Avatar

Organizations continue to face threats to their brands, reputations, and profits from attacks on their information systems. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is designed to protect credit card information. During my five-year tenure at Cisco, I’ve been focused on PCI. The challenge that we have faced when deploying a solution to help customers become compliant and maintain a secure enterprise is the complexity. At the various trade shows that I have attended to discuss PCI, I have encountered a lot of head-shaking and looks of disgust as I bring up the topic of PCI. To help simplify PCI compliance, Cisco has released the latest Cisco Compliance Solution for PCI DSS 2.0 to make it easier for organizations to maintain a secure, compliant network.

Continue reading “Addressing Ongoing Security and Compliance Requirements”



Authors

Carol Ferrara-Zarb

Compliance Solutions Manager

Security Technology Business Unit

Avatar

Geoff is the Lead for Cisco’s Business Transformation solutions for the Financial Services Industry in Canada. To read Geoff’s full bio, please click Here.

This is the first in a series of blogs where I will discuss the capabilities that are driving innovation in the design and structure of retail financial services organizations. These capabilities shape where and how work is done, how resources are allocated and positioned, where geographic expansion  is executed, how customer points of presence are designed and staffed and how workplaces are configured. In sum, these capabilities offer new ways to engineer retail financial services organizations, the service delivery models that are critical to superior client experience and highly productive and cost-effective operations. Organizations that embrace and implement these capabilities will have a significant edge.

Imagine for a moment that you and your executive team are working to establish a new upstart financial services firm in a market with established competitors.

  1. How would you shape and structure your organization, operating model and service delivery system so that your retail bank, insurance and wealth management businesses can effectively compete with the established players?
  2. What would you offer that would drive superior, clearly differentiated level of satisfaction to the point where more clients move their assets to your firm?
  3. What factors would influence and guide your organizing model? Also, what capabilities would be essential to win market share, enable cost effective expansion and growth?
  4. What choices would you make in terms of how you allocate and locate your critical knowledge experts to drive the differentiated level of service and simultaneously achieve high productivity and the requisite level of profitability?
  5. What infrastructure assets would you decide to own and operate within your organization, and which would you choose to have outside and provided by others?
  6. Finally, how much time and focus would you and your executive team place on those assets and capabilities that make these advantages possible?

These are a few of the decisions and choices that would be paramount to you and your executive team. Why? Because these decisions and choices will influence the success of your enterprise. Continue reading “Imagine the Possibilities and Realize the Benefits of Organization Innovation in Financial Services”



Authors

Geoffrey King

Business Development Manager

Business Transformation Solutions Group

Avatar

In preparation for International Women’s Day, the March French edition of “Marie Claire” features a number of famous men wearing their day clothes, with one unusual detail: they are all wearing bright red stilettos, arguably the symbol of femininity. How did these men feel to be perched on such flashy high heels? Perhaps it connected them with their feminine side. How were these men perceived when posing in these shoes? Were they looked down upon, were they thought to be brave, or just silly? Continue reading “XY: a new identity for men of the XXIst century?”



Authors

Laura Earle

No Longer at Cisco

Avatar

At Cisco Live in Melbourne we had a great line-up of customers talking about how Cisco is supporting more effective collaboration within their businesses. One of our guest speakers was Ian Hendey from ME Bank, the only bank in Australia which is 100% owned by Australia’s leading industry super funds.

ME Bank has a keen focus on innovation and improving the customer experience. And that’s why the bank has rolled out an initiative to provide banking where its customers are located – in their workplace.

ME Bank’s Workplace Banking Kiosks combine Cisco TelePresence with ATM and digital marketing, and allow customers to speak to a service representative remotely. The initiative is part of an AU$57 million technology transformation program that includes deploying mobile bankers and kiosks into the workplaces of its customers to act as a virtual branch that staff can use at any time.

Continue reading “Wasted Lunch Breaks at the Bank are a Thing of the Past for ME Bank’s Customers in Australia”



Authors

Linda Horiuchi

Senior Manager, Australia and New Zealand PR

Avatar

Cloud computing provides new opportunities to increase capacity and add new capabilities on the fly.  Whether you are an enterprise looking for ways to make your business more agile and responsive to market transitions, a Service Provider exploring new business models, or an executive wondering how your employees can benefit from cloud collaboration services, there’s a lot to learn.

Over the next four weeks Cisco will host a series of webinars highlighting the challenges and opportunities of cloud computing. This is a great chance for you to learn from Cisco experts as well as your industry peers.

Below is info on four webinars in March and April.  I encourage you to save the dates and register to attend!

1/ Building Service Provider Public, Private, and Hybrid Clouds for Enterprise and SMB 

Date: March 19, 2013            Time: 11:00 AM ET / 8:00 AM PT

With half of all IT needs shifting to the cloud, Service Providers have a great opportunity to profit from this business. But how do you build the capabilities needed to offer these IT services as cloud services? What about the cost vs. time-to-market tradeoff? In this webcast, you’ll learn how CIOs plan to move to the SP cloud, how to account for complex tradeoffs, and how Cisco’s SP Cloud Smart Solution can help.

