WEBVTT 00:00:00.166 --> 00:00:03.586 Bre and Kim, thank you so much for being here at this year's Dreamforce. 00:00:03.586 --> 00:00:04.963 The first question is for you, Bre. 00:00:04.963 --> 00:00:07.799 How do you see partnerships evolving in Lumen? 00:00:08.508 --> 00:00:10.176 That's a very good question, Lisa. 00:00:10.844 --> 00:00:15.098 Lumen has traditionally been a very well known telco company 00:00:15.098 --> 00:00:19.185 and right now we're going through a massive transformation 00:00:19.185 --> 00:00:23.440 stage and we're trying to expand into different areas of the 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:28.028 technology space in our journey to be a techco instead of a telco. 00:00:28.319 --> 00:00:31.614 So what that means is we're expanding into different partner 00:00:31.614 --> 00:00:34.701 types and throughout the technology space, there's a lot 00:00:34.701 --> 00:00:37.620 more partner types than just a regular telco channel. 00:00:38.204 --> 00:00:40.874 There's global system integrators, there's ISVs, 00:00:40.874 --> 00:00:44.461 there's hyperscalers, there's OEMs, there's value added resellers. 00:00:44.794 --> 00:00:48.131 Lumen has traditionally not played in any of these spaces 00:00:48.131 --> 00:00:48.715 very well. 00:00:48.923 --> 00:00:53.011 And so right now, we're really focused on expanding into these 00:00:53.011 --> 00:00:56.264 different areas, one, to add value to any customer 00:00:56.264 --> 00:00:58.266 opportunity and two, for scale. 00:00:58.683 --> 00:01:00.393 Kim, this next question is for you. 00:01:00.393 --> 00:01:03.563 What is BCG seeing more broadly in the market when it comes to 00:01:03.563 --> 00:01:06.066 these partnerships with tech and telco companies? 00:01:06.399 --> 00:01:09.569 Well, there are four major trends in partnerships right now. 00:01:09.569 --> 00:01:12.822 I'm only going to highlight one that aligns with what Bre is 00:01:12.822 --> 00:01:13.573 talking about. 00:01:13.573 --> 00:01:17.744 And this is the cross industry partnership where you see, for 00:01:17.744 --> 00:01:21.831 example, a big telco like Lumen partnering with Microsoft, a 00:01:21.831 --> 00:01:25.877 major hyperscaler to really and truly drive the AI economy. 00:01:26.586 --> 00:01:30.548 And what are the two of you most excited for in 2025 and beyond 00:01:30.548 --> 00:01:32.342 in the partnership ecosystem? 00:01:32.717 --> 00:01:37.388 Well, for me and for Lumen specifically, this is a really 00:01:37.388 --> 00:01:42.352 interesting time for us it's a brand new partner organization 00:01:42.352 --> 00:01:46.773 and we are excited about actually putting together a 00:01:46.773 --> 00:01:49.484 very world-class partner program. 00:01:49.651 --> 00:01:53.071 When you think about AI and you think about everything that's 00:01:53.071 --> 00:01:56.324 surrounding AI and the AI fabric, we really need partners 00:01:56.324 --> 00:01:59.702 that understand how to solution and sell the solution versus 00:01:59.702 --> 00:02:01.913 selling the connectivity piece of that. 00:02:02.080 --> 00:02:04.749 So it's a lot more of a strategic discussion, and so you 00:02:04.749 --> 00:02:05.542 need some of that 00:02:05.667 --> 00:02:08.419 framework and that foundation to support those discussions. 00:02:09.003 --> 00:02:12.882 And I'm excited for the outcomes that Bre is talking about right now. 00:02:12.882 --> 00:02:16.970 As AI comes together with all these various partnerships, 00:02:16.970 --> 00:02:20.974 think of how it's going to revolutionize industries with 00:02:20.974 --> 00:02:25.436 smart cities, smart homes, smart agriculture, smart healthcare. 00:02:25.436 --> 00:02:28.815 It's truly going to drive a new economy as we're talking about 00:02:28.815 --> 00:02:30.650 the AI economy. 00:02:31.192 --> 00:02:32.026 Thank you so much.