Welcome to the new Cisco Perspectives blog.  This new blog features real Cisco customers as they share their Cisco experiences with you.

The customer stories found in the Perspectives blog span a breadth of Cisco technologies, products, and services, and provide additional insights into Cisco business solutions.

Your voice is important, too! We hope you will become an active participant in and visitor to the Perspectives blog. As our customers relate the important role Cisco plays in their business, we encourage you to ask questions, share content, and add your own perspectives.   Looking forward to hearing from you!

Tags: customer, customer stories, technology, Voice

I am still feeling the energy from the Girls in ICT venue held in New York City on April 26, 2012 where I participated on a panel with outstanding women from Microsoft, Ushahidi and Facebook.

The conference included women pioneers from government and private industry who engaged in a stimulating dialogue on the topic of girls in ICT; to recruiting and retaining women in ICT a topic where shared accountability is a MUST.

Further, ITU Secretary General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré pointed out Cisco in his opening keynote:

“Special mention should go to Cisco, a long time partner of ITU, which today organized more than 40 different events globally – and I know that many other tech companies have also been very active in promoting events and celebrations.”

Read More »

Tags: engineering, girl, ICT, technology, women

If you missed the EG Conference on inspiration and innovation, check out Cisco VP Marie Hattar’s recap in her blog, “No-Holds-Barred Inspiration.”

Tags: Cisco TelePresence, education, EG, entertainment, innovation, technology

Last week I had the privilege of attending the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) in San Francisco. Hosted annually by the Nonprofit Technology Network, the conference is a gold mine of professional development and relationship-building opportunities for nonprofit staff who use technology for marketing, fundraising, operations, program delivery, and more.

Cisco sponsored the Ignite Reception at NTC, where attendees had 5 minutes and 20 slides to talk about how their nonprofits are using technology.

Cisco’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts operate at this intersection of human and technology networks, too. We know that by working with nonprofits, government agencies, or other businesses, we can accomplish much more than we could alone. And, by adding technology to the equation, we can multiply our impact even further.

Many nonprofits have similar experiences. They are collaborating--and using innovative, network-enabled technologies--to reach more people with better services.

If you work for a nonprofit that has used human and technology networks to multiply your impact, we want to hear your story.

Read More »

Tags: corporate social responsibility, CSR, feeding america, grameen, grameen foundation, guest blog, hunger, impact multiplied, innovative, MFI, microfinance, network, nonprofit, nonprofit technology conference, NTC, nten, poverty, progress, technology

In recent years, the financial industry has witnessed a revolution. To discuss, debate, and seek a bit of consensus on the crucial issues impacting the industry, I met earlier this year in New York with a team of experts at the Electronic Trading Innovation Council. For the event, Cisco partnered with the founders of the council, Julio Gomez and Clay Booma. I was joined by my Cisco colleagues Aron Dutta, co-managing director for financial markets, Cisco IBSG; Chris O’Connell, Cisco’s head of strategy for alternative investment markets; and Dave Malik, Cisco’s technology & architecture lead. The other participants represented a wide range of financial and tech-based firms, including BNY Mellon, Citi, Credit Suisse, Lazard Freres, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, State Street, UBS, Equinix, Savvis, and Tervela.

It was a great team, and the roundtable meetings benefited from a vast body of knowledge and a high level of participation. Read More »

Tags: capital, Cisco, Council, electronic, financial, high frequency, IBSG, innovation, liquidity, markets, network, technology, trading, transactions