A matrix approach for telecommunications technology selection

Global competitive environment in telecommunications requires that the current R&D project selection process should be changed. This paper argues that quality function deployment(QFD) matrix that has been successfully used for drawing technologies from customer needs can be applied to the selection of telecommunications technologies. It describes the selection process by successive matrix handling. The steps to draw technology priority are detailed. Nominal measures, such as current company rating, competitor's ratings, planned level, improvement ratio, that are used for prioritizing customer needs in QFD matrix, cannot be directly applied to telecommunications. Instead, several new measures are devised to prioritize telecommunications services and to develop competitive benchmarks.