: Yep.

Scott Layman: But, just football Saturday was something I always loved, having gone to the games growing up. And then just the diversity of opportunity that was available at Michigan is something else that was really interesting. At the same time, it’s a big place, so you had to find your groups, otherwise it could be overwhelming.

David Elmasian: Of course. Yep. Well, speaking of sports, there’s a rumor going around that you’re quite the over handed bowler. Is that true, Scott?

Scott Layman: I’m not sure you’d call it I do bowling.

David Elmasian: I heard that there were numerous instances when you may have been asked to leave because of your bowling skills, let’s just say. It’s just a rumor out there. It may not be true. But a couple of little birdies had mentioned that to me at some point, you know?

Scott Layman: Yeah, I never asked to lead. I usually score better on ball speed than I do [crosstalk 00:31:48] But it’s just a fundamental misunderstanding of the objective, I think.

David Elmasian: You’re doing it right. Just everybody else is doing it wrong, right?

Scott Layman: Yeah, it’s a matter of perspective again.

David Elmasian: All right. We’ll wrap it up with this, Scott. We have a little segment that I call, “Check your Tech.” And it’s just fun. No right or wrong answers here. Quick, easy questions. You know, but we’ll throw this in there, too.

So, are you a Mac or PC guy?

Scott Layman: Mac.

David Elmasian: Okay. iPhone or Android?

Scott Layman: iPhone.

David Elmasian: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn. And there’s multiple answers here. You can only pick one if you don’t want to.

Scott Layman: LinkedIn at a very low level.

David Elmasian: Sounds like you’re not a big fan, but we’ll let you know. Not as willing. Okay. This one is a little geeky. Alexa or Google Home? I stumped him. These are these connective speakers. I don’t know if you’ve heard of either one.

Scott Layman: Yeah. I’ve got the Apple product in my home.

David Elmasian: Okay. All right. So you’re an Apple guy.

Scott Layman: I don’t know. I just plug it all in and it works.

David Elmasian: There you go. Netflix or Hulu?

Scott Layman: Netflix.

David Elmasian: All right. I know the answer to this next one, but I’ll ask it anyway. Roku, Apple T.V. or Chromecast?

Scott Layman: Apple T.V.

David Elmasian: All right. G-mail or Outlook?

Scott Layman: Outlook.

David Elmasian: So that’s the corporate guy in you, right?

Scott Layman: Exactly.

David Elmasian: And this one you may not have an answer to, but I’m going to ask it anyway because it’s relevant to the time of year. Halloween costume for you, your family or anybody you know?

Scott Layman: Not in my family. The youngest one is 16 and there’s no more Halloween. But I do enjoy sitting there at the door seeing what’s coming up with the next group in the neighborhood.

David Elmasian: Yeah. By 16 if they’re going out trick-or-treating, you’ve got to be a little worried there.

Scott Layman: You should be really worried.

David Elmasian: Well, Scott, I really appreciate you sharing your story with us. I know we could talk for hours, but unfortunately we’re out of time. Before we finish up, would you want people to reach out to you directly or to Pioneer? How do people go about learning more about what we talked about in terms of unified communications and all the rest?

Scott Layman: Yeah. They can Link out, reach out to me either … I am on LinkedIn. Low level user. Or they can just drop me an e-mail or they can reach me via good old fashioned telephone.

David Elmasian: You have a telephone?

Scott Layman: Yeah. I don’t have one that sits on my desk, it only runs as an app on my mobile or my computer.

David Elmasian: You geek you. Well, thanks again, Scott. Thanks for sharing with us on the Hub of Success. I’m your host Dave Elmasian.