Introducing the Cisco Education Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) team!

Welcome to the first in a series of postings from the Cisco ANZ education team on what’s happening Down Under.

We’ll be providing updates on news, research and commentary across the higher education, K-12 as well as vocational education and training sectors.

Our first blog post focuses on Pymble Ladies College (PLC), an independent school in Sydney, Australia for girls from Kindergarten to year 12. It has recently partnered with Cisco to implement a range of video technologies for teachers and students to learn, collaborate and interact with experts in particular fields, anywhere in Australia or across the world.

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Tags: classroom, collaboration, communication, connection, education, K-12, PLC, Pymble Ladies College, student, Sydney, teachers, technology, video

There are a few of us at Cisco that write here regularly. We care about what is going on in Manufacturing in general, but more specifically, in terms of integrating the manufacturing networks into the Enterprise and speeding adoption of open standards to enable more efficient production.

I will later this month be launching a series on how Machine Builders can more readily enable productivity by integrating more closely with their end users (call that “convergence”) or by helping their end users be more productive by enabling secure remote access. But that is later this month.

Today I want to talk about how we all communicate. It isn’t just by wires. It isn’t just by mouth. We have a plethora of communication means available to us. I’m talking about us people to other people in the industry. It is by building contacts with people in industry and spreading the word. That is what we at Cisco are doing.

We don’t have every answer. We think we’ve got a number of good ones. We’re enhancing some of the areas. But this is not a commercial for Cisco. This is a commercial for open dialogue between those that care about Manufacturing.

There are a few good spokespeople for this effort, and I want to call them out. And I admit right upfront this is not a complete list. But please bear with me. Read More »

Tags: automation, Automation World, Borderless Networks, collaboration, communication, convergence, Feed Forward, Gary Mintchell, Jim Pinto, Keith Nosbusch, machine builders, Manufacturing, Rockwell Automation, secure remote access, wires

Clearly defined goals and the right tools help ensure communication success

In a small company, keeping the lines of communication open with your employees might seem like a no-brainer. But if some or all of your team works remotely—in a branch office, on the road, or at home—staying in touch can seem like a full-time job. It doesn’t have to be. With the right tools and attitude, remote employees can stay productive and in touch with each other and their clients.

Here are five tips to improve communications with mobile workers:

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Tags: communication, mobile workers, remote, small business

Do you measure the success of your family by its ROI?

Every month, I receive an invite to attend Professional Business Women of California’s professional development sessions on a variety of topics. Their recent Webinar was a particularly interesting and thought-provoking one – how we can apply the skills we have learnt in our career to strengthening the most important organisation in the world, our family.

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Tags: communication, family, home, Inclusion and Diversity, values

As our country continues to face budget woes, it seems especially imperative for state and local governments to implement TechAmerica’s IT policy recommendations, covered last week by Sarah Rich of Government Technology. The first priority listed was for the public sector to, “Implement policies and actions that will increase collaboration and communication between the private sector and state and local government in all areas of technology acquisition, deployment and service delivery.”

We have already seen rapid adoption of innovative programs, like telepresence technology, being implemented by some government agencies, as it is critical for enhancing collaboration among agencies and departments and increasing efficiencies. The role of technology is changing – it is no longer a support role but a driving force to save costs, increase performance and enrich the workplace. With telepresence, high definition video and audio allow reduce travel-related costs, productivity, costs of downtime, all while creating a more collaborative environment that encourages innovation. The Department of Transportation in Alabama is a great example of how telepresence can increase productivity and reduce expenses, using the technology for everything from new hire trainings to external meetings. The Federal government is also adopting this innovative technology to help keep the Department of Defense running smoothly amidst the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative, ensuring federal workers are still able to communicate in real time with the Pentagon offices. Read More »

Tags: communication, Connected Justice, cost of government, dod, DOT, fiscal challenges, government budget, TelePresence