The future intrigues us all, especially when every now and then we’re able to catch a glimpse of what’s to come.

At Cisco, one of the ways we build our business and serve our customers is to think about the future and how technology innovation stands to transform the world in which we live. This approach is especially important now as the more than 99 percent of physical objects that are currently unconnected become part of the Internet of Everything (IoE).

And while we know that no one person or company can predict the future with 100 percent accuracy, we put a lot of effort into coming as close as we can. To make this possible, we have a Chief Futurist on staff – Dave Evans – who, in addition to his responsibilities leading the Cisco IBSG Innovations team, spends his time helping Cisco and our customers see what lies ahead.

In an event earlier this month, Evans and the General Manager of Cisco’s Emerging Technology Group, Dr. Guido Jouret, shared their top predictions for the future and the mind-boggling innovations that will start taking off in 2013 and beyond. If you’re up for a little crystal-ball gazing, here’s what they had to say… Read More »

Tags: 3D printers, education, healthcare, Internet of Everything, IoE, M2M, P2M, p2p, retail, rfid, robots

When the history of the Internet of Everything (IoE) is written, its success or failure will be determined by answering one question. How did IoE benefit humanity? In the end, nothing else matters.

With this in mind, let’s look at two examples of how IoE will benefit people, both today and tomorrow.

Today—Transforming the World’s Cities
To revitalize the world’s largest cities, City24/7 — a company committed to making public communications more accessible to everyone, everywhere — in collaboration with Cisco IBSG and the City of New York has launched an interactive platform that integrates information from open government programs, local businesses, and citizens to provide meaningful and powerful knowledge anytime, anywhere, on any device. In short, City24/7 delivers the information people need to know, where and when it helps them most.

Located at bus stops, train stations, major entryways, shopping malls, and sports facilities, City24/7 Smart Screens incorporate touch, voice, and audio technology to deliver a wide array of hyper-local (about two square city blocks) information, services, and offerings in real time. The Smart Screens can also be accessed via Wi-Fi on nearby smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers.

The overarching goals of the City24/7 Smart Screens are to: Read More »

Tags: Cisco, Dave Evans, IBSG, Internet of Everything, IoE, M2M, M2P, Machine to Machine, p2p, people to machine, people to people, value at stake, value creation

There is a reason for the word “fan” in “Facebook fan page”. It’s there to imply interactions with your fans, right? Well, only partially. An effective Facebook fan page not only provides a platform for business-to-fan conversations but it also helps enable fan-to-fan interactions. Last week you heard from Charlie how the Cisco Networking Academy team is using Facebook. This week’s story is about the Linksys Facebook fan page. As Brenna Karr (@BrennaNoD) Social Media specialist for the Linksys brand within Cisco Consumer Products put it so nicely: “You’re not running the conversation, you’re playing in their space. Be one of them.”

1. Know Your Target Audience…On Facebook

Understanding your target audience is one thing, but an understanding of how to provide information that is interesting and relevant to your fans on Facebook is another. Defining the purpose of your page and then creating content and engagement opportunities that suit your fans is critical to success.

2. Encourage Your Fans to Share and Comment

Corporations are starting to get the hang of asking questions on their Facebook pages to encourage conversations with their fans. This is a good thing. But what the Cisco Consumer Product team has done well is taking these conversations to the next level – by asking their fans to share their content and comment on each other’s posts. In other words, they encourage conversations amongst their fans. Encouraging fans to share content can help exponentially spread the word. And by asking people to comment, you can help create a deeper engagement which in turn gives people a reason to come back to your page. Just remember to make the call to action visible and straightforward.

3. Enable User-Generated Content

In the spirit of community enablement, the Cisco Consumer Products team introduced the “Linksys: Show Us Yours” program in the summer of 2010. This 2-month challenge targeted Twitter and Facebook  fans, Read More »

Tags: challenge, contest, enablement, how to, p2p, peer, prize, run