The customer: making better connections

CenturyLink’s aim is to enable millions of customers to transform their businesses and lives through innovative technology. One of the largest US-based, global communications companies, it provides IT, hosting and managed services for businesses, and high-speed Internet, TV and voice telecommunications for homes

The challenge: disparate legacy systems and processes

Operating in the fast-moving technology sector, CenturyLink is constantly developing and implementing new initiatives and services to meet the needs and expectations of its customers.

The telecommunications company runs as many as 1,100 projects concurrently each year, with approximately 5,000 users needing to access its project and portfolio management systems.

The volume of projects and users had evolved over time, resulting in seven legacy systems and disparate processes across the organization. To increase efficiency, further enhance project quality and improve system performance, CenturyLink needed to modernize and standardize its project and portfolio management systems and processes.

The solution: a standard PPM system within three months

CenturyLink opted to replace its legacy systems with Clarity (formally CA Project & Portfolio Management). Due to the critical nature of its projects, the company decided to switch to its new solution within just three months, and chose Rego Consulting to assist with and expedite the deployment.

Working closely with CenturyLink, Rego assisted with the configuration of a core version of Clarity to meet the aggressive deadline. It then developed monthly and quarterly releases that included a two-way SAP interface, a custom-built release planning solution, and a project estimation capability to automatically generate work plans. This approach enabled CenturyLink to quickly deploy and adopt the solution and then add enhancements in phases to further optimize processes as well as the value of the new solution.

Finally, Rego provided training and knowledge transfer to CenturyLink’s internal development team so that hosting and on-going performance of Clarity could be managed in-house.

The benefits: maximum efficiency and value

CenturyLink now has a high-performing and standard PPM solution that has enabled it to streamline processes and accommodate its high number of projects and users.

As well as increasing efficiency, having a single, standard system will also reduce the cost of support, which CenturyLink now has the expertise and capability to provide in-house.

The speed of deployment also meant that CenturyLink quickly benefited from enhanced project and portfolio insight, including financials, that will help to further improve decision-making and the delivery of new initiatives and services.