Comcast Strengthens Businesses in COVID Pandemic

By Nelson Duckett, Comcast Utah Area Vice President

FIND THE ARTICLE ON PAGE 8 OF THE SILICON SLOPES MAGAZINE SUMMER 2020 ISSUE.

Nothing has ravaged our lives recently like the effects of COVID-19. As surprising as the pandemic continues to be, perhaps those hardest hit in Utah are small businesses that had to scramble to survive.

As we were all sent home to carve out a new normal, we at Comcast quickly activated to keep businesses and employees operating at full potential.

Years ago, I was taught to think two steps ahead. Today, I’m grateful Comcast adopts a similar policy and has been investing in Utah’s infrastructure for years to stay well ahead of future demand. It’s that very strategy that allows to help businesses in trying times.

For example, we’ve increased speeds 18 times in the last 18 years and continue to invest billions of dollars to deliver fast, innovative and reliable experiences in and out of the home, even for unseen tragedies, such as this pandemic.

From the moment the surge started, we’ve analyzed performance on our network more intensely, conducting tens of millions of diagnostic speed tests and monitoring traffic patterns minute-by-minute.

From Logan to Payson and especially in tech-rich Silicon Slopes, that action has helped Utahns continue to operate at high productivity levels, keeping Utah on the leading edge nationally.

Governor Gary Herbert recently said Utah has done remarkably well by accelerating the recovery path to five weeks from the projected eight weeks. Even the Philadelphia’s Pew Charitable Trust concluded Utah and Minnesota are better set than any states to emerge from the pandemic’s economic effects.

But it doesn’t stop there. Comcast’s security experts monitor our network 24/7 with highly sophisticated technologies, threat intelligence and proprietary AI-powered software that helps process hundreds of thousands of cyber events every second. We do this 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – and our teams remain vigilantly focused to help keep customers’ connections safe, secure and private.

That drive is what has built one of the most advanced communications networks ever. It requires a commitment to continuous innovation and dedicated resources to deliver generous capabilities for today and tomorrow, no matter what we will face.

It also requires something we’ve all learned profoundly from the pandemic—a healthy dose of empathy.

By that, I mean we not only service the best customers anywhere in Utah, but each Comcast employee is a customer and a neighbor. We feel the same pain and celebrate in the tremendous successes.

That’s why in March, our frontline tech teams headed out into the field to ensure you had access to the fast, unfailing services each business and family needed to work, conduct school and entertain quarantined families at home.

And we’d do it all over again. Why? Because hospitals need it, frontline workers need it, and, essentially, we all need dependable network resources continuously. Keeping your connection safe, secure and private is one of the most important things we do.

Simply put, we are here for you. When over 70 percent of Utah’s small businesses requested financial assistance, we knew we had to pitch in also. In a spirit of togetherness, Comcast served as a catalyst for small business support efforts by contributing nearly $330,000 to community partners, including the business community.

Together, we will make it through and become even stronger than we were before.

That’s our promise. That’s our Comcast community spirit.