Cisco Blog > Small Business
August 28, 2012 at 7:24 am PST
I always dread summer coming to an end.
Sure, it’s not like the old days when summer meant no school and running around free, but like most people, summer still makes me feel like I have more personal time and freedom. It must be the extra daylight.
Even if I can’t have the feeling of summer, it makes a huge difference to me if I can work in different ways -- from home or even handling some to do items from the car.
One of the best things about the new, free version of WebEx, is that having a host account (yes, it’s free) means you can host a WebEx on your mobile. And that means I don’t have to be tethered to your computer.
Get your own free, basic WebEx account here.
In 2007, Cisco commissioned a study: Understanding and Managing the Mobile Workforce that looked at ways to really grasp how mobility was emerging. Of course, since then, “going mobile” has really become the norm.
In that study, they found:
Successful mobile workers tend to be resilient extroverts. They are open to new experiences and highly adaptable. And, contrary to the stereotype of the harassed and disoriented road warrior, they are supremely organized and independent-minded. With the right kind of tailored support, their productivity and adaptability make them superlative operators in an era of increasing demands and constant change.
In 2007, the Cisco study cited a prediction that “within two years, one quarter of the world’s working population will be mobile workers.” Not to freak anyone out but this was BEFORE Apple’s iPad was even released!
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Tags: Android, cell phone, iPad, iphone, mobile, mobile devices, mobile users, research, smartphone, WebEX, WebEx mobile, workforce
Connectivity Underground!
After just one day in London, I began to take the Tube system of transportation for granted. It’s just so easy to zip from one side of town to the other – no traffic, continuous service and more destinations than any person can hit during one vacation.
I felt savvy and confident using the Tube given my previous experience commuting on the NYC subway for 7 years. But I had a moment of panic when I remembered that I was without an international data plan; could I really survive 5 days without my “data”? Not being able to make calls or to send or receive texts was scary enough, but finding my way around a new city without a mapping app in my hand? Unimaginable! Turns out the Tube was the solution to my problem. Wi-Fi was readily available, for FREE, in Tube stations around the city. Since I was constantly out and on the go, I actually found myself relying on my underground travel time to connect with friends, make plans, post to Twitter and Facebook and even buy a new book for my e-reader! Read More »
Tags: byod, connectivity, London2012, mobile devices, wi-fi, wireless
July 17, 2012 at 10:16 am PST
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?
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Tags: byod, Cisco Services, mobile collaboration, mobile devices, unified workspace
Last week I polled, What’s the one place at work where you’d like better wireless connectivity? and was honestly a little surprised by the number one answer. The second-place place where people wanted better wireless coverage was conference rooms, which makes sense. At some of the smaller companies I’ve worked at conference rooms were usually on the perimeter of the building and the coverage was poor. Even within Cisco just a few years ago, a common refrain in meetings was complaints about the spotty coverage. We knew what rooms had better connectivity, and which rooms were to be avoided. So this answer wasn’t much of a surprise.
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Tags: byod, CSR, mobile devices, Poll
Popsicles, water balloon fights, fireflies and staying up past your bedtime. These summertime rituals haven’t changed since I was a kid. What has changed is technology and the buying cycle for back-to-school. Last week in Target I saw an entire wall display of back packs. My kids have been out of school for exactly one month and retailers are already pushing school supplies!
Sunday I woke up brewed a pot of coffee and sat down with my iPad to check Facebook and peruse my email. Cisco has embraced Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), so I have secure access to my work email on my iPad at home. I checked a few work emails, but I just couldn’t resist the Red, White and Blue 20% off coupon in my inbox. Had I not seen the back-to-school display last week and received the coupon in my inbox would I be buying khaki pants and blue shirts the 2nd week of July? Shopping on a laptop is easy. Shopping on an iPad is just downright dangerous! Consumerism was starting to take over, but in my mind I justified it as one less thing on my to-do list for August.
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Tags: 802.11ac, 802.11n, Back to the Future, byod, education, Flipped Learning, mobile devices, mobility, TelePresence
