High school graduation marks a huge milestone in every student’s life as he or she plans and look forward to a new environment, new friends.  Based on the Cisco’s Connected World Technology Report finding, “Half of college students and young employees (49%) said they would rather lose their wallet or purse than their smartphone or mobile device.”

As my nephew prepares for his college journey, what do college kids need most these days?  I recalled what I needed most back in college, scantrons and no. 2 pencils.  I couldn’t attend an exam without them as those are an absolute requirement on every syllabus.  Do scantrons even exist anymore?  Number 2 pencils?  I think back on how technology has really changed our lives.  As I’m searching online for ideas, I came across a few: Read More »

Tags: byod, Cisco Connected World Technology Report, k-12 education, mobile phone

Economic development is out and new economic competitiveness is in and the basis of government process is evolving. The old model no longer works as technology is fundamentally changing the way human beings go to work. Today’s technology can deliver a far greater impact at a far lower cost than ever before, and it’s not just a single trend (i.e., broadband, virtualization, cloud computing).

However, governments often make the mistake of evaluating technology based on the sticker price rather than diving further into the full lifecycle of systems to understand their true and lasting impact; I like to call this the Total Economic Impact (TEI).

A new whitepaper, “Economic Game Changer: Powering the Next Generation Government,” and published by the Center for Digital Government, dives into the importance for governments to consider the TEI rather than ROI. Read More »

Tags: byod, collaboration, digital government, govtech

Technology continues to change not only the tools we use, but the language we use to describe it. Wikipedia describes consumerization as:

…an increasingly accepted term used to describe the growing tendency for new information technology to emerge first in the consumer market and then spread into business and government organizations.

Consumerization absolutely affects technology, but confining the definition to information technology too narrowly defines it. The etymology pins the emergence of the term itself as early as 2001, which is a long time in dog years and at least a half century in technology. But the concept goes back far before Y2K. I could delve into Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, but I’ll stick to less distant history.

Before we get to IT, consider the impact of consumerization on time and choice.

Consumerization & Time
In some ways, our experiences with consumer technology have changed the very speed at which we live our lives. We don’t make time for things the way we used to. We want them now.

It’s the popcorn. OK, it’s the microwave oven. Food is both a human necessity and great motivator. The microwave changed our concept of time and convenience. We haven’t abandoned traditional cooking, but how often do you compare the conventional-oven directions to those for the microwave and think, “I want this to take 45 minutes, 3 minutes just isn’t long enough to wait”?

Popcorn showcases the evolution of our concept of time. Once upon a time, popcorn preparation was at least a 12.4-minute process, start to finish, including the ceremonial melting of butter and cleanup. Plus it required mastering the technique of keeping the pan in constant movement, carefully timing removal to optimize the number of kernels popped.

The mid-1970s arrival specialized popcorn appliances and Jiffy Pop brought popcorn faster and required less clean-up time, while largely eliminating the need for technique. Satisfaction came more quickly and with reduced effort.

And then came the microwave oven and magical little flat packages that fluffed up with aromatic salty goodness in three minutes. Clean up consisted of wiping the buttery stuff off your hands and tossing the bag in the trash. Instant gratification. Near zero effort. Our concept of time? Changed forever.

Read More »

Tags: byod, Cisco Jabber, collaboration, Consumerization, Consumerization of IT, device independence, instant messaging, mobile devices, Presence

At work, I read a lot of material, online and offline — seriously, it’s like a constant in my workflow. That being said, when I’m not reading I’m likely writing something or thinking about what I’m going to write.

When I’m pondering the type of story I’ll work on next, I’m often in front of my notebook computer and widescreen monitor (like I am right now, as I write this paragraph), with hands resting on the keyboard — in hopeful anticipation, for the epiphany that might appear.

Read More »

Tags: byod, cloudbook, ICT, mobility solutions, service provider wi-fi, smartphone

Cisco announced today a study showing benefits, as well as complexities, relating to employees bringing their own devices (BYOD) to work.  A colleague of mine forwarded this cartoon to me last week which I thought was quite amusing.  It gave me all kinds of thoughts about my upcoming doctor’s visit. 

Cisco is enabling BYOD by driving innovation through Unified Workspace, everything that makes workers efficient and productive moves along with them.  Cisco is also offering three Smart Solutions, the BYOD, VXI and Remote Expert, all designed to help service provider and enterprises develop a scalable approach to their mobility initiatives while optimizing user experience and ensuring data security. Read More »

Tags: byod, Cisco VXI, remote expert, remote worker, Service Provider, Smart Solutions, unified workspace