Hundreds of IT pros joined company at the October 21 function
By Robert McFarland, Jr.
The rise of artificial intelligence has become one of the defining issues of the modern era. And it’s a topic that comes up naturally when you put hundreds of information-technology pros in the same room, like the one C Spire commandeered for its annual Bytes & Bites gathering on Oct. 21 at Bridlewood in Madison.
“We are having a lot of AI conversations with customers,” said Anna Grace Gieger, a Dell account executive based in central Mississippi, at C Spire’s signature business-to-business event. “Some customers are really leaning into it, and some customers are waiting to see what everybody else does. But it’s definitely a trending topic.”
It’s also one that is already impacting many businesses and organizations. According to a survey reported by news website Cybersecurity Dive, nearly half of respondents had already experienced a cyberattack that used AI, while about 75% believed AI could make their organizations more vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Those statistics underscore the anxiety some business leaders have about the growing threat of AI-powered cyberattacks. But the data also overlooks how AI can actually be the solution to healing a compromised network, and more importantly, avoiding system breaches in the first place.
“You have to think about it both ways,” said Ashley Brignac, a partner account manager at Cisco. “In cybersecurity, AI is predicting security problems or vulnerabilities before they even happen, and it’s able to patch those very quickly so you’re not having downtime or loss of information.”
C Spire itself has adopted AI throughout its organization, creating an internal AI Center of Excellence and promoting its use within its teams. These efforts have resulted in time and cost savings among its team members and thwarted thousands of phishing email attempts, according to a recent article published by Fierce Network.
But considering the possibilities of AI is only one of the subjects of interest at Bytes & Bites, where more than 400 professionals representing organizations spanning the public and private sectors in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana convened to network, explore partnerships with vendors, and discuss cybersecurity, cloud computing and other hot topics in IT.
“Bytes & Bites is where we bring together our customers with some of the partners, we consult to create world-class end-to-end networking and cybersecurity solutions,” said Hal White, VP of engineering and partner strategy at C Spire Business. “It’s an opportunity to get the best minds in the IT business together to compare notes and build a stronger future for our clients.”
Trust is the true currency of successful partnerships, especially in the IT space, and Bytes & Bites puts customers directly in front of the people behind the products and services C Spire provides. Alongside Dell and Cisco, that included ten other major IT networking and cybersecurity players, including Arctic Wolf and Exagrid.
“This is not a conference where you sit and listen to speakers talk,” explained Scott Parenteau, Senior PR Manager at C Spire. “This is an opportunity where business decision makers can engage with experts from some of the biggest names in technology as well as solution professionals from C Spire. It’s a great opportunity for customers to learn in a fun environment.”
For end-users like Tim Stover, director of IT at Magee-headquartered PriorityOne Bank—a longtime client of C Spire who relies on the firm for everything from cybersecurity to network and data center storage—logging face time with the people behind the brands makes him a repeat attendee at Bytes & Bites.
“Getting to meet the people who run those areas, getting to know more C Spire people, that’s very helpful to me,” he said. “In addition, C Spire has partnerships with a lot of the vendors we work with or might want to consider working with. So, it’s a double opportunity for me.”
Paul Welsh, a senior sales associate at Exagrid, said the main benefit of those conversations is sharing experiences and best practices surrounding the modern business realities IT departments like Stover’s contend with daily.
“It’s no longer a matter of if a cyberattack will occur, it’s a matter of when,” said Welsh. “Here, you’re able to cross pollinate with other people and actually talk about the issues and experiences you’ve come across,” in order to find solutions that will work for them, as well.
While cybersecurity is a threat for businesses and organizations of all sizes, smaller companies are especially vulnerable due to having fewer resources dedicated to protecting them. That’s why the concept of staff augmentation was another popular topic among attendees and C Spire’s partners.
“The service we deliver is a really good fit for under-resourced institutions that have some sort of cybersecurity presence but can’t staff 24/7,” said Kevin Gallagher, an account manager at Arctic Wolf. “That’s where we can come in and we can outsource that capability.”
Amid talk of cybersecurity and the merits of generative and agentic AI, the future of work was also on the minds of eventgoers. In January, C Spire opened its newest regional office in Birmingham, AL, designed with collaboration at the fore as the only partner-built experience center to showcase Cisco’s latest technologies and the cost savings they enable in action.
“You can’t have networking without security—those two have to go together,” said Brignac. “I think having those discussions and then talking about the concept of future-proof workplaces, which C Spire has done in their Birmingham office, and understanding how that plays into analytics and the network are important.
“Having a cool device that you can host your meetings on and have great connectivity, a great picture and great sound—all of that is wonderful,” Brignac added. “But where it takes it to the next level is understanding the power savings that go into that.”
In recent years, C Spire has evolved beyond its consumer wireless and fiber internet strongholds into a strategic partner for innovation and digital transformation by offering a comprehensive suite of services such as fiber internet, wireless communications, IP voice, cloud solutions, and managed IT services.
“For our clients in 49 states, C Spire simplifies the complex and transforms how people and businesses connect, live and work,” said White. “An event like Bytes & Bites shows our customers how through expertise and partnerships we can help businesses solve complex IT challenges and thrive in a connected world.”