Last week, CES kicked off an exciting 2013 for the industry and Cisco.  With just a select few of our innovations modeled in our video and SP/ mobile demos our customers, partners and press expressed great interest in our approach to helping carriers monetize these connected experiences.  During the show, we were elated by MGM Resorts International’s announcement of their use of Cisco’s location-based mobile analytics to both monetize and improve hotel guest experiences at the Bellagio and other hotels across Las Vegas.  We had a number of great discussions on how our SP Wi-Fi can be used as a Business Innovation Platform and how Data-in-Motion has become the new imperative for true subscriber insights.  And, we were thrilled that the Videoscape demos were so popular that they were overbooked throughout the week.

At Cisco, Read More »

Tags: mobile, mobile world congress, mobility, Service Provider

I am just back from attending the 2013 Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas where I was meeting with customers and visiting the massive show floor. CES is an intriguing blend of extremes and contrasts: biggest and the smallest; connected and unconnected; wired and wireless; high tech – low tech.  As personal and business technologies converge through the “consumerization of technology,” CES provides an exciting window into the current and future world of technology.

The following are my personal observations and extrapolations from the show based on my conversations with customers, colleagues and walking the floor.

1.  New Next Generation TV Again – You could be mistaken for thinking that CES is really the TV show.  Televisions are everywhere and every company seems to produce one.  Manufacturers are still selling 3D television, but it has taken a back seat to the next big thing -- bigger and thinner new OLED sets and specular ultra-high definition screens.
2. Connected Home – CE companies continue to try to connect all of our home devices.  But now appliances are getting in on the act.  There were lots of examples of connected refrigerators and washing machines.  Now you can even control how your clothes are washed from the comfort of your couch with your smartphone or even on your TV.
3. Content Sharing and Mirroring – At last, Read More »

Tags: CES, Cisco, consumer electronics, devices, digital, future, IBSG, mobile, Service Provider, television

After a long day of showing the Cisco BYOD Smart Solution and Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences solutions at the 2013 National Retail Federation (NRF) trade show, I am waiting for a colleague to meet me for a well-deserved dinner. I had many, and yes there were MANY, conversations with Retail IT professionals,  and nearly every conversation I had seemed to revolve around the same two problems:

1. How do I allow employees and / or customers to access the network when I don’t have dedicated local IT support?
2. How do I give up the control and make sure my security and compliance requirements are met?

We know almost all organizations are struggling with BYOD, but it’s now clear that the lack of local IT support adds a new dimension to the problem. With the increased adoption of mobility, there’s also the added complexity of security and compliance, and with all the connected consumers walking around, it’s becoming a growing concern in the retail space. Retail organizations want to take advantage of the promise that leveraging Wi-Fi access to engage with employees and customers, but fear the management and security of such services.

Fortunately, Cisco is addressing both these issues with its mobility solutions.

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Tags: #nrf13, bring your own device, byod, Connected, connected mobile expeirences, consumer, infrastructure, IT, mobile, mobility, NRF, retail, wi-fi, wireless

In the past year, we’ve seen how social, mobile and video have presented new opportunities to deepen the way companies and customers interact for more efficient and intelligent customer care. As we begin 2013, I wanted to offer up a few predictions on how technology innovations will continue to help organizations build strong relationships and better consumer experiences in 2013 and beyond.

This year, mobile and video will come together to simplify customer service interactions– As video is becoming commonplace, we’re seeing companies look for ways to bring in the right customer service expert instantly. Cisco is currently trialing technology to connect consumers with video experts via mobile devices both in-store or on the road. By pulling intuitive information based on location and what detail the customer has recently looked at on the web or mobile device, this technology will route customers to the right expert to help them get the additional detail they need in a simpler and more efficient manner. Imagine, accessing a paint or decorating expert with just one click in the paint aisle at your neighborhood hardware store or even while you’re outside painting your house.

In the next few years, marketing and customer service responsibilities will merge – Consumers are talking about brands all over the web in places like Twitter and Facebook, sites which have over 500 million and one billion active users respectively. Traditionally, social media has been owned by marketing but with people asking service questions in new social channels, companies will need to merge some of these responsibilities between the call center and marketing. Read More »

Tags: Cisco, collaboration, contact center, customer service, mobile, video

By Leszek Izdebski, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)

These days, professionally produced video can be accessed through a dizzying array of hardware and delivery choices. But which concerns are top of mind for typical video consumers?

To better understand the dramatic changes in the consumption of professionally produced video, Cisco IBSG surveyed 1,152 U.S. broadband consumers between the ages of 13 and 75+ in March 2012. The overall goal of the survey was to understand how consumers watch video: their habits, preferences, and the devices they most prefer.

Our core findings revealed that Read More »

Tags: Cisco, devices, IBSG, mobile, movies, online, professionally produced video, Service Provider, streaming, survey, TV shows, video