Hi, and welcome to the Bridge. I'm your host, Scott Kinka. My guest on this episode of the Bridge is Terry Barbounis. He's the Director of innovation and Strategy at Lumen, or A director of innovation and strategy at Lumen. By his explanation, he gets paid to daydream and his focus is on edge.
A phrase we hear every day, and assuming frankly we all know what that means. Terry is himself a podcast host of Lumens podcast, “Light, Data Action”. We'll give you some information in the liner notes to make sure you can check that out. He's also, by his definition, a reformed standup. He's got a silky radio voice. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little bit jealous of that.
Terry talks in big concepts and I love that, but, but he also does a great job of making them simple, his definition. Or explanation I should say, of Edge as an example during the pod was particularly compelling. You know, why is it important now? Is this new tech or a new need?
And the answer in a lot of ways is both, right? We've moved critical apps to the cloud from the office data center. We've moved people out of the office as a result of the pandemic. So, while the regional pops of a traditional tier one telco provider like Lumen, you know, might be less important perhaps as a means to deliver last mile.
Offices that may sit in the wan, they're frankly more important now as a means to get in microservices content availability and applications closer to the users. And to the applications themselves out in the field. We get into quite a bit on that. Moving to softer topics, though, we talked a lot about our new normal and the concept of busyness.
We're measuring value and productivity based on hours and not output, and how that's culturally started falling apart. Right. Primarily because of the concept of office work has changed and the way we think about it, the way we talk about it, our culture hasn't really caught up. I mean, I won't spill the popcorn.
You'll have to listen to the episode to get a little bit more. We got a little AI nerdy in the conversation. Talked about a bit about pending regulatory government oversight, how close we are to the singularity or the moment when AI achieves self-awareness. Something we've been concerned about since, you know, the sci-fi of the thirties and forties.
Frankly, what struck me most though in listening to Terry throughout the chat, and as I look back on the notes, is that Terry's opinions are all still really about. They're people centered. We talk about collab and AI and robotic process automation and the dawn of a new era, and yet people have never been more at the center of how we run our businesses post pandemic.
Is technology driving people or people driving technology, or is it both? This was a great intellectually honest chat that I really appreciated, and I hope you find it as compelling as I did. Here is my chat with Terry Barbounis, director of Innovation and Strategy at Lumen Technologies.
ABOUT TERRY BARBOUNIS
As a Director of Innovation Strategy, Terry excels in identifying emerging technologies and their impact on business outcomes. His primary focus is discovering opportunities to develop innovative products and services that address modern organizational challenges. Collaborating with external analysts, internal teams, and industry leaders, Terry seeks to uncover untapped markets with the potential for significant impact.
With 30 years of experience in the IT sector, Terry has held prestigious roles, including CIO for Blue Aspen Capital, L.P., and CTO/Director, PMO for the Christian Science Publishing Society, managing global infrastructure and IT services operations.
Terry is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences and seminars, addressing topics such as hybrid IT, edge cloud computing, and the Future of Work. He also hosts the insightful podcast, Light, Data, Action!, where he speaks with industry experts and thought leaders to demystify the latest trends and technologies.
CONTACT TERRY
Web: http://www.lumen.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tbarbounis/
Podcast: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/LNULE4903599501