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Bryan Bedford

Global Industry Director: Retail, Hospitality, Sports, Media and Entertainment

Global Partner Organization

For over 25 years, Bryan Bedford has been transforming consumer, content and consumer industries around the world. Throughout his career in the IT, services, sports, media, and retail technology, Bedford has launched & scaled industry-changing technologies and services in high growth businesses’ including mobile, content and customer experience focused areas. Bedford is also very active as an industry speaker and communicator on Twitter (@Bryan_Bedford) discussing tech, media, retail, sports, the future of customer experience as often as he can. In his current position with Cisco Systems, a blue-chip technology firm, Bedford serves as Global Industry Director: Retail, Hospitality, Sports, Media and Entertainment. Bedford’s team drives innovation, enablement, new offers and drives the programmatic scaling efforts for the Cisco for all consumer industries. Before joining the team at Cisco, Bedford served as XOS Digital's Vice President of Sales & Business Development and before that Director of Sales & Business Development both roles focused on Customer Experience & Services within the Sports & Media industries. Under Bedford’s direction XOS Digital, a leading software, analysis and services company focused on the Sports, Media & Entertainment market, Bedford spearheaded all facets of external business development for the firm including forging strategic “go-to-market” partnerships with major manufactures, technology companies and industry leaders including working with nearly every major professional and college sports program throughout North America. Bedford’s time at XOS Digital included record revenue growth, expansion of the sales/marketing force, net new product/solution launches and drive towards additional profitability. Prior to joining XOS Digital, Bedford was groomed in the sports world and spent time working for three sports teams in various roles (Sales, Coaching, Marketing) over a 7-year period including time on staff at TCU (Texas Christian University), Southern Nazarene University, and for the Oklahoma RedHawks Baseball Club. Bedford also serves as CEO & Managing Director of The Bedford Agency, a College Sports Recruiting Company. Bedford earned his Master’s Degree from the University of Central Oklahoma and his Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany. Bedford resides in Oklahoma City, OK and is married to his wife Desiree’ and has two daughters Tessa (18) and Sadie (13).

Articles

April 19, 2022

PARTNER

Transforming an Industry: The Converged Network Technology that Powered the Super Bowl

5 min read

The most successful businesses are often the ones that aren’t content to simply play by the rules. At Cisco, we call that “performing and transforming” as a partner. Cisco partner AmpThink isn’t just playing the game, it’s redefining it for the entertainment venue industry—and it’s winning.

May 20, 2021

PARTNER

Renew and Transform Your Cisco Practice this Spring

4 min read

Learn about some of the actionable plans you can start working on—right now—to begin your Partner Transformation journey. There's no need to transform everything at once. Here are three ways Cisco can help you get started: training via the Cisco DevNet sandbox, a focus on customer success through the Cisco Lifecycle Advantage Program, and connecting with potential co-selling partners through the all-new Partner Connect feature on the Partner Experience Portal.

March 25, 2021

PARTNER

Transformation Requires the Right Ingredients and Mindset! Do You Have Them?

2 min read

Even before the craziness of 2020, our partners have been transforming as they figure out how to best leverage cloud, SaaS, managed services, customer experience, line-of-business selling/solutions, and API integration, while also looking at new consumption models that their customers now demand.

September 10, 2020

SP360: SERVICE PROVIDER

Stadiums May Not Be Opening with Fans This Weekend, But The Experience Can Still Be Epic

4 min read

Recently, I had the honor of hosting and moderating a virtual leadership roundtable featuring tech innovators planning for some of the largest, most tech-sophisticated digital entertainment venues in the world. In our conversation, we touched on the many technological innovations that are influencing business decisions right now as many teams prepare to kick-off their first-ever season without fans in stadiums.

Believe the HYPE: The Standout Technologies Shaping the Future of Media, Sports & Entertainment

3 min read

Recently, I had the pleasure of participating in a tech webinar panel with HYPE Sports, The New Game Changers of Sports Media & Broadcasting. I was asked to share my perspective on the current landscape and innovation trends I’m seeing, and how I believe it will impact what’s coming next for the Media, Sports, and Entertainment industry. I wanted to expand a bit on some of the topics I covered and highlight big themes to consider for the future.

May 18, 2020

PARTNER

Business Continuity with BCS 3.0

2 min read

Cisco Business Critical Services (BCS 3.0), coupled with partner services and capabilities, is exactly what customers need to ensure network resilience and continuity. The following use cases are examples of how Cisco and our partners can meet those needs for customers.

May 6, 2020

PARTNER

Showing leadership in sports — with our partners — in the face of adversity!

2 min read

Hear how Cisco is leading and helping our partners face adversity within the Sports & Entertainment industry .

January 6, 2020

PARTNER

Doubling down on Cisco Customer Experience with our partners!

3 min read

Read through some "cliff notes" from our recent Cisco Partner Summit to see how Cisco's CX lifecycle strategy impacts our partners across three areas of focus: Monetize, Operationalize and Organize.

October 7, 2019

PARTNER

Cisco: Leading the Sports and Entertainment and Digital Signage marketplace together with our partners!

2 min read

With the largest ecosystem of technology partners in the industry, Cisco is once again leading the way and great success stories with our partners in the Sports & Entertainment industry.

October 14, 2019

PARTNER

Empowering our Partners with our CX portfolio

2 min read

At Cisco, we work with a team mentality, and my new team exemplifies this by supporting Customer Experience (CX) and Partner GTM with a new CX Support Services Playbook for Partners.

August 7, 2019

PARTNER

Back to (school) basics for our partners with Cisco’s CX Portfolio

2 min read

Cisco’s Customer Experience transformation is focused on our future portfolio. We are bringing our Partners along in that journey by investing resources to enable and enhance Partner sales support, tools and programs.

May 31, 2019

PARTNER

Digital Transformation in Retail on display at Cisco Live US!

2 min read

The pace of change in retail isn’t stopping. Cisco and its partner ecosystem is perfectly equipped to solve for the industry and will be at Cisco Live in San Diego!

Cisco Shows Commitment to the Media Industry, Wins “Best in Show” Award

2 min read

This week’s NAB Show (National Association of Broadcasters) will go down as a smashing success for Cisco thanks to innovation, leadership, training and partnerships. 

Straight Talk About the IP Transition in Media

4 min read

By now it’s clear that IP-based technologies are threading into the media supply chain with alacrity, whether we’re talking about content ingest, signal processing, or distribution.

NAB 2019: How Balance Matters in Media and Entertainment

3 min read

I think this will be my 15th or so NAB, and each year it’s both exciting and intriguing to see the Media & Entertainment industry shift, pivot and evolve.

March 12, 2019

PARTNER

Digital Transformation: How Cisco and our Partner Ecosystem are driving Innovation in Sports!

3 min read

March is an awesome time to be a sports fan! We are seeing change and digital transformation happen in the entire Sports & Entertainment industry.

February 13, 2019

SP360: SERVICE PROVIDER

Digital Transformation: Lessons Learned at Cisco’s Media and Entertainment Industry Roundtable

3 min read

Recently I had the great opportunity to host and moderate Cisco's most recent Media Roundtable in Barcelona, Spain.  During this event we had representation from some of the leading European Media organizations and partners.

January 9, 2019

PARTNER

NRF 2019 preview: How Cisco and its partner ecosystem are changing the Retail Industry!

3 min read

Here are insights on what you can expect inside our booth at NRF 2019 from our partner ecosystem of our 20+ partners and how all this together is changing retail.