ADRIENNE WARE, FRONTIER’S SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT- ENTERPRISE, BUSINESS

ADRIENNE WARE, FRONTIER’S SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT- ENTERPRISE, BUSINESS, shares her views on why it’s so important to create a customer-centric organization that can provide trusted advice, innovation, and technical expertise to help enterprises modernize their networks.

Q: What is your top priority for Frontier’s enterprise organization?

AW: My priority is putting our A-team in the field, so we can engage with customers, understand their priorities, and deliver consistently. By speaking to our customers at every level of their organizations, we get a comprehensive view into how they do business and what they struggle with most.

Q: What strategies are you implementing to achieve this goal?

AW: We are getting out into the field and meeting with customers in person. In fact, in July, my team met with 40 different customers to get to know their teams and dig deeper into their current business challenges. We are also creating the Frontier Inner Circle, which is an advisory board made up of Frontier customers from different industries. The goal is to consult with customers frequently and get productive feedback on new offers and enterprise strategies. The Inner Circle will kick off in September, and we are very excited to start this ongoing dialogue with our enterprise customers.

Q: What is your customer’s biggest challenge?

AW: Network security is a topic that comes up in nearly every conversation we have with customers. It is no longer a question of whether you will be a victim of a malware attack, but instead, when will you be a victim of a malware attack.

Ensuring that our customers can operate in a secure environment and transact their businesses over a secure network are key priorities for us. Our priority is to ensure that our customers’ mission-critical applications are secure on our network.

Q: How is Frontier helping enterprises with their current network challenges?

AW: Frontier has a long legacy of working with enterprises, but what customers need today is very different from what they needed in the past. Networks are much more complex, and customers are looking for ways to improve their network latency and flexibility. Our main role is to help them plan and design their networks to accommodate how their businesses are changing. With that approach, our customers can leverage their networks effectively to implement solutions that drive competitive advantage.

 Q: What tools does Frontier provide to help enterprises achieve their desired outcomes?

AW:  One of our most effective tools is our people. We have knowledgeable and competent sales teams that work collaboratively with customers to identify their most urgent business priorities. And our expert technicians deliver solutions that address those priorities with an emphasis on great service.

A solution our customers have asked for is one we’ve recently launched - Managed Network Services. Our customers can now rely on us for effective network management, so they can focus on their core businesses. Many enterprises lack that level of expert management in house, which then becomes a barrier to opportunity. We remove that barrier.

Q: Which verticals can benefit most from Managed Network Services?

AW: We are seeing a nice uptick in interest from the retail industry, and an increase in interest from public sector accounts, such as school districts. There has also been growing interest from the healthcare industry.

I believe the pandemic put the spotlight on the need for better networks, particularly for schools that had to abruptly switch to remote learning. Students had to be connected, otherwise they weren’t learning. This was noticeably evident in rural areas where there are more connectivity challenges.

Q: Enterprises have a lot of options when it comes to getting help with their network modernization. How is Frontier innovating and evolving to help enterprises more effectively meet their goals?

AW: I was recently at a technology forum in Atlanta and when I said I was from Frontier Communications, people knew about our extensive expansion of our fiber network. Frontier’s Gigabit America expansion is a great example of the investment we are making on the innovation and evolution front to better meet our customers’ needs.

I also believe our customers appreciate our knowledgeable sales team and their understanding of the market because they can help them find the right solutions for their business and help them have a positive outcome.

 Q: It sounds like it comes down to the Frontier team members that make the difference.

AW: Yes, it comes back to the people. Frontier is doing a lot to invest in our people. Frontier CEO Nick Jefferies has built a tremendous group of talented leaders that are steering the organization. And when I look at the enterprise group, I see a lot of great work being done from a diversity and inclusion perspective. 

Q: What is Frontier doing to support the communities that it serves?

AW: We are working hard to develop close relationships with the communities where we provide services. I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to spend some time in West Virginia and meet key members of that state. Our Frontier folks who live in that area are working with the Chambers of Commerce and other organizations to make sure that we understand the needs of every community so we can deploy the right solutions.

Q: Frontier has transformed from an old-school telco to a fiber powerhouse. How are you communicating those changes to your enterprise customers?

AW: I like to tell customers to think of Frontier as an “old-new company.” We have the experience of being a legacy business, but the way we do business and show up for our customers has been completely transformed.

We are committed to being a fierce competitor in the market. Our customer satisfaction results prove that undeniably. And if you look at the talent we have in the field —both in sales and operations — we have made big improvements in both of those areas. Plus, our fiber network now extends well beyond that of any of our competitors.

While we’ve made a lot of progress in a short period of time, we feel like we are just getting started. It’s an exciting time in our business, and we are sharing that with customers who are demanding more from their connectivity providers.