This is the first post in a new series from Dimension Data and Cisco Channels looking at user adoption and integration of unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) solutions. Findings stem from Dimension Data’s 2013 Global UC&C Survey, developed with ICT researcher Ovum and featuring responses from more than 2,700 participants in 18 countries across 20 vertical industries.
We’ve all heard that selling UC&C solutions has to be less about flashy technology, and more about a comfortable, productive user experience. In other words, are video sessions, presence and other UC&C functions as easy and convenient to use as a traditional voice call? But user adoption of UC&C isn’t by any means the last step in a UC&C implementation. It’s actually a lot closer to the first step, as Neill Hart puts it.
“We don’t have to worry about user adoption with most other areas of IT,” says Hart, converged communications director for Dimension Data Europe. “If you put in a firewall on a Sunday night, for example, it’s at work the next morning and the user probably isn’t even aware it’s there. With most technologies, the user doesn’t even worry about it. But with UC&C, it’s everything. If I’m not entirely comfortably with technology, then I can find a way of not using it.” Read More »
Whether you are amongst those building their own private cloud or amongst those leveraging the solutions of cloud providers, you want to attend Cloud Connect Santa Clara next week.
Cisco has been very active over the past years to accelerate the emergence of the cloud computing model. Padmasree Warrior, Cisco CTO and Lew Tucker Cisco cloud computing CTO have been on the forefront of this evolution, developing the concept of a “World of Many Cloud” and more recently the “Internet of Everything” .
So it’s pretty natural that Cisco is a Diamond Sponsor for Cloud Connect , which is happening April2-5 in Santa Clara , California .
The concentration of very active high tech companies makes this event exciting for the visitors (see exhibitor lists) . You will find Cisco at the booth #201. In addition of the Cisco solutions, partners such as AT&T, Dimension Data, NTT, Savvis, Sunguard, Windstream will be there as well to talk about deployments.
A quick look at the list of speakers, starting with the keynotes makes it even more attractive.
The agenda is organized around tracks reflecting the care about of IT organizations, such as private cloud and hybrid cloud, mobile cloud, risk management and security, enterprise SaaS strategies, performance and availability, WAN and cloud networking , cloud economics, applications design and architecture, but also big data and software defined networking .
If you want more specifically hear from Cisco and partners , here are some suggestions :
Cloud Computing, SDN, And the Internet of Everything
by Lew Tucker Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Cloud Computing | Cisco
Open source cloud platforms such as OpenStack now allow anyone to build their own public or private cloud. This accelerates private cloud platforms usage to not only meet the needs of rapid application development and deployment of enterprise apps, but when combined with SDN also changes the nature of “infrastructure as a service” as a platform for consumer-facing services. Come explore with us this virtuous cycle created by cloud computing, software defined networking, and the internet of everything.
Wednesday, April 3, 10:20-10:35 AM Mission City Ballroom
Choosing Your Strategy in a World of Many Clouds
byPat Adamiak Senior Director, SP Data Center and Cloud Solutions | Cisco
Your organization has many options to choose from in the cloud. We are here to share our expertise on how to safely navigate a world of many clouds. Please join us to hear about the industry trends, strategies, and solutions you can put in a successful cloud playbook.
Thursday, April 4, 2:30-3:15 PM Grand Ballroom G
Enabling IT as a Service – Cloud Management and Orchestration
by Rodrigo Flores Cloud Enterprise Architect | Cisco
The promise of running IT departments as an internal service provider has been elusive. In their quest to deliver ITaaS, many companies have suffered from an emphasis on IT operations and less focus on infrastructure and application development, resulting in a siloed IT environment held together by heroic efforts. The majority of IT spending is dedicated to “keep the lights on” activities, hindering IT’s ability to keep up with the pace of business innovation. This session will address why the answer to this IT quandary lies in the implementation of virtualization and cloud computing, describing these as the essential building blocks for the agility, flexibility, and “services” focus that IT needs to achieve ITaaS. The speaker will describe why IT needs to be delivered as a service and why IT must think in terms of delivering services not servers, and “claims processing” rather than “data processing.
Thursday, April 4 2:30 PM–3:30 PM - Location: Grand Ballroom F
It’s tax time here in the United States and after handing Uncle Sam a check with way more dollar signs than I had hoped, I decided that I should leave next year’s tax preparation to the professionals. But with so many options out there, who can I trust to maximize my refund and help me avoid the dreaded audit? I could go with a retail tax franchise that handles most tax situations. Or I could hire a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), a seasoned tax professional that passed the rigorous CPA exam and is certified to handle any tax situations. You can probably guess which one I’m leaning towards.
Whether you’re looking for someone to help with your taxes or your networking issues, we all have choices when it comes to selecting a service provider. We want to be ensured that the company we hire has the appropriate level of certification, first hand experience with our issue, and not only gets the job done but gets the job done right.
Which is exactly why Axa Technology Services selected Cisco Master UC and Security Specialized Partner Dimension Data to help with their IP Telephony program.
Find out why Axa Technology Services selected Dimension Data over other service providers.
While some of us are fortunate enough to have our basic needs covered and can focus on the joys of the holidays, there’s no denying that there are so many others who don’t even have that and could use a little bit of help.
We knew we couldn’t be the only ones who felt passionate about giving back. So, we set out to learn how our partners are giving back this holiday season.
Force 3 Force 3 Vice President of Marketing Krissy Edell Kelley tells us on our Facebook page that they are supporting Toys for Tots, a charity that “delivers, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.
Dimension Data
Got Mo? Mo what? Moustache that is! For the month of Movember (the month formerly known as November) Dimension Data supports a moustache growing charity event that raises funds and awareness for men’s health issues. Check out the Mo Bros of Dimension Data.
Not only have our partners found ways to give back during this holiday season, they also found ways to give back throughout the year. See how our partners gave back this year while having a bit of fun. Read More »
Guess what, partners: We’ve been reading your blogs, perusing your Facebook pages, and scanning your Twitter feeds to find out what you’ve been up to this summer. (Everything we saw was rated G, don’t worry!)
So what have we found? We’ve discovered that many of you are doing some really cool things. For instance, some of you have scored really interesting customer wins, while others have snagged celebrities to star in your ads, or you’re working on raising money for charity. We unearthed so many diverse and interesting tidbits that we’ve decided that periodically here on the blog we’ll showcase the cool stuff that our partners are up to. Here’s a roundup of what just some of you are doing.
Nexus IS posted a video on their Facebook page about their customer win with Global Cash Access (GCA). (We wrote about their win here on the blog, too.) The video features interviews with GCA’s CEO and VP of IT discussing how Nexus impacted and improved their business.
Meanwhile, Force 3 posted a news roundup video on their Facebook page called Great News, which highlights recent goings-on at the company. Great work, guys!
