Molly Whitten

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Sabrina Ortiz from ZDNET during Cisco Live in San Diego. We delved into some of my favorite AI innovations, with AI Agents standing out for their ability to streamline repetitive customer service tasks and interactions. However, I believe that leveraging AI to transform customer experiences isn't just about replacing humans-it's about enhancing them. By equipping human agents with AI, we can enable them to resolve issues more quickly and provide them with real-time insights, empowering them to be more effective. These advancements are redefining what's possible in the contact center. The convergence of AI and customer experience is an incredibly exciting space to watch-and this is only the beginning. Check out the full conversation below:

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Big news today for Lumen. https://lnkd.in/gdMdv_7X We announced our intent to acquire Alkira, and I could not be more excited about what this means for our customers, our partners, and the future of enterprise networking. For years, networking has been too manual, too fragmented, and too hard to consume. Customers are now operating across clouds, data centers, SaaS platforms, AI environments, and partner ecosystems. They need connectivity that works more like cloud: programmable, on-demand, secure, scalable, and easy to operate. That is why this combination is so compelling. Lumen brings one of the world’s largest high-bandwidth, low-latency fiber networks, a rapidly evolving programmable network, cloud on-ramps, Multi-Cloud Gateway, and deep enterprise relationships. Alkira brings a cloud-native, carrier-agnostic control plane that helps enterprises design, deploy, and operate connectivity across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Together, this gives us a path to create something very different: a single digital platform that can orchestrate connectivity across on-net, off-net, cloud, data center, AI compute, partners, and carriers. In simple terms, we are moving from networks that have to be manually assembled to networks that can be programmed, automated, and consumed. That is a big step toward the vision we have been building at Lumen: world-class physical infrastructure, a programmable network, and a connected ecosystem of clouds, applications, and partners. Congratulations to the Alkira team and everyone across Lumen who helped bring this together. I am excited for what comes next. Subject to closing, this is an important milestone in building the network platform enterprises need for the AI era.

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Too much data, not enough control? 🕹 SVP Mark Graham of Trace3 breaks down how their partnership with Cohesity is helping businesses manage explosive data growth with smarter, hyperconverged storage solutions. From complexity to clarity, watch now to see how innovation is driving real impact. https://lnkd.in/eJYQqz7p #CyberResilience #DataSecurity

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AI is providing us so many benefits. Personally, I use Cisco's internal AI tools for translating complex technical background into simple language, summarizing notes, building presentations, conducting research, and so much more. My leader Ana Villegas notes key benefits, and I've certainly enjoyed more time focused on creative ideation and collaborating with team members -- the energizing part of my work. How are you using AI? What does AI allow you to do more of?

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AI is driving unprecedented data growth, and overwhelmed networks will impact user experience. The SteelHead 90 Series moves data at massive scale, delivering up to 3× faster performance while providing advanced security to protect against emerging cyber threats. Explore the next generation of acceleration: https://rvbd.ly/4olcCQh

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#Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when over 250,000 enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, finally learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. That delay wasn’t a glitch; it was deliberate, enforced through systems designed to withhold justice. What I’ve been reflecting on: Declaring justice is not enough—it must be realized. That truth applies in history…and within our own organizations. These organizational delays are not comparable to enslavement—nor should they be—but they are structural delays that erode belonging and trust. When processes are fair, balanced, transparent, and respectful, people feel valued, and performance improves. 🛠️ What we can actively do: 🟢 Establish decision timelines so nobody is left waiting. 🟢 Formalize mentorship pathways to ensure fair and balanced access. 🟢 Make invisible work visible—recognize all contributions. 🟢 Conduct routine fairness checks—review processes, recognition, and voice access. 💭 Your turn: Where do delays or imbalances persist in your organization? 💭 What one step could bring justice from declaration into experience this week? Juneteenth reminds us that justice delayed is justice denied, then and now. Let’s commit to building cultures where fairness, dignity, and belonging are lived values. #Juneteenth #Belonging

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Don’t rely on the networks of yesterday to serve the AI needs of tomorrow—leverage the Lumen Technologies Network, designed for an #AI-first world. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gEp5WGYs

