Based on the conversations I have every day with Cisco customers, the impact of mobility on organizations cannot be denied.

Abundant data details how the proliferation of mobile devices is affecting communications, collaboration, and the way we do business today. For example, Cisco recently commissioned a Forrester Research report that looks at mobility, virtualization, and other enterprise-level technology initiatives. Nearly half the firms surveyed are implementing “bring your own device” (BYOD) programs to support employee-owned devices.

I’ve outlined my position in the past: BYOD is an opportunity, not a threat. There are profound benefits for organizations that embrace BYOD and mobilize the collaboration experience.

Collaboration is increasingly taking place on personal and company-provided mobile devices. According to a Read More »

Tags: Bring your Own Device (BYOD), Cisco IBSG, Cisco Services, collaboration, enterprise tablets, Forrester Research, mobile collaboration, Smartphones, survey

For this week’s final Public Sector BYOD Thursday post, I wanted to discuss a survey  that illustrated what employees want and need when it comes to IT in the workplace:

• Control over the work experience—the ability to use technology to personal preference, in ways that improve productivity and enhance job satisfaction.
• Choice when it comes to devices and the ability to use preferred, personally owned devices to complete work-related tasks.
• Flexibility to perform personal activities at work and work activities on personal time.
• Mobility that enables anytime, anywhere connections to colleagues, customers and partners.

Read More »

Tags: architecture, byod, collaboration, connectivity, desktop virtualization, education, government, IT, mobile, mobile collaboration, mobile-ready, public sector, unified workspace, virtualization

In my recent guest post, Mobilizing the New Collaboration Experience in the BYOD Era, I discussed the increasing desire for untethered collaboration as users bring personal devices and applications into the workplace. IT departments must make the decision whether to be the “proactive enabler” and embrace BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies that allow for mobile devices or to be the “passive supporter” and limit users’ choices to one or two devices.

However, the challenges of supporting a global, mobile, remote workforce go beyond BYOD policies. It’s about enabling your employees, customers and other stakeholders to get business done in any location, on any device, and for any workload.  A number of questions come to mind for me:

• How can employees access information securely?
• How do we enable better real-time knowledge sharing?
• How do we do more with the same headcount?
• How do we allow for maximum productivity anywhere, on any device?

Read More »

Tags: byod, Cisco Services, mobile collaboration, mobile devices, unified workspace

It’s that time of year again. Spring in Orlando where the industry will gather for Enterprise Connect, and the Cisco team will be there in full force.

So get ready for a whole new set of statistics demonstrating the health of our industry and the pace of change in the post-PC era. For example:

• Between 2011 and 2016, mobile data traffic is expected to increase 1800%
• Video traffic is expected to make up 70% of that mobile data in 2016 and more than 90% of network traffic
• Cloud services, which are being accelerated by the adoption of tablets and smartphones, will drive a second wave of IT consumerization.  Software as a service, which is already disrupting more than 25% of the enterprise application space, will go on to change the way we collaborate globally

(Sources: Cisco Visual Networking Index Feb 2012, “Which Software Markets Will SaaS Disrupt?” Forrester Research, January 2011)

At Enterprise Connect, we at Cisco want to hear how these changes are affecting your businesses today – and how you are planning for tomorrow. Video, cloud collaboration services, mobility, and customer collaboration are some of the themes we look forward to discussing.

I hope you will make time to see my colleague, OJ Winge, deliver the Cisco keynote on March 27^th at 10am Eastern time (7am Pacific). You can also watch it live on nojitter.com.

Read More »

Tags: Cisco, cloud collaboration, collaboration, mobile, mobile collaboration, post-pc

A while back, we asked what features you think would make up a good video collaboration app for smartphones and mobile devices.

Do you have your list?

If so, you should submit it to this team of primary school students in Sutton Coldfield, England. The youngsters take part in an after school computer club, during which they design apps for smartphones and tablets. They’ve already come up with sound effects and “painting” programs; could video be next? Read More »

Tags: edchat, edtech, flip the classroom, IVC, mobile collaboration, PBL, project based learning, video call, video conferencing, videoconferencing