BCBG Max Azria Selects CenturyLink for Network Upgrade

By Casey Houser
Contributing Writer

Fashion retailer BCBG Max Azria Group recently announced its partnership with CenturyLink (News - Alert) to improve its in-store shopping experience for customers and provide its retail locations with the most up-to-date applications for handling customer service and methods of payment.

CenturyLink reports that BCBG's previous phone and data network left it wanting more. BCBG wanted to move into the future with more efficient business applications and the added ability to interact with customers through an in-store Wi-Fi network. The old system could not handle those demands, so BCBG decided to move to a CenturyLink network that could keep pace with its vision.

Nader Karimi, chief information officer at BCBG commented on the recent update and its improvement over his company's legacy system.

“Our old network experienced downtime and outages that frustrated our customers. The retail networking solution from CenturyLink is robust, reliable and fast, bringing BCBG's technology into the future,” Karimi said. “Strong IT infrastructure from CenturyLink means that our store associates are free of cumbersome old technology and can spend more time focusing on customers.”

BCBG receives a lot of individual upgrades as part of the overall package. To begin with, CenturyLink provides a high-speed network capable of handling both customer and employee communications. For customers, this means access to Wi-Fi hotspots that can enhance their shopping experience by providing them with a way to combine online shopping with in-person shopping. Customers may, for instance, be able to shop online before visiting a local retailer and then have that shopping information ready on their mobile phones to share with BCBG associates.

For retail associates, the new network comes with VoIP communications applications that allow for ease of contact with various store departments or officials. Furthermore, IT officials can benefit from network applications behind the scenes by having access to network performance utilities that can help them identify and repair network issues.

The uptime of the new network is also reportedly a big selling point. CenturyLink noted that the disruptions BCBG found with its previous network are not longer issues. This means there is more uptime for company associates as well as more uptime for customers who expect full use of Wi-Fi. To ensure promised uptime, CenturyLink will also monitor its network 24 hours a day to make sure that its service is operating at its full potential. Kenny Wyatt, president of Business Solutions Group at CenturyLink, said his company was excited to enter the world of retail fashion and further extend the telecom's global reach.

Edited by Maurice Nagle