Eric Cevis, Verizon Partner Solutions: Rethinking How to Do Business in the New Normal

Verizon Partner Solutions President Eric Cevis says that his team is helping businesses explore new ways to do business in the new normal.

A Career Journey
Eric Cevis is no stranger to leading large teams. He joined Verizon in 1986 and has brought his 30+ years of sales and marketing experience into his current role as the president of Verizon Partner Solutions (the wholesale division of Verizon). Eric built a customer-centric organization that serves customers in over 150 countries worldwide. He has also won numerous awards including Capacity Media’s Power 100, Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America, and even Carriers World’s Global Wholesale Personality of the Year.

Eric shares, “My career journey at Verizon has been full of great opportunities that have taught me so much. For example, there is tremendous value in establishing and maintaining customer trust. That is one of the reasons my team works very hard to partner together with our customers to find the best solutions to meet their business needs.”

Navigating the New Normal in 2020
Over the course of this year, the world fundamentally changed the way people work, connect, learn, and live. There have been a number of unexpected twists and turns that business leaders like Eric Cevis have had to face throughout the year. Although most businesses try to plan for emergencies, 2020 gave preparedness a whole new meaning. Now, more than ever, to not only survive but also thrive, business leaders will be challenged with showing their teams the path forward toward understanding how to best serve their customers.

“You can’t possibly know everything that is going to happen,” Eric notes. “So, you prepare for what you can. Rethinking how you do business to ensure the dependability and continuity of service for your customers can make all of the difference for the better. Being innovative and having the ability to transform in the digital world will be key in supporting today’s customers. Navigating this new normal may also require agility, diversity, machine learning, and digital transformation.”

Finding That Work/Life Balance
The world is changing rapidly, along with customer expectations and the supporting technology. As industry competition grows every year, the need for businesses to distinguish themselves from their competitors grows with it. Businesses are expected to be easily accessible and simple to do business with around the clock. Digital transformation has the ability to improve workforce productivity, operational efficiency, and the overall customer experience. With many businesses moving their teams to work from home to continue operating during the many challenges brought on by travel and other restrictions in 2020, leaders and their teams have been faced with finding new ways to balance work and personal life.

“While it is very important to invest the time and energy necessary to grow and evolve a business, it is also very important to strike a balance between work and personal life to recharge the battery,” Eric remarks. “Beyond work life, I enjoy traveling to locations like St. Barts, Italy, and the Caribbean with my family. Other interests include watching sports like basketball and football. I also enjoy musical plays and concerts.”

Eric continues, “Balancing work and personal life ebbs and flows. Sometimes there is more work and sometimes there is a little more personal time, but finding a way to balance it is key. For example, I, for the most part, do not miss any of my three children’s activities – from their piano recitals to sports. Even if I have to do work later in the evening after the event, I will do what is necessary to be there for my children. Weekends are predominantly family time, to make up for my many hours dedicated to my work during the week.”

Advice for Future Leaders
The next generation of aspiring leaders may be curious as to what path they should take to become an industry leader like Eric Cevis and his industry peers.

Eric shares his final thoughts: “As I think about the future, I can’t help but to think about the next generation of aspiring leaders. If I were to extend some advice to them, it would be, find something that you are passionate about and go after it with all your heart, mind, and soul. Then, watch the fruits of your labor flourish. Not just in your own life, but also in the lives of others that you touch personally and professionally. Be a giver! Hard work, doing right by everyone you come in contact with, and commitment, always pay off with dividends”.

About Verizon Partner Solutions
Verizon Partner Solutions is a wholesale service provider of voice, data, and Internet solutions through our global Private IP network in more than 150 countries. We deliver high capacity and fast performance through standards-based 100 Gigabit Ethernet on our IP backbone network, and have more than 110 IP hubs across the United States.

You can also read more about Verizon Partner Solutions on the PTC Blog with Patrick Sullivan’s PTC Member Profile and We’re Here. And We’re Ready.

Authored by →

Heather Boisrond