Business Technology Roundtable

Most forward-looking CEOs have already made their move to prepare for the future that they foresee – where business technology is a key deciding factor for them to attain ongoing commercial prosperity. This new digital-propelled environment will profoundly change business processes, along with the need for accelerated tech-savvy human capital development across all industries. Those leaders that catch the next wave of Internet-driven market development will reap the rewards of the expanding Global Networked Economy. They’ll achieve a quantum boost in performance. And they’ll reach their lofty goals by harnessing the unique competitive advantages of cloud computing services , mobile enterprise applications and other targeted business technology investments. Welcome to the Internet of Everything Worldwide IT spending is forecast to surpass $3.9 trillion in 2015 – that’s a 3.9 percent increase from 2014. Business technology spending will be driven by Digital Business practitioners, ...

Some people are never satisfied. These fearless agents of change are everywhere. They're informed, confident and willing to experiment. They seek out the best business technology solution for the job at hand. They act on instinct. Yes, you could say that they're driven. However, they're also at risk of being labeled as "rogue employees" because they ordered a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering and perhaps expensed it without prior approval. Sometimes they're the champion of progressive projects that are referred to as Shadow IT -- intentionally bypassing their company's formal evaluation and procurement process. How can this happen? Is it just because their activities are tolerated, or are they being encouraged? If so, by whom? Why would any business leader applaud a team member that breaks the rules? Maybe, the simple answer is that staying within the confines of the status-quo won't enable a top-performer to fully apply their talent, achieving...

Internet usage is evolving, and so are the application scenarios for business technology. In the foreseeable future, desktop personal computers will produce a much smaller share of commercial internet protocol (IP) traffic. Mobile and portable devices -- other than PCs -- will drive the majority of traffic by 2018. According to the latest findings from  Cisco Visual Networking Index , in 2013, just 33 percent of IP traffic originated with non-PC devices. However, by 2018, the non-PC share of IP traffic will grow to 57 percent. Moreover, commercial mobile location-based services will be the fastest growing application -- with a 24.9 percent CAGR -- during the forecast period. PC-originated traffic will grow at a 10 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), while other devices or connections will have higher traffic growth rates over the forecast period -- including TVs (18 percent), tablets (74 percent), smartphones (64 percent) and M2M connections (84 percent). According to...

When you follow the proven methodologies of the market leaders, and deploy business technology for competitive advantage, you can fine-tune your current online business processes, improve operational performance and increase productivity . But if this is the extent of your efforts to date, then I have good news for you -- we now know that there's huge upside potential for new value creation that's far greater than we ever imagined. The Internet of Everything ( IoE ) is expected to enable global private-sector businesses to generate at least $613 billion in global profits in 2013, according to the "IoE Value Index" study released by Cisco. The report -- announced via a global TelePresence event that connected more than 10 international locales -- found firms that optimize the connections among people, process, data and things will generate the largest profits. The study of 7,500 global business and IT leaders in 12 countries reports that the United States, Chi...

The realm of Retailing is currently undergoing significant changes across the globe.  Cisco Systems, Inc. released the results of a new market study, focused on the evolving retail shopping experience.  Their report examined the impact of automation, self-service and omni-channel shopping experiences -- plus, consumer views about providing their personal information in exchange for more personalized services. The majority (61 percent) of global consumers are open to shopping at a fully automated "self service" store with vending machines and kiosk stations offering a virtual customer service.  Additionally, when "checking out," the majority of consumers globally (52 percent) prefer self-check-out stations in order to avoid waiting in line to make purchases. The younger consumers were the most accepting of this retail shopping experience : 57 percent of Generation Y (aged 18-29) and 55 percent of Generation X shoppers (aged 30 to 49) prefer self-ch...

What does today's retail banking customer expect from a financial institution, and how can business technology be applied to enhance the overall experience. The latest results from the Cisco Customer Experience Report focused on the retail banking sector. The global report examined consumers' desire for a banking experience that is more personalized to help simplify the management of their finances over multiple channels -- including online, mobile phones, telephones, video conferencing and bank branches. It also examined views about the privacy of their personal information and the value of financial management tools used in their daily lives. Consumers globally identified the most important attributes when interacting with their financial institution or financial advisor as: availability (63%), competence (65%), and efficiency (68%). Survey respondents indicated a willingness to exchange more details about their financial habits and having banks be more active advisors...

According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2012 to 2017 , worldwide mobile data traffic will increase 13-fold over the next four years, reaching 11.2 exabytes per month (for an annual run rate of 134 exabytes) by 2017. The expected steady increase in mobile traffic is partly due to continued strong growth in the number of mobile Internet connections (personal devices and machine-to-machine applications), which will exceed the world’s population (United Nations estimates 7.6 billion) by 2017. The forecast’s annual run rate of 134 exabytes of mobile data traffic is equivalent to: 134 times all the Internet Protocol traffic (fixed and mobile) generated in the year 2000, or 30 trillion images (e.g., via MMS or Instagram) — 10 images daily from each person on earth for one year, or 3 trillion video clips (e.g., YouTube) — one video clip daily from each person on earth over one year. “By 2017, global mobile data traffic will continue it...

Cisco released findings from two global studies that provide a vivid picture of the rising security challenges that businesses, IT departments and individuals face -- particularly as employees become more mobile, blending work and personal lifestyles throughout their waking hours. Despite popular assumptions that security risks increase as a person's online activity becomes shadier, findings from the Cisco 2013 Annual Security Report (ASR) reveal that the highest concentration of online security threats tend to target legitimate destinations visited by mass audiences -- such as major search engines, retail sites and social media outlets. Cisco found that online shopping sites are 21 times as likely, and search engines are 27 times as likely, to deliver malicious content than a counterfeit software site. Security risks rise in businesses because many employees adopt "my way" work lifestyles in which their devices, work and online behavior mix with their personal liv...