For more information and registration visit here 

2/ Innovate with Cloud Conferencing

Date: March 19, 2013        Time: 12:00pm ET / 9:00am PT

Video capabilities across devices are changing the way we work and communicate, bringing people closer together and increasing productivity levels. As businesses expand the ways they collaborate, Cisco makes the experience consistent regardless of device. Join our video and collaboration leaders on March 19 as we announce new solutions to evolve conferencing. Learn more about Cisco’s collaboration strategy, see the new solutions in action, and have your questions answered live by Cisco experts. Don’t miss out on your opportunity to be on the front lines of the market trends in video, conferencing, and collaboration.

For more information and registration visit here 

3/Cloud 201: Getting Both – Efficiency & Agility with Private and Public Clouds  

ciscoapril9header

 

 

 


Date:
April 9, 2013              Time: 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT

Ready to learn more about the future of cloud computing and how your organization can embrace it? Join our National Cloud 201 Town Hall and discover how to implement, secure, manage, update, and monitor solutions across multiple cloud environments. This webinar will leverage the power of Cisco Telepresence and connect you with an expert panel for advice you can use for running advanced enterprise workloads across multiple cloud environments.

For more information and registration visit here 

4/Simplifying Your Journey to Private Cloud — A Roundtable with Cisco, NetApp, Intel, and Microsoft 

WecastCloudApril17

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date: April 17, 2013        Time: 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT

Cisco, Intel, NetApp, and special guest Microsoft come together for an executive roundtable to help you on your journey to the private cloud. Join this expert panel and learn how to decrease storage costs, reduce time to market, and improve application performance and business agility. Discover an integrated solution to achieve IT-as-a-service model in a fast and simple way through this partner webcast.

For more information and registration visit here 



Authors

Giuliano Di Vitantonio

Vice President

Data Center and Cloud Marketing

Avatar

It seems every week there is a new use case for Cisco TelePresence, and this week is no different.

Europe’s leading home improvement retailer, Kingfisher is using Cisco TelePresence to help the company adopt more agile ways of working. As a company that makes do-it-yourself projects easier and more affordable, Kingfisher was facing increasingly difficult logistical challenges with key partners and offices spread out across the globe. Not only is Cisco allowing the company to speed time-to-market and increase overall revenue, but it’s also enabling better communication and more productivity.

Read more on this innovative case study and watch their video in the latest Cisco Video blog post “How Retail Giant Kingfisher Is Improving Efficiency with a Video-Enabled Supply Chain.”



Authors

Julie McPherson

Marketing Manager

Enterprise Networks and Mobility

Avatar

One of the most engaging customer visits undertaken during Cisco Live in Melbourne was the visit to the brand new, purpose built offices of global engineering and management company, Aurecon Group.

Aurecon’s Melbourne office is based in the growing Docklands area of Melbourne and is a showcase for the use of information technology to enable business innovation, growth and productivity. 

During the visit, Barry Honey, Auercon Group IS Strategy and Architecture Manager outlined the company’s strategic initiative to create innovative new client-facing technology services that will further differentiate its client experiences.  With operational projects taking place all over the world, Aurecon’s vision is grounded in an intelligent network that is entirely scalable and flexible for the future, while nimble enough to respond to immediate business opportunities being working on by the company.

Continue reading “Aurecon Australia in Melbourne Creates Leading Client Experiences on its Intelligent Network”



Authors

Linda Horiuchi

Senior Manager, Australia and New Zealand PR

Avatar

StudentssCisco’s Virtual Forum for Education Leaders is this Tuesday 3/19. It will be an exciting virtual Forum with information about important trends that are happening for both K-12 and Higher Ed. Of particular interest for both Academic and IT leaders is how technology is supporting and increasing learning outcomes.

Great applications like on-line learning, flipped classrooms, BYOD, and lecture capture are all being implemented by our schools and universities and delivering great success. They are helping us execute pedagogical changes that provide for individualized learning, classroom collaboration and helping us reach new markets in Higher Ed. These new technologies are even positively impacting the business and administrative areas at our schools and universities.

Continue reading “Incredible Outcomes in Education from New Technologies”



Avatar

Now is the time to seize these opportunities. To expand education beyond classroom walls.  To help teachers and learners collaborate more effectively. To create new teaching experiences that engage learners and improve outcomes. So tomorrow’s students will be prepared to take on the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

But first, schools of all levels must prepare by arming themselves with a solid network, strong policies, and seamless management.

Cisco’s Virtual Forum for Education can link you with educators and innovation leaders from around the world to talk about best practices and practical strategies to overcome the challenges of mobility and technology in the classroom. You will have the opportunity to interact live with education thought leaders and Cisco experts on trends and technologies that are shaping the future of education.

The virtual event is March 19th, 2013 in the Americas & Europe and March 20th for Asia Pacific.

Register before it’s too late!

Read more on the education blog

For more on Cisco Education solutions, visit Cisco K-12 Education BYOD Solutions.