In my last blog we discussed how on-line tools for desktop sharing, audio and video collaboration, and enterprise social software play an increasingly important role in corporate business. We discussed how the industry is also seeing a trend toward “IT consumerization,” where employees and other users experience new technologies before they are supported by enterprises. The first impact of this trend is producing more employee requests to access their personal social media accounts from their work computers as a way to manage both work and life responsibilities. The even bigger impact is that employees want to use these types of collaboration tools for enterprise business purposes.
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Tags: blogging, collaboration, security, social media, twitter

One of Winston Churchill’s most memorable war speeches came on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor’s Luncheon at Mansion House in London, in response to the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein. Churchill stated:

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

My father was always proud that he had taken part in the first battle that changed the tide of World War II. He was 19 years old at time and had been on active duty for only 10 days! He was particularly proud that Churchill had said: “Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein, we never had a defeat.”

Well, the point of all this is to blow the trumpet for this Manufacturing Industry Blog from Cisco and your group of Industry Gurus. With only a few bloggers and blogging for only a year or so, we managed to achieve several notable awards:

• I, Peter Granger, was proud to accept the “Best Newcomer Blog Award” on behalf of the team – we managed to get folks to stay on our blog longer than any other Cisco blog! A real achievement for the team!
• Andrew Lach, our Blog Admin Manager managed to top the charts of prolific bloggers two months in a row, and became a featured blogger several times.
• The rest of the team, Mark Wylie, Kevin Davenport and Paul Didier, continued to impress the Industry with their thought Leadership.

So, what of the future? Read More »

Tags: 2011, 2012, award, best newcomer, blogging, blogs, Churcill, cisco blogs, El Alamein, future, Manufacturing, Manufacturing Guru, winner, Winston Churchill

It’s not everyday that a lost item gets returned to you via your company blog. But that’s exactly what happened to Jeff Squyres, Cisco’s High Performance Network Computing blogger.

Jeff was attending SC’11 (Supercomputing) show in Portland, Oregon last week and the morning after leaving the event-sponsored Alexis Hotel, he received a comment from a staff member at the hotel on his Cisco blog that read the following:

Hi Mr. Squyres,

I was just wondering if you stayed at the Alexis Hotel in Seattle recently and if so, do you think you may have left a pair of pants in your room when you checked out? If so you can let me know if you would like them sent to you and your mailing information. You can also contact the hotel directly at: 206-624-4844.

Have a wonderful holiday!
[Alexis Hotel Staff Member]

Social media has forever changed the way we connect with our customers. Read More »

Tags: blogging, lost and found, social media

Many Cisco partners have indicated they want to learn more about how to leverage social media to generate leads, to listen to customers, interact, and network. But you’ve also told us you aren’t sure where to start. We’re here to help!

We’ve marshaled our resources and developed an ebook, “The Cisco Channels Guide to Social Media” to help Cisco partners develop a strategy, set goals, and launch a social media presence.

Take a look at our ebook, download a copy, and share the link via your social networks. Be sure to let us know in the comments if this book was helpful, if you have your own social media successes and insights to share, and which tools you’d like us to cover next time.

Keep reading to view the ebook and download your own copy.
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Tags: blogging, Cisco, ebook, facebook, partner, social media, twitter, video, you tube

Please join me in welcoming Andrew Lach to the Cisco blog and our Cisco industry team! Andrew joins us as a recent MBA graduate from Duke University and will be leading the development of our social media strategy and platform. Prior to Cisco, Andrew led a unique career in Biotechnology, first as a scientist and later as a technology developer. He has also recently worked with virtualization software product marketing in the exciting new field of cloud computing.

I believe that Andrew’s background will bring a unique, interesting perspective and skill-set to our team and blogging community. He has led previous marketing and social media initiatives including guerrilla marketing campaigns and YouTube content creation. We greatly look forward to joining Andrew in action as our Blog Administration Manager. Welcome, Andrew!

Tags: andrew lach, blogging, Cisco, Cloud Computing, Duke, fuqua, guerrilla marketing, Industrial Intelligence, Industry, internet of things, lach, Manufacturing, social media