Cisco is preparing to release its much-anticipated Cius tablet, providing a "business alternative" to the iPad for tablet-based computing with the advantage of tight integration to enterprise communication tools. Cisco Quad promises a new world of enterprise collaboration (Logicalis is one of Cisco's first global launch partners for Quad), with Facebook-like functionality combined with centralised management and security. Under the "Telepresence" brand, Logicalis and Cisco can now offer video-conferencing from desktop to boardroom. And Cisco VXI provides a framework that enables any Cisco IP phone (or Cius) to be a desktop virtualisation end-point.
So, what's the business driver behind these technologies?
A research report released by McKinsey late last year - McKinsey Report: Technology Trends - identified ten trends that are profoundly reshaping business strategy. These trends are both disrupting traditional business models, and offering an opportunity for organisations to exploit these transformations. Many of the trends identified by McKinsey, including the top 3, are directly addressed by the solutions that Cisco and Logicalis bring to our customers.
- Distributed cocreation moves into the mainstream: Over 70% of executives surveyed said their companies "regularly created value through Web communities". The concept of organising Web communities for product marketing, development and support has moved into the mainstream. Are you ready for Cisco Quad?
- Making the network the organisation: It's about organisations structuring work "around critical tasks rathar than molding it to contraints imposed by corporate structures". Do you enable employees to work flexibly?
- Collaboration at scale: Over time, collaboration will be a vital component of what has has been termed "organisational capital. Or, to put it another way: “Raising the productivity of employees whose jobs can't be automated is the next great performance challenge—and the stakes are high.” (McKinsey & Company, The 21st Century Organisation.) Does your IT environment promote collaboration?
- Wiring for a sustainable world: IT can play an important role in reducing environmental stress from broader corporate and economic activity. We are seeing this happening in the utility space with smart grids (Logicalis is one of Cisco's first accredited Substation Automation partners in Australia) as well corporate customers implementing technologies like EnergyWise. Does your IT strategy address environmental sustainability?
“Raising the productivity of employees whose jobs can't be automated
is the next great performance challenge—and the stakes are high.”
McKinsey & Company, The 21st Century Organisation
