Mindy Powers

Quiz: What’s Your Network Management Style?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

Network management is a complex job that requires the time and abilities of skilled IT professionals. Some enterprises take on the responsibility alone, and others rely on third-party providers to handle networking needs. Some use a combination of both. Take this quiz to find out your IT efficiency—and learn how you can get the most out of your resources and provider.

Continue reading

Mindy Powers

Are You Ready for Interop 2012?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

Reservations have been made and plans for networking are being finalized. But the real question is: have you downloaded CenturyLink’s “get pumped for Interop” playlist?

As we get ready to make the trek to Las Vegas for Interop, we suggest getting familiar with the hot topics and sessions at the event. What can you expect?

Continue reading

Mindy Powers

Survey Says: Benefits of Network Management

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

In our last post, we talked about how network management has become an attractive option for IT. With support and maintenance of network infrastructure costing enterprises significant time and money, IT departments increasingly are considering using third-party providers for these services. These IT departments are seeing benefits such as improved operational performance and better allocation of internal IT resources. CenturyLink surveyed more than 1,000 IT decision-makers across a broad range of industries and locations in the U.S. to gain insight into their network management preferences.

Continue reading

Mindy Powers

Can You Let Go? Network Management Becomes Attractive Option for IT

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

Managing an organization’s IT infrastructure includes a multitude of complex services, all with the underlying goal of benefiting business. So what happens when one service increasingly eats up time and money, shrinking resources for new development?

Business can suffer.

Continue reading

Mindy Powers

Weathering the Storm: Can Banks Regain Customer Trust?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

This is the third installment of a three-part series on banking industry trends.

In the last few months, we’ve talked about some key trends impacting banks and their customers. Overwhelmingly, consumers are demanding better access to their bank accounts and at the same time, banks are struggling with increasing security risks. By upgrading their infrastructures, banks are meeting customer demands with new features like text alerts and mobile deposits while providing better security. It’s clear that consumers are driving big changes in banking and it’s exciting to see what’s next.

Continue reading

Mindy Powers

Ethernet and Cloud: A Perfect Partnership?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

With cloud computing on the minds of CIOs, we are seeing a recurring question come up in our discussions with our largest customers: Can cloud computing really address the needs of large enterprises?

In many cases, large companies are wary of cloud due to the lack of QoS and SLAs they’ve become accustomed to. In fact, it was for these very reasons businesses turned to Ethernet. With so much invested in Ethernet (from the customer and carrier sides) the question now becomes: Can Ethernet support the demands of cloud?

Continue reading

Jeff Waters

Got WiFi? User Expectations Drive New Challenges

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

Our wireless devices appear to be multiplying. It used to be we couldn’t leave home without our smart phones. But now? Now it’s a bit out of control. Not only do we have our phones, but how many of us find ourselves toting our laptops and tablets everywhere we go? That’s three devices per person.

Continue reading

Cindy Humphrey

We’ve Been Compromised! Banks Struggle to Fight Fraud

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

This is the second installment of a three-part series on banking industry trends.

Information security is a hot button for all businesses. But for banks, it is particularly critical due to the nature of the information they have as well as increasing compliance regulations. As part of our ongoing series on the US banking industry, we are taking an in-depth look at the security profile of banks in America and what they are doing to protect personal information. Continue reading

Cindy Humphrey

The Jury’s Still Out on Google+ for B2B

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

The role of social networks in business is nothing new but when Google+ came on the scene, I know what you were thinking. The same thing I was: Another social platform?

Like any good marketer, we at CenturyLink Business, created a presence on Google + right away but really only to secure our name. We have not created a full-blown presence at this point because, frankly, we have been going back and forth internally on the value of the platform in our space.

Continue reading

Cindy Humphrey

Banking in Bed

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Rating:

It’s pretty clear that banking as we know it is changing. Rapidly. With the Occupy Wall Street movement and the recent Bank Transfer Day initiative, banks are coming to terms with the fact that the old way of doing business simply won’t work.

This represents an opportunity for banks to take a hard look at their businesses and to figure out what they can offer their customers to provide a superior customer experience.

Continue reading