Telephone companies need to clean up technical debt like hoarders need to clean their houses

Technical debt is akin to a very messy house—perhaps even a hoarder’s house—where someone other than the hoarder needs to take charge and clean things up. And telephone companies, which have some of the messiest houses, really need a helping hand. Iain Nelson, director with the consulting firm Alix Partners, defined software technical debt as “anything that is not on a current or supported version that you would not necessarily want in your environment.” After Lumen Technologies announced that it hired OneVizion to streamline its internal systems, Fierce Network wondered: How many other telecommunications companies are dealing with a lot of technical debt? The answer? All of them, according to Alix Partners.