When you hear the phrase connected experience, what comes to mind?
You might think of ordering a pizza from an app, or taking a virtual tour of the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Ramses VI (which is amazing, by the way), or transitioning hundreds to thousands of employees to work remotely, seemingly overnight. Maybe it’s all of these things.
Current events have pushed businesses all over the world to rapidly digitize operations like we’ve never seen before. Technology priorities previously considered impossible or far-off, have become real, immediate, and imperative. As work forces go remote, as people connect with one another virtually, as we move business, government, and society forward, your infrastructure is taking center stage as the underlying technology that will make it all possible.
Where We Are, Where We’re Going
This year Cisco’s Annual Internet Report illustrated once again the scale and importance of connectivity. The world now has 5.3 billion Internet users, who use an average 3.6 devices per capita. No matter where you are in the world, it is impossible to imagine daily life without the Internet. Increasingly, we use the Internet as a way to keep in constant connection, to work and to one another.
If you missed Cisco’s latest earnings call, CEO Chuck Robbins outlined the surge in demand for remote connection through Webex. In April, Webex hosted 500 million participants and generated 25 billion meeting minutes, which was more than triple the volume in February.
What we saw with Webex is a mere snapshot of what is taking place globally. Increasingly what we consider normal daily life experiences have become stories of connection. As we shift focus to this new era, connected experiences that define a business and its brand are the new competitive playing field.
What It Takes to Compete in the Connected World
We at Cisco have been listening to and focusing on our customers’ strategic priorities: reimagining applications, securing data, transforming infrastructure, and empowering teams. What CIOs, network managers, and IT teams are going through, given current circumstances, is stressful to say the least. Reshaping the infrastructure that runs your business is a tall order.
And while it is a lot of work, the organizations going through this effort now are already expecting to see a big return. Now more than ever, CIOs are expected to bring value to the business, and delivering new connected experiences for customers is the path. A study from PwC reported that of CFOs surveyed, 72% expect their companies will be more resilient in the long-term, and will also be more agile as a result of going through the lockdowns and technology investments we’re seeing now.
Connected experiences that resonate with your customers will provide the competitive edge over others not willing to make the investment or take the necessary risks.
This year, at Cisco Live! 2020, we’re excited to show you how—with a trusted partner like Cisco—you can make it happen.
Cisco Connected Experiences are solutions that bring together the power of Cisco’s entire portfolio, and provide the infrastructure needed to drive innovation forward. This work involves connecting people securely, though it’s more than that. It’s about creating a secure environment and trusted applications and systems. It’s moving toward simplicity by automating routine tasks, so your people are free to do higher value work. It will allow your IT organization to create more business value and make sure your users, devices, and data are all secure.
All these elements, if handled successfully, will allow you to deliver the experiences users and customers crave, while creating the necessary resiliency for whatever challenge comes next.
I hope you’ll join us at the digital Cisco Live! 2020 to hear more about what Cisco Connected Experiences can do for you and your business. Register for my iTalk taking place on the Innovation Channel June 16th from 1-2 PM PT. There I’ll share details on Cisco’s technology vision for what’s to come.
Also, be sure to catch chief architect Carlos Pereira’s session June 17th from 10 to 11 AM PT. Carlos will be hosting a technical deep dive called Connected Experiences: Insights and Automation for Multicloud.
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