The Podcast by the Verizon Partner Network

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Magda Yrizarry, Mark Tina, and Harry Furlow

Organizations must have conversations around DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion. If these essential values are not present as part of a corporate vision, mission, and strategy, the path to success gets narrower. Verizon’s Magda Yrizarry, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer, Harry Furlow, Director of HRBP, and Mark Tina, VP-Business Sales for Midmarket East, spoke with Michelle Dawn Mooney about the importance of DEI in companies today. Yrizarry said that Verizon understands its responsibility toward strengthening diversity, equity, and inclusion amongst its thousands of employees and the millions of customers they serve. “It’s not a program; it’s not a moment; it really is an expression of who we are.” Sensitivity training with employees around DEI makes an organization a place of belonging and where people can unleash their potential and productivity. “In terms of equity and inclusion, we created an environment where it became part of our DNA to create more awareness of equity and inclusion,” Furlow said. “One of the things that we decided to do is share examples of what inclusion is and what good looks like.” Tina said that creating allies is a must for strengthening these core values. “You don’t necessarily need to fit the profile of the group you may be advocating for or helping to support.” People want to help but sometimes feel they cannot if they don’t belong to a particular group. But Tina stressed the importance of using one’s platform to amplify a cause, regardless of any direct affiliation. To propel these values and ensure diversity, equity, and inclusivity, Verizon maintains an employee resource group. “I found a community of people who, quite frankly, taught me a lot because the membership is across business groups,” Yrizarry said. “It’s a place where you can onboard, connect into, grow, learn, and network.”

Co-Opetition in a Competitive Market

The word “coopetition” was coined by a Harvard and Yale professor. At its core, the term embraces game theory and embodies the idea that businesses can gain strategic advantages through interdependency and collaboration with competing firms. It may sound counterproductive for the traditional competitive market economy, but research proves that it’s an opportunity to elevate industries' full capacities. Host of Verizon Business’s The Podcast, Daniel Litwin, was joined by Verizon executives Dave Hickey, Arleen Cauchi, and Sarah Marsh. According to Marsh, “[coopetition is] more relevant than ever; business challenges are getting much more complex,” and businesses understand that their counterparts are “competitors in some instances and partners in others.” Cauchi pressed that successful coopetition stems from businesses aligning ethos and agreeing on the ‘why’ — why they are coming together, and why working in partnership makes more sense than being isolated in a silo. Cauchi distilled coopetition simply down to “1+1=3,” where if one partner has a great sales team and the other has a strong marketing team, their collaboration ultimately increases their market share. After two years of chaotic disruption caused by the pandemic, businesses and even countries are embracing new methodologies and practices. For example, the world witnessed mass coopetition during the pandemic: countries shared research, companies collaborated to develop the vaccine, and pharmaceutical giants — typically pitted against each other — even joined forces. Coopetition is a unique solution that allows companies to become more agile and responds to market needs more effectively by compounding the incremental value that businesses can ultimately offer the customer. To learn more about the Verizon partner network, visit Verizon’s website or tune in to more episodes on your preferred podcast platform.

Accelerating during the Pandemic | Podcast on Digital Transformation | Verizon Partner Network

In year three of the pandemic, most of the world is settling into a “new normal.” What this new normal will ultimately look like is still to be determined. The one thing that virtually everyone can agree on is that the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently altered work expectations for the foreseeable future. Justin Honore, the host of the Verizon Partner Network podcast, sat down with Mike Caralis, Vice President of Business Sales at Verizon Business, to discuss the digital transformation of small- and medium-sized businesses since COVID-19 first hit in 2019-2020. The change in work environments and the expectations of both employees and customers continue to evolve to meet current needs. Caralis pointed out that the evolution is really being driven by employee needs, sharing a story of how the pandemic let him stay home and connect more deeply with his children after years of traveling and even living out of state for work. “Now that we are opening back up, I don’t think it’s just me saying, ‘hey how do we have a better balance?’ I think the entire world is saying how do we have a better-integrated life as we are looking to work and have a family and live at the same time,” shared Caralis. While employees struggle to find a better work-life balance, employers are also trying to find ways to continue providing great experiences to keep workers engaged and entice them back to the office. In the meantime, companies need to continue supporting employees and their customers with secure networks at home. Caralis also noted that with “small and medium businesses, mobility and flexibility are now as important as healthcare is. What business can now interact without mobility and flexibility in it?” Clearly, the future of small- and medium-sized businesses since the onset of the pandemic is paving the way to a workplace revolution more focused on the employee experience. As far as the customer experience direction, companies will have to find ways to bring in innovative and even immersive experiences so that there is a learning and educational aspect to those experiences. However, on an important note, security and trust within the different process flows must also be top priority.