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Miriam Tonner (UC San Diego Health) and her team train 20+ Epic classes per week across multiple clinical roles, a massive investment of time and resources. By adopting Amplifire eLearning adaptive, UCSD transformed their onboarding experience, giving providers valuable time back to focus on patients, research, and life outside of work. The impact: * 50% reduction in Epic onboarding training time for providers * More efficient training across physicians, nurses, interns, residents, and fellows * Expansion to inpatient nurse training this Fall #HealthcareInnovation #EpicTraining #AdaptiveLearning #AIinHealthcare #LeadershipInHealthcare

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Multi-cloud needs simpler orchestration.   Fierce Network breaks down the Lumen Technologies agreement to acquire Alkira, Inc. to help accelerate cloud-to-cloud connectivity and expand global reach. Read now:  

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So, your current vendor is walking away from enterprise storage to focus on other things… Don’t get sad; get solutions. Infinidat satisfies the mission-critical application and workload demands of some of the biggest enterprises in the world, including more than a dozen Fortune 50 companies. Our satisfied customers have made us a Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice seven times. So wipe your tears and make the switch. https://okt.to/ged8OS

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Verizon Strategy Under Pressure A new analysis suggests that Verizon’s recent cost cutting, including 13,000 layoffs and a push for more spectrum through the EchoStar Corporation AWS-3 purchase, may not be enough to reverse its decline. Despite heavy investment in network upgrades, the carrier has already lost more than 400,000 customers this year, and broadband is not making up the difference. New CEO Dan Schulman appears to be following the previous leadership’s playbook with a cheaper spin, focusing on efficiency and customer satisfaction while delaying bold moves. Verizon has begun experimenting with no trade in deals and may consider price cuts next year, but its long term direction remains unclear. Schulman has not been in the role long, yet early signals suggest Verizon must do more than trim costs if it wants to compete in a tightening market. Tech observers are asking whether careful pacing is enough at a moment when the company risks losing even more ground. The next few quarters will reveal if Schulman has a deeper strategy or if Verizon continues its downward trajectory. #Verizon #Telecom #5G #WirelessIndustry #TechStrategy #Leadership #NetworkInfrastructure https://lnkd.in/e9FYy44z

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If 2025 was the YEAR OF AI MINDSET, essential for scaling AI within organizational culture. 2026 is the YEAR OF AI EXPERIMENTS, essential to learning as one large community. This was my strongest insight from Laszlo Bock's commentary from May 2025, which, encouraged experiments besides many practical gems. I've linked to his post with the slides in the comments below in case you missed it then.

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In today’s threat landscape, visibility is power—and Lumen Technologies delivers it at scale.   At #AWSreInvent, Susmita Nayak, Senior Director of Product Management for Network Security Business, will be speaking on the latest advancements in cybersecurity and how Lumen is driving innovation to protect what matters most.  Learn more: https://bit.ly/3Xx0FvU 

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Once again, ServiceNow has been named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® — ❤️ for me, there's no recognition more meaningful than this one. Not because of what it says about us as a company, but because of who determines it. Our employees. And that matters even more in this moment.     Deloitte's 2026 Global Human Capital Trends report, released just last month, found that 65% of organizations believe their culture needs to change significantly because of AI — and that the ones falling behind are accumulating what Deloitte calls "culture debt." Meanwhile, only 6% of leaders say they're making real progress in designing how humans and AI work together. We're all navigating uncharted territory. And in the middle of that uncertainty, the organizations that keep one eye on today's efficiency and one eye on tomorrow's talent will be the ones that come out ahead.      The best talent has options. Always has. But right now, they're watching more carefully than ever: Where do leaders actually invest in their people? Where does flexibility exist alongside performance? Where can you grow, not just work?     At ServiceNow, I see the answers to those questions every day. We're building a place where great people can do the best work of their lives. That's not a tagline. It's a talent strategy.     Congratulations to every person at ServiceNow who makes this a place people want to be. 

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In this podcast, Heavy Reading analyst Sterling Perrin sits down with Ciena’s Sr. Director of Product Line Management, Rafael Francis, and VP, Product Line Management, Tim Pearson, to review the key findings of a recent IP over DWDM global survey and what they mean for the future of coherent routing in telecom.

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