Cisco Partner Summit is the event of the year for the global Cisco channel community, and it gets mighty busy. Whether you’re attending the big show live in Boston, participating via Cisco Virtual Partner Summit, or just following along for news announcements, key messages and other important Cisco information, your attention span is only so great. You have a business to run, and we understand that.

One thing we hear quite often from Cisco partners is a request to better understand all the places Partner Summit information and social media activity will be available so you can prioritize your days and do as much social engagement as possible without diverting too much of your energy from the business you came to conduct. So as Partner Summit gets underway in just three weeks, here’s a list of social media destinations to pay attention to:  Read More »

Tags: Cisco, ciscops13, partner, partner summit, virtual partner summit, vps

In my last post, I discussed the importance of a strong network foundation.  Let’s get a little deeper into this now. The strategies depicted in the diagram below have been developed over nearly two decades of Cisco Services experience in the field.  These outline what MUST be addressed in order to successfully and fully optimize your investment.  Omission of any one will induce risk into the project.  I will highlight this as we pass through the strategies.

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Tags: Cisco, design zone, five strategies for optimized network design, Hardware Optimization, Network design, NOS, services, strategy

The early days of the Internet were a heady time of reimagining, rethinking, and, in effect, “e-enabling” a staggering range of business processes. Today, we stand on the cusp of an equally momentous paradigm shift driven by an explosion in connectivity—not just among devices, but also encompassing people, process, data, and “things.” This next-generation digital revolution will upend entrenched mind-sets and disrupt existing business strategies on a nearly unprecedented scale, transforming, yet again, the customer experience.

As I shared in Part 1 of my blog, the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group projects that the Internet of Everything (IoE) economy will generate $14.4 trillion in Value at Stake for private-sector companies globally over the next decade. Nearly 26 percent of this total — $3.7 trillion — will be tied to IoE-driven customer experience advances. Read More »

Tags: Big Data, Cisco, customer experience, design thinking, IBSG, Internet of Everything, IoE, Personalization, Problem solving

Location Services has been a holy grail in many industries for almost 5 years now and none more so that in the retail industry. In recent discussions with Chief Executive Officers in leading retailers especially those from a marketing or operations persecutive some interesting comments and trends are emerging.

Firstly about a year ago retailers were looking at LBS and saying we must have this, were unsure how to use it to effectively drive their business.

Today in April & May 2013 these executives are equally as excited about the possibilities location services brings to their business, however they are also putting an even greater focus on the ROI. When vying for capex resources a compelling business case is one that has a clear return on the investments needed. When considering a guest WiFi deployment and associated location based services the business cases emerging are varied especially  when speaking with some global retailers. Read More »

Tags: Cisco, Cisco Advanced Location, location based services, location services, mobility, mobility; location; location analytics; mse; mobility services engine; wi-fi; wireless; network; release; cisco, mse, retail analytics, Thinksmart, wi-fi, wifi, wireless

Budget cuts are costing many American students their arts education. As a wanna-be artist and overall proponent of all things creative, I have long valued the impact of arts education – especially in public schools. Unfortunately, these are the programs that are too often cut when budgets are slashed and difficult decisions must be made.

OK, so you probably won’t argue with me that art is important – after all, as children, it’s how we learned a lot of things, right? Who doesn’t have at least one thing they use a song to remember? I only have to key into the tune of ’3 blind mice’ to remember how to calculate the area of a circle (thanks to Mr. Bowlware, my fourth grade math teacher).

Studies show, too, that arts-engaged students show more positive outcomes in a variety of areas than their low-arts-engaged peers – especially in socially and economically disadvantaged student populations. This is exactly what makes programs like Fred Martin’s Urban Entertainment Institute (UEI) so valuable – and inspiring. Read More »

Tags: arts education, Bridging the Gaps, Cisco, edtech, TelePresence, Urban Entertainment Institute, video, video conferencing, videoconference, virtual concert