Welcome to the Cisco Small Business Blog. We write about small businesses using technology to improve their business. It’s our goal to help small companies learn to leverage their technology investment for maximum business impact. If this is your first visit, I’m Dawn Brister and I’m the editor for our blog. I’ve been with Cisco, working with small companies for 11 years. I will share my experiences with you and help our team of subject expert bloggers communicate what they know.
If this isn’t your first visit to our blog, you may notice it looks a bit different. Life is full of change! We have moved to a new platform that will help us deliver richer blog content.
We want to welcome you to our new education blog and hope that you will become an active participant and visitor to this community. We will be exploring topics that are critical to education and look forward to spirited conversations between you and those of us within Cisco who focus on the education market.
As the world shifts away from centralized, hierarchical control and puts more power in the hands of end users, we bring a practical vision and real solutions to help public sector innovators stay ahead of cultural change. We enable a connected way of living that can foster economic growth, expand access to public services, and keep people of all ages engaged.
At the Web 2.0 Summit 2010, internet analyst Mary Meeker presented data, shown above. The chart she offered drives home an important point to media and entertainment companies -- 28% of our time spent with media in the US is on the internet -- so we expect our media brands to deliver online. And Nielsen also released data this summer showing 22% of the time people spend on the internet is with social media. In aggregate, Web users spend a total of 110 billion minutes on social Web sites and blogs each month. Therefore media companies must tailor and create engaging digital content to speak to the audiences who want to interact with content brands online and across social media sites. But what’s more important when trying to create appealing media experiences for socially engaged audiences who are spending 28% of their media time online: Is the technology experience more important than the content? Or is the content more important than the technology experience? Vivi Zigler, President of NBC Universal Digital Entertainment (bio link here), attempted to address this question at the Digital Media Conference West in San Francisco:
Vivi Zigler tells us in the clip that NBC Universal has to tailor and tweak existing technologies to the story lines of the NBC TV shows and to the shifting tastes of the online audiences to create engaging experiences. How does NBC Universal adapt technology to changing television story lines and still create an engaging and quality experiences? (continued ..) Read More »
It’s been a little over three months since we first introduced the “Cisco@25, Cisco In 25” video contest asking participants to submit a video answering the question, “where do you see technology going in 25 years?” All of our participants did a fantastic job producing their videos and then promoting them across the social web! Thank you to all who participated in the contest!
Now the wait is over! I am pleased to announce the five winners of the “Cisco@25, Cisco In 25” video contest! The winners all received brand new Flip Slide HD camcorders! Check out their video submissions below. Which one is your favorite?
Tyler Thompson’s Prediction: Integrated grid safety systems for the highways and tablet based learning stations
Corbin JT’s Prediction: Voice-activated ordering and then having it delivered to the front door
Cisco 2035’s Prediction: Cisco will develop Forward Inverse Backcasting (The FIB Protocol)
TS Film’s Prediction: Wireless electricity, interactive living and cybernetic implants
Dimitar Krstevski’s Prediction: Electrical cars in massive use, mobile phones displaying holographic images and advances in medicine such as cures for cancer and AIDS
Congratulations to all of our winners! Think you have a better answer? Well, now I pose the question to the rest of you… “Where do you see technology going in 25 years?” I would love to hear from you! Comment below and let us know your answer!
Small businesses in the U.S. spend more than $60 billion annually on energy, according to Energy Star, a joint program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. Although there are many steps you can take to reduce your company’s power consumption, have you considered building energy efficiency into your network?
Whether you’re just starting to build your small business network or expanding it to accommodate your growing company, a “green” switch can help save money on your utility bill as well as contribute to a cleaner environment. Here are some features to consider when shopping for an energy-efficient switch:
