If there’s one philosophy that guides Jason Juranek’s role as CEO of the satellite, fiber and cellular network solutions provider Globecomm, it’s a customer-centric mentality.
“I deem that a very significant guidepost for myself and the company,” says Juranek, speaking from Globecomm’s Hauppauge, New York, headquarters.
Driven by relationships, understanding customer needs and delivering leading-edge technologies — these elements underpin that philosophy. So does Juranek’s extensive knowledge of financial operations.
Having risen through the ranks of financial operations at companies such as Harris CapRock, Vangent, General Dynamics and DynCorp, Juranek joined Globecomm as chief financial officer in 2015, becoming CEO one year later.
Customer Alignment
Juranek has since tapped a blend of financial and business acumen to help shape company objectives, spanning revenue growth; team recruitment and development (and accompanying innovation in engineering solutions, network services and the internet of things), as well as sales and marketing initiatives.
Throughout, it’s the customer, always the customer, who comes first, Juranek says.
“We’re always striving to understand where our customers are headed — strategically and tactically,” says Juranek, citing a customer base spanning government, oil and gas, telecom, maritime, media and entertainment, enterprise video and the IoT sectors. The company, meanwhile, has offices in New York, the Washington, D.C., area, as well as in Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and Singapore.
“What I’ve found is when you align yourself with the customer, and support their needs by providing critical services, you become a trusted partner,” Juranek says.
With customers frequently in theater — by land, sea and air — that focus takes center stage on platforms like Globecomm’s network operations center. Such work builds on the company’s longstanding experience designing and implementing Enterprise and Morale and Welfare networks for U.S. troops and the U.S. foreign affairs community.
“Thanks to our operational teams’ 24/7/365 engineering and monitoring skills, we’ve become known and trusted for our operational responsiveness, record availability, and exceptional support in times of need, such as natural disasters,” Juranek says. “That obsession with the mission-critical operational needs of the customer, to me, is something we do incredibly well.”
Globecomm Team
That high performance comes courtesy of the Globecomm team — to date, nearly 400 employees, including 200 engineers. Juranek is also passionate about recruiting the next generation of engineers. Industry colleagues have taken note.
A year ago, Juranek was appointed to the board of Space & Satellite Professionals International, a 3,000-member association founded in 1983 to advance satellite technologies. Among SSPI’s charter missions is to attract future leaders into the sector.
“I’m excited about how we can work to drive more talent into this industry,” says Juranek, who voices the same excitement about work currently underway among Globecomm’s engineers. “Our engineers bring amazing expertise to designing, integrating and operating complex communication solutions across the globe, and regularly implement innovative changes that help support our customers more efficiently and economically.”
‘Technology-agnostic’ Expertise
Juranek is equally proud of what he sees as an essential ingredient in guiding customers toward the right solutions —being “technology agnostic,” as he puts it.
“We push our engineers to learn the different technologies out there — we need to make sure we understand every one of them,” Juranek says.
Versatility is often the result. For example, roughly 30 Globecomm engineers also possess highly specialized training as software developers, and routinely develop proprietary internal software applications that support customers’ critical communication requirements. That all-encompassing understanding, Juranek adds, translates into impartial guidance, too.
“There could be 10 different modems out there — or hundreds of satellites — and we make sure we understand each one of them,” Juranek says. “What we are doing, then, is putting together the best solution.”
In providing solutions, such as virtualization, Globecomm can also run customers through the minutia of offerings, in areas like price points. Practically speaking, the company can put together a handful of bids for a customer, and walk through the pros and cons of each offering. Being technology agnostic drives that ability.
Shared Vision
Promoting ‘technology-agnostic’ values, Juranek notes, is shared by Globecomm’s private equity owners.
“They understand the ecosystem of complex communication solutions,” Juranek says. “They understand our verticals very well, and they’ve been very supportive of our growth strategy and priorities.”
Applying Satellite of Things to Internet of Things—with AT&T
Globecomm’s growth strategy includes expanding its cloud and internet of things capabilities through strategic partnerships.
Businesses and government customers often have assets spread across the globe, making it challenging to pull data from devices in remote areas with limited connectivity. With satellite connectivity and Globecomm’s existing cellular services, businesses can ensure that even their most isolated assets are working properly.
In 2016, Globecomm introduced a Global Internet of Things Service platform, a single web-based console for managing Industrial IoT and machine-to-machine networks. The platform provides access to Globecomm’s global satellite, fiber, teleport, and data center network, which delivers worldwide connectivity, operational simplicity, cost efficiencies and end-to-end support across the life cycle.
Globecomm recently launched a new service with AT&T that allows satellite connectivity to work seamlessly with AT&T’s cellular network. That means businesses no longer need to purchase their cellular and satellite services separately. The partners deliver one integrated solution for managing IoT devices, networks and applications.
“Together with AT&T, we’re offering a one-stop shop for IoT connectivity that provides a flexible, reliable and highly secure service to monitor their assets nearly anywhere,” Juranek says.
Amazon Web Services Partner
This past February, Globecomm further cemented its cloud expertise, joining the Amazon Web Services Partner Network as a Standard Technology Partner. Globecomm had already been developing platforms — and scalable customer solutions — on AWS since 2014.
Formally joining AWS as a partner now allows Globecomm to help customers move beyond the previous status quo of using traditional stacked hardware in their own data centers, and having to build their own teleport.
Now, customers benefit from Globecomm’s global satellite and fiber network, along with AWS’ storage, compute and cloud content delivery services. That dual combination reduces costs and increases operational capabilities.
“We went through Amazon’s rigorous protocol, and we’re very pleased with being able to have that as part of our offerings to our customers,” Juranek says.
Continuous Evolution
Juranek plans to keep the momentum going through constant innovation. Equally critical is product development and “get-it-done” support to deliver exceptional value.
Roughly a year ago, the company created two distinct selling verticals for government and commercial customers. Those efforts speak to the vision Juranek meted out upon taking the helm as CEO over two years ago.
“As we continuously evolve Globecomm for growth, we’ve been winning some critical new business that we are excited about,” Juranek says. “We will continue to focus on quality-oriented, reliable solutions — innovations and products, operational excellence — and of course, our customers.” First.