Automation World

Recently, our very own Peter Granger was interviewed for an article in Automation World Magazine regarding the impact of social media on manufacturing collaboration.

Social media isn’t just for personal use any more. Businesses of all kinds, particularly manufacturers, are looking to leverage social media types of connections for easier access to needed expertise, business intelligence insights and new product ideas.

For manufacturers, the principal driver behind the move toward greater incorporation of social media for collaborative business processes is access to expertise.

Who knows what? Read More »

Tags: Automation World, Cisco, Ford, Harley Davidson, iwe, Manufacturing, Peter Granger, Procter & Gamble, quad, social communities, social media, Social media in manufacturing, social networking

While we can’t expect a medal-winning performance every day or to excel at everything we do, we can discover our natural talents, where our strengths lie and what we’re truly passionate about. Read More »

Tags: Cisco, competition, Denise Lewis, Energy, Inclusion and Diversity, performance, Roger Black, shiny eyes, success, talent

I started to link  to my fellow Cisco Bloggers for their posts on Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI) but already there are too many for which to build the links.  I’m a WAAS guy so I thought I would draw you attention to  the other press release that mentions Cisco WAAS.

The next layer as we peel the old onion is that Cisco WAAS is now optimized for Citrix XenDesktop.  More explicitly, the Cisco WAAS engineering team has been collaborating with engineers from Citrix so that Cisco WAAS can understand the Citrix HDX and ICA protocols well enough to be able to optimize the traffic without Citrix administrators having to change any compression or encryption settings. And because it’s a a collaboration born of the strategic agreement between Cisco and Citrix, it will be jointly validated, marked as Citrix Ready prior to general availability, and will be supported by both vendors, with clean hand off mechanisms defined between both companies’ support teams.

Read More »

Tags: Cisco, data center, vxi, waas, WAN Optimization

One of the best parts of my job is talking with--and more importantly, listening to--leaders from companies and organizations who use Cisco’s contact center products to collaborate with their customers and grow their businesses.  Over the course of these conversations, we’ve discussed ways in which companies can get the most out of their customer relationship management (CRM) solutions.  Today I’d like to share a few of them with you, gleaned from a recent conversation with Doug Saunders of Republic Services Inc, the leading provider of solid waste collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services.

1) Don’t underestimate the power of self-service: Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a mature, proven technology for automatically handling routine caller requests that can free up valuable agent resources for calls that require more detailed/customized assistance.  For example, Republic Services uses Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal for automated order entry, saving approximately five minutes apiece for each of 100-200 daily service requests--the equivalent of one to two full-time agents.

2) Creating a unified experience is key: Companies can strengthen their brand by providing a consistent, unified customer service experience across multiple media channels including voice, video, web, chat, and e-mail-- regardless of whether the “call” goes into a national service center or a local branch. Cisco’s contact center solutions are built on the network, making this unification a natural consequence of our architecture.

Read More »

Tags: Cisco, contact center, customer collaboration

Breathless over the BeDazzler?

Pleased with the Power Juicer?

Psyched by the ShamWow?

We’ve all seen late night infomercials touting everything from cookware to hair products to fitness gear.  Amidst the incredible claims, B-list celebrities and amazed studio audience members, you’ve surely wondered:  when will someone create a Data Center device worthy of an infomercial?

Wonder no more.  Here, now, is the Data Center Forecaster. Read More »

Tags: Cisco, coc-data-center, cootie catcher, data center, datacenterdeconstructed, fortune teller, infomercial, origami, parody, whirlybird