Your customers want all the benefits that borderless networks have to offer; things like working from home, VPN access anywhere, and secure network access via any device. But how do you best walk customers through the costs, benefits, IT staff requirements, ROI, and the dizzying array of considerations around a sizable IT upgrade?
With a series of questions, scenarios, and analysis, the new Borderless Networks ROI Benefits Calculator is a free tool that helps partners analyze customers’ IT costs and needs—whether it’s a future network deployment or a post-deployment ROI analysis.
By plugging data into the calculator, you receive a tangible list of benefits that a customer would see from upgrading their infrastructure (like reductions in help desk costs, increases in end user productivity, or energy savings).
Cisco tapped independent technology and market research company Forrester Research to create the calculator. Forrester gathered data from its research on Cisco Borderless Networks and the market in general, interviewed Cisco marketing and sales personnel, spoke with organizations offering solutions, and conducted a survey of 121 IT network execs.
According to SiriusDecisions, 70% of the buying process is now completed before the prospect is ready to speak with a sales representative. This means that marketing is moving further into the buying process as the prospective buyer uses new – and decidedly online – sources of information instead of a relationship with a sales professional to guide their purchasing decisions.
As B2B marketers we know it’s important to leverage social media as part of our marketing efforts and most of us are. However, it’s more important to pay attention to how our target buyers’ online behavior is changing overtime. How do IT professionals leverage social networks? What sources of content influence their purchase decisions? Do IT professionals have a preference for certain formats of content over others?
Answers to these questions can be found in the 2011 Toolbox.com/PJA Social Media Index. Read More »
How do the kids in your life spend their time after school? Do their activities involve video—either watching it, playing with it, or creating it?
For Cisco Consulting System Engineer Mike Harttree’s son, Tommy, after school time means gathering his Legos and those belonging to his neighborhood buddies, arranging them in elaborate constructions—like recreations of movie scenes— taking digital pictures of the arrangements, digitally gluing these photos together on a Mac, and uploading the glued photos in video format to YouTube.
Tommy is seven years old. His oldest friend/collaborator is 12. Check out their impressive work here. Read More »
I realized a few years ago that all Data Center challenges can be solved with the sufficient application of money.
Need more computing capability? Buy new hardware. Struggling with hot spots? Purchase supplemental cooling infrastructure. Don’t have enough physical space? Pay to expand the Data Center or lease additional space.
More performance means greater cost, though. Some energy saving technologies buck that trend when compared to conventional facilities, but generally the more capability you want from a Data Center the more it will cost to build and operate.
A little while back I blogged about the Vblock solution for Cisco HCS. This time around I’ve got answers about another solution, Vblock for Cisco Unified Communications, which is designed for delivering hosted services.
To succeed in today’s fast paced, global economy, businesses must be able to communicate and collaborate. This requires access to a range of voice, video, and messaging communication tools. While the essence of communication is to break down barriers, organizations today must contend with the barriers imposed by increasingly complex communications environments. The VCE solution enables rapid deployment of Cisco Unified Communications applications on Vblock Infrastructure Platforms to provide an integrated hardware and software solution that connects people, information, and teams, helping to enable comprehensive and effective collaborative experiences.
Before you keep reading, watch the video Cisco UC “As-A-Service” Offers on Vblock Platform, which provides an overview of the solution, and what customers can expect.
What are the advantages of Vblock? Keep reading for the FAQ. Read More »
Your customers want all the benefits that borderless networks have to offer; things like working from home, VPN access anywhere, and secure network access via any device. But how do you best walk customers through the costs, benefits, IT staff requirements, ROI, and the dizzying array of considerations around a sizable IT upgrade?
