I recently had a pleasure of working on the team to delivera Cisco technology showcase for retailers, with the requirements that it is accessible from multiple remote locations and allow large or small parties to have an immersive demonstration experience.
The result is the Retail BDOT (Business Demonstrations over TelePresence). Leveraging Cisco TelePresence technology, we connect visitors to a day in life of a retailer made possible with Cisco technology.
Some of the questions the demonstrations are designed to address include:
The challenges facing the US manufacturing industry are varied and well-known: foreign competition, regulatory and environmental concerns, and a decline in STEM education, to name a few.
Most of what we hear in the news is a continual stream of reminders of these challenges from politicians, pundits, etc. Everyone seems to acknowledge this is a problem, but what are we going to do about it?
Contact centers have been around for decades, and since it is a mature technology, potential buyers sometimes believe there is little difference between the offerings from the various vendors. Nothing could be further from the truth!
While it’s certainly true that the major contact center vendors can provide traditional functionality such as interactive voice response (IVR), skills-based routing to agents, and associated reporting, the question then becomes “And what else?” Although traditional contact center functionality is still vital to customer care, the industry is evolving as businesses of all sizes strive to provide customer care in the manner in which today’s customers wish to be served. This transition to what Cisco first defined as Customer Collaboration combines traditional contact center technology and processes with key innovations in social media, Web 2.0 agent workspaces, video, and network-based recording and analytics to empower businesses to forge deeper, proactive relationships with their customers.
When you think about implementing or upgrading a contact center, have you considered how your business or organization will keep pace with today’s consumers?
Back in July, I wrote about the federal government’s General Services Administration’s (GSA) plan to install 15 telepresence centers in federal buildings around the country. Well, I’m excited to report those sites are up and running!
Outfitted with Cisco TelePresence, the sites allow federal employees to conduct face-to-face, real time meetings with colleagues in faraway locations without incurring any travel expenses. Participants can share electronic documents and presentations, discuss strategy, and look each other in the eye across the virtual table. TheGSA sites are open to employees from agencies that register to use the telepresence system.
On Tuesday October 18, we held a live TweetChat with best-selling author and presentation guru Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte Design. (She created the presentation you see in Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.)
During the hour-long chat, Nancy shared a truckload of sage presentation advice, tips on how to spread ideas, tell stories, and ensure the next time you present, your audience will be truly riveted. Thanks to everyone who participated in the chat and congrats to Cisco partner @CapNetSols who won a signed copy of Nancy’s book Resonate.
If you’d like to watch Nancy’s Virtual Partner Velocity video covering this topic and how to truly resonate with audiences, the replay is here. (And be sure to take the survey after you watch Nancy’s video to get your copy of her most recent book “Resonate” and for your chance to win an iPad 2.)
And now, for a full summary of the TweetChat. (You can also visit our TweetChat room to view the transcript.)
To help facilitate discussion, the @PartnerVelocity Twitter handle asked Nancy 10 prepared questions. There were plenty of great audience questions as well, so for easier reading, those are posted after the Q&A along with Nancy’s Golden Nuggets and tips.
