I had a troubling thought. If I can no longer be considered part of the new generation, am I now the old generation? Generation X used to sound so modern, but we’re no longer the cool kids. After all, I’m driving a Prius and doing fourth-grade homework with my kid after dinner instead of chasing Skrillex. Now we have the Millennials who, according to Wikipedia, are Gen Y. (But, really, what generation wants to be saddled with a name based on the one that came before it?)

We recently invited a small group of MBA students from University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business to meet some of our customers for a grilling panel on what companies can expect from the new generation entering the workforce.

They provided first-hand perspective about what it’s like to be new on the block and work with, well, er, an older generation. Compared to our learned comfort with technology, theirs is nearly ingrained based on its presence in their lives since childhood. This difference comes through in their expectations, habits, and predictions for the wonderful world of technology in front of us. Read More »

Tags: byod, cloud, collaboration, collaboration summit, email, Generation X, Generation Y, millennials, mobility, social media, WebEx Social

As my colleague Roberto De La Mora recently wrote, the cloud is the place to collaborate in today’s business world. Whether your organization needs private, public or hybrid cloud environments, Cisco and our broad network of partners can provide solutions that best suit your business needs.

And what if your collaboration needs include telepresence? Where does telepresence fit into the cloud?

With Cisco, telepresence fits into your cloud infrastructure wherever and however you need it. According to Forrester, “videoconferencing innovation today is geared toward extending connectivity…through cloud-based services or new lower-cost on-premises deployment models.”

Read More »

Tags: Cisco, Cisco umi telepresence, cloud, collaboration, collaboration summit, CTX, HCS, unified communications, video conferencing, WebEX

Los Angeles is an extraordinary city with extraordinary people. And this week, it was even more extraordinary to be in my hometown of LA where we hosted this year’s Cisco Collaboration Summit.  LA is where we built the world’s biggest airplane, the world’s biggest freeway system, and epic movies with the world’s biggest stars. And of course, the Happiest Place on Earth.

This is a town of big dreamers with big ideas, making it a perfect place to bring together customers, partners, analysts, and consultants to talk about big ideas in collaboration.

And now is the time for big ideas. We all know companies can only do so much with cost cutting. It’s important, but in our global economy, the only true way to differentiate and compete is through innovation. 

How do you get to that innovation? Read More »

Tags: collaboration, collaboration summit, future workspace, H.264, h.265, jabber, TelePresence, video, WebEx Social

Did you know that by 2016, two thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video? And by 2020, 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet? This is huge. Plus, the global cloud market will grow nearly 500 percent by 2020. For me, this means I get to communicate with bunches of new people!

For your customers, it means figuring out how to tap into this major shift to empower employees to engage in entirely new ways. It’s also about putting the collaboration solutions in place to help their workforces evolve from knowledge workers to next-generation collaborative innovators.

This transition presents an exciting—and profitable—opportunity for our partners. And Cisco just sweetened the pot with its launch of new products, services, and promotions at the Collaboration Partner Summit in Los Angeles.

Want to accelerate your collaboration sales? Find out what’s new. Read More »

Tags: Cisco Business Edition 6000, Cisco HCS, Cisco prime collaboration manager, Cisco Unified Communications., Cisco WebEx Meeting Server, collaboration summit, Hosted Collaboration Solution, Prime Collaboration

With Cisco’s focus on bringing the power of video to organizations of all sizes when, where and how they want it, we are dedicated to expanding our virtualized collaboration offerings.

One of the ways we are demonstrating our strong commitment to seamless conferencing is by ensuring uncompromised quality and experience in any environment – whether delivered as hosted, on-premise or hybrid, and with virtualized or dedicated platforms.  Our comprehensive approach to video collaboration is part of a broader architecture that enables a consistent user experience across any device and flexibility in delivery options.

Read More »

Tags: Cisco, collaboration, collaboration summit, TelePresence, vcs, video, virtualized