Doug Hanson.

• Position: Brief Article

Technology may be driving the information age, but only customer-driven companies will thrive in the new economy.

That's the philosophy of Doug Hanson, chairman, CEO and president of Denver-based RMI.Net, and it's the strategy his company employs to compete in a volatile industry.

"Technology has leveled the playing field," the 57 year-old Hanson says. "The key is how you deploy the technology to satisfy the customer's needs."

According to Hanson, providers can no longer ask customers to convert their IT systems to a single product--or provider.

Today, the reverse is true. In order to find the appropriate business solution, Hanson believes the onus is on providers like RMI.Net to provide tailored services to meet specific client needs.

"Every sale is a solution sale," Hanson says with a disarming southern charm. "Rather than saying, 'we've got three widgets, which one do you want,' we ask our customers to describe the type of widget they're looking for. Then we deliver that service."

Innovation--and success--seem to follow Hanson. In 1983, he helped create FiberTrak--a joint venture of Southern Pacific Railroad, Norfolk Southern and Santa Fe. The company was among the first to propose the deployment of fiber-optic cable along railroad right-of-ways that could later be sold off to communications companies.

FiberTrak gave Hanson the experience to create SP Telecom. Founded in 1987, the company eventually would lay cable from Texas to...