Tech View: Unleashing Your Organization’s Digital Future

The world’s digital potential is reaching a new crescendo that, when unleashed, will benefit all sorts of organizations depending on how they use it. Today, businesses across multiple industries are harnessing the power of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve productivity, reduce costs and enhance the customer experience. Now is the time to commit to digitally transforming your business in 2024.

Preparing for Your Digital Future

According to IDC, 95% of organizations report they’re implementing a digital-first strategy to support new digital revenue streams. At Lumen, we’ve been digitally transforming our business from the ground up. So, we have the knowledge, skills and expertise to help guide customers through their transformations. Our mission is to ignite business growth by connecting people, data and applications—quickly, securely and effortlessly. ¹

When the world went online overnight in 2020, businesses across industries had to pivot their operations, processes — and most importantly their mindsets — to integrate new digital capabilities. It was an unprecedented opportunity to redefine strategies, upskill the workforce and better manage increasing digital, data and cybersecurity risks. By some estimates, businesses accomplished five years’ worth of digital transformation in the first six months of the pandemic.

For example, many restaurants turned to online ordering and curbside delivery, while retailers embraced buy online and pick-up in store approaches that capitalized on the growth of online shopping. SYNQ3, a virtual restaurant contact center, saw customer demand and call volume not only increase, but triple due to the pandemic. SYNQ3 soon recognized this was an opportunity to transform the restaurant ecosystem by embracing AI tools and a modern, secure network that enabled them to quickly scale up to meet growing demand with Lumen.

Three Foundations for Digital Transformation

Businesses today expect meaningful engagement—from automated, self-service ordering options to value-based, outcome-focused conversations with providers—as part of the modern customer experience. Companies are investing in automation to provide hyper-personalized and contextualized experiences that make it possible to elevate both the customer and user experience and focus on the total experience.

Leaders who want to accelerate their organization’s digital potential should consider investing in three foundational areas that will enable them to improve productivity, lower costs and securely deliver a connected experience for their customers and employees.

1. A modern network

Our hyper-connected world means that today’s network needs more bandwidth on-demand than ever before. As AI breaks out of the hype cycle and drives the economy forward, the need for a modern, scalable, data-capable network has never been greater.

As we saw with SYNQ3, having burstable bandwidth enabled the company to keep up with significant demand spikes and successfully connect automated interactions with in-person contact center capabilities to serve more than 60,000 customers a day.

Having a dedicated network with scalable bandwidth that is all yours means you can securely connect hundreds of thousands of locations at speed without latency or a diminished online experience.

That’s why many companies are looking at adopting Network as a Service (NaaS), a digital self-service model that means they can quickly buy, manage and use modern, scalable network services when and how they need them.

2. Cybersecurity protections

IDC reported that 38% of survey respondents are concerned about security threats on their network. From ransomware to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, the potential for reputational damage and financial loss is a serious issue facing every IT leader. ¹

In particular, the nature of retail—with its high quantities of financial data and personally identifiable information—has always made retailers a highly desirable target for digital thieves. Now, with more devices than ever connecting to in-store networks, web sites, online applications, the cloud and data storage environments, the size of the attack surface for an individual store—let alone a large chain or an entire brand—is unprecedented.

To protect the brand and the consumer, retailers need to think differently about their cybersecurity protections. Adopting Zero Trust networking solutions and integrating Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) protocols can help increase network visibility, safeguard important data and defend against both nefarious and accidental cyber theft or exposure.

3. Digital inclusion backbone

As the use of AI continues to grow, the risk of it exacerbating the digital divide increases. So, how do you ensure more remote locations have equitable access to fast, reliable broadband that brings the same experiences, goods and economic opportunities to all communities?

Investing in middle mile infrastructure—the part of the network that connects local last-mile networks to the information superhighway backbone—helps people and businesses in rural towns and remote communities enjoy the same access as those in the most connected cities.

Make sure you’re working with a provider that is committed to digital inclusivity and investing in a middle-mile internet backbone that brings equal opportunity to all.

Unleash Your Digital Potential Right Now

For businesses to really take full advantage, which includes frictionless customer experiences and sophisticated supply chain improvements, they need a strong network that provides the foundation for a successful digital transformation.

By making smart investments in three key areas—a modern, scalable network; cybersecurity protections; and a strong internet backbone—and working with the right provider, you can start unleashing your organization’s digital future today.

Ready to discover your digital potential? Explore where you stack up against the competition—and how to exceed expectations.

Disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only and may require additional research and substantiation by the end user. In addition, the information is provided “as is” without any warranty or condition of any kind, either express or implied. Use of this information is at the end user’s own risk. Lumen does not warrant that the information will meet the end user’s requirements or that the implementation or usage of this information will result in the desired outcome of the end user. All third-party company and product or service names referenced in this article are for identification purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation with Lumen.

¹ IDC Link, What Will a Digital-First World Look Like in the Future?, May 18, 2022.