Connectivity during COVID | Podcast on One Talk | Verizon Partner Network

Verizon One Talk is a mobile-first business phone system designed for how people work today—call, collaborate, and connect on the go. This SMB-focused business feature-rich solution includes robust call forwarding, voicemail-to-email, and simultaneous ring. All of these features come built into Verizon’s wireless core network. Verizon’s Diana Guerrero, Solutions Architect Manager and Derek Peabody, Sr. Product Manager, joined Chad Foos, Director for Digital Coast at SOVA, a key Verizon partner, and host Tyler Kern to discuss how to help implement One Talk to customers. Peabody spoke to the versatility of One Talk, which allows a user to link multiple devices whether it’s Mac or PC. Beyond the multitude of features available with One Talk, it is easy for users to manage the service. Peabody notes,“You can manage One Talk through a smartphone app, in terms of configuring it, or through a portal. Again, that flexibility to manage the service in a lot of ways in a lot of different end-point types has helped our customers.” What has Foos excited? The new T67LTE Wireless Phone from One Talk, the nation’s first 4G/LTE cellular, self-contained desk phone. “In my world, I deploy desk phones, I deploy phone systems for businesses…and I spend a lot of time dealing with firewalls, making sure cabling is connected throughout the office, maybe improving the Wi-Fi signal to make sure the phone systems work. With the T67, I don’t have to do any of that”, says Foos. This system is ready to plugin. All it requires is a power source, and businesses will get the connection they need. Guerrero agreed with Foos that the T67LTE would be a game-changer for many businesses. She also touched upon how businesses truly had to reinvent themselves during the pandemic and that One Talk was a solution that helped companies continue their business as usual - even transforming them. She emphasized that Verizon has a great support system in place through Verizon’s partner network to help implement efficient business solutions like One Talk. To learn more about One Talk visit www.onetalk.com.

The Risk of Using Free Apps | Podcast on Cyber Security (Ep. 2) | Verizon Partner Network

Hackers are gaining access to mobile devices regardless of users clicking on a link. This leads to the question: are my devices safe, are the apps I’m downloading secure, and how can I protect myself and my data? Christopher Novak, the Global Director for the Threat Research Advisory Center with Verizon, provided some thoughts and insights on these concerns and provided some tips and best practices on what people should be doing to keep their mobile devices secure. “From a security standpoint, we are always looking for there to be a hack or attack kind of angle for just about everything,” Novak said. “So naturally, when these big outages occur (like the recent outage at Facebook), they attract a lot of attention.” And while the current information on hand points to an internal issue, and not a cyberattack that brought Facebook down on October 4th, it raises the concern of many people about the safety of their data. And these security concerns weren’t helped by the recent Apple malware attack called CVE-2021-30860, which could operate undetected to the user and potentially grab personal data. While not every cyberattack is something a device user can protect themselves against, Novak said some best practices could safeguard many security risks. “A couple of things that immediately come to mind,” Novak noted. “Number one: avoid rooting your device.” Sometimes called ‘jailbreaking,’ a user breaks out of some of the manufacturer’s core settings to do different things with the device; however, this can cause security failures built into the device’s core settings. “Another one I always recommend is multi-factor identification. This way, if someone does get access to some of your information, or they learn your password, that’s not enough for them to get into your accounts or your devices.”