AT&T Business Solutions is all about using network technology to help companies serve their customers faster and better.
With rapidly changing technology, we’ve also picked up the pace to keep our customers ahead of their competitors. And we operate on a massive, international stage. We support nearly 3.5 million customers around the world. And we have relationships with almost every major company. It’s a huge challenge!
We are one of the global leaders in enterprise networking and mobility. Our customers expect the best. They want to optimize processes, improve efficiency, lower costs and innovate with new solutions for their customers and employees. They want be agile – the power to move quickly and easily.
That’s why we’re speeding innovation and are pursuing ideas that will position us to lead with speed.
Platform-based architecture: We’re an early adopter of using Application Program Interfaces (APIs) to construct new services. An API is a piece of software that lets you easily embed an existing capability into a new program. For example, if you want to insert a text messaging function into an app you’re creating, you can use our In-App Messaging API so you don’t have to build your own messaging platform from scratch.
Now, we’re utilizing a new capability called microservices. They are architectural styles made up of flexible, independent and lightweight functions. You can easily combine and adapt them to create new services. With microservices, you can mix, match and reuse bits of code for all sorts of functions. It’s faster, more effective and cheaper rather than waiting for a full suite of services to become available when you only need one or two.
Faster response to customer needs: We’re automating and accelerating the flow of orders from sales to ordering, provisioning and billing. That means our customers are getting the services and capabilities they want, faster than they have in the past. We’re improving the customer experience while reducing costs.
Design thinking, agile and DevOps: Software developers have adopted a new way to plan, design and create code. In the industry, we use terms like “agile” and “DevOps” to describe it. Small, nimble teams comprised of marketers, engineers and developers work together with a focus on customer needs. An iterative design process lets solutions evolve from the seed of an idea to prototypes to production.
Programmers constantly write code and can move different functions and capabilities into production as they come online. You no longer need to wait for the program to complete before you start using it. Programmers also work side-by-side with operations teams who deploy and use the software, so they get feedback in near real time. We can now get our customers the tools they need faster.
New solutions designed for speed: Our new solutions are built for speed from the ground up. We’re working with our Business Marketing team to bring next generation products and experiences to you. Solutions like AT&T Network on Demand including AT&T FlexWareSM, and AT&T NetBond® place the network management controls in the hands of our customers.
It’s all about speed. We work quickly and efficiently to provide our customers the solutions they need to stay up and running. As fast as technology changes, we can’t afford anything less.
Jon Summers - Chief Information Officer for Business Solutions