Business Technology Roundtable

Many industries are facing accelerating pressure for fundamental business process transformation -- including embracing digital business technology, in order to survive and stay competitive -- according to the latest market study by Gartner. "Transformation remains a critically important phenomenon across all industries. Many industries will face intense challenges in 2014 and beyond, and will have no choice but to radically change their established business models," said Kimberly Harris-Ferrante, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner . Last year saw many industry decision-makers focusing on adopting new technologies to improve business operations by addressing developments such as the convergence of social, mobile, cloud and Big Data. Gartner believes that this trend is driven in part by the challenges of consumer empowerment and market commoditization, which in many ways are greater than in the past, and are particularly difficult for traditional enterp...

In the third annual Global Cloud Index, Cisco forecasts that global cloud traffic, the fastest growing component of data center traffic, is expected to grow 4.5-fold -- that's a 35 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) -- from 1.2 zettabytes of annual traffic in 2012 to 5.3 zettabytes by 2017. The Cisco Global Cloud Index (2012–2017) was developed to estimate data center and cloud-based Internet Protocol (IP) traffic growth and trends. The Index serves as a complementary resource to existing network traffic studies, providing new insights and visibility into emerging trends affecting data centers and cloud architectures. The forecast becomes increasingly important as the network and data center become more intrinsically linked in offering cloud services . Overall global data center traffic will grow threefold and reach a total of 7.7 zettabytes annually by 2017. Approximately 17 percent of data center traffic will be fueled by end users accessing clouds for web surfing,...

Around the world, market leaders in all industries have already deployed managed cloud services. Seeking to use business technology as a strategic lever to advance past their competition on multiple fronts, the senior executives at these leading companies are eager to learn about the next phase of cloud service development. Worldwide spending on public IT cloud services will reach $47.4 billion in 2013 and will reach more than $107 billion by 2017, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Over the 2013–2017 forecast period, public cloud services will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.5 percent, that's five times the IT industry growth as a whole. As one of the key technologies enabling the industry-wide shift, cloud computing has played a crucial role in changing the way companies consume and use business technology. IDC believes that there are signs that cloud services are starting to shift into a the next phase -- where the ...

There once was a time when many business leaders around the world stood on the sidelines, while the early-adopters of cloud computing reaped the rewards with their first-to-market deployments. Today, managed cloud services are considered a mainstream business technology for all takers -- with only the most uninformed laggards still disputing the apparent benefits. With 90 percent of companies claiming some form of cloud usage, many organizations have moved to the next step, leveraging multiple cloud models in different combinations to optimize benefits and efficiencies, according to findings from the latest market study by CompTIA . As cloud computing becomes a default part of the business technology landscape, more companies are relying on cloud computing for business processes such as storage (59 percent), business continuity and disaster recovery (48 percent) and security (44 percent). “Once companies hit a stage where they are using cloud systems as a standard part of IT ar...

Are you one of those independent executives that uses strategic foresight to gain a decisive lead over competitors that tend to follow the crowd? Granted, it takes courage to make bold moves -- and follow the path that's less traveled. Big rewards tend to go to the confident, not the cautious. What's your business technology investment strategy for 2013, and beyond?  Does your corporate foresight anticipate success, based upon your ability to deploy quantum-leap technological advances -- like managed cloud services ? According to International Data Corporation ( IDC ), the economic slowdown in China has driven them to lower their expectations for worldwide IT spending growth this year. IDC now forecasts IT spending growth of 4.6 percent in constant currency for 2013. That's down from the previous forecast of 4.9 percent growth and a sharp deceleration from last year's growth of almost 6 percent. Despite the lower forecast, IDC expects IT spending will reach $2 tr...

The young and savvy business executives of tomorrow will have high expectations and won't embrace or tolerate obsolete processes. As a new generation is entering the management ranks of companies worldwide, they will bring with them their own preferred ways of communicating and collaborating. A global market study by Cisco Systems has revealed that the majority of these next-generation executives intend to depend heavily upon business-class video to connect with their teams, colleagues, suppliers, customers and prospects -- as well as to help their businesses deliver new products and services. The 2013 Cisco Global Young Executives' Video Attitudes Survey gives insight into what management-track leaders aged 34 and under think about business-class video, which delivers high-quality, reliable, and highly secure lifelike video to users. Cisco commissioned Redshift Research to conduct the survey of more than 1,300 global respondents. "Today's leaders are often tec...

We’ve certainly come a long way. Over the last couple of years, we’ve witnessed the trials and tribulations of the early-adopters of managed cloud services, and we’ve observed how the offerings have matured to attain broad-based market acceptance. Cloud computing has become pervasive within today’s forward thinking companies. It’s already a transformative force throughout the global networked economy. Every enterprise that uses Business Technology is either considering or implementing cloud solutions -- to create a strategic advantage over their late-adopter industry peer group in the marketplace. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ), about 77 percent of North American companies were already using at least one public cloud service in 2012. IDC believes the companies that are spending on cloud-based capability have reached a deployment pace that’s unmatched by any previous business technology transformation. Moreover, they say that those ...

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...

We already know that savvy executives and managers everywhere are the early-adopters of a variety of mobile devices. They use these devices to connect to an online world of infinite possibilities. Behind every great device is a great network. The same essential network that's the platform for the emerging Internet of Everything ( IoE ). Exponential growth in the use of these smart devices has led to significant and increased demand for network bandwidth across 84 percent of organizations surveyed globally, according to the findings from a new market study commissioned by BT and Cisco. More than half (56 percent) of IT managers have also noticed a resulting performance decline in some applications, which impacts negatively the productivity gains promised by these smart devices. Almost half (46 percent) of workers with Wi-Fi access in their office have experienced delays logging on or accessing an application, while 39 percent have noticed they are running more slowly now than...

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...

The Global Networked Economy is fueled by readily available and pervasive broadband internet access. Tapping this amazing worldwide resource for socioeconomic advancement continues to transform the way that we work, live, play and learn. The latest Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Forecast (2012-2017) projects that global Internet Protocol (IP) traffic will grow three-fold between 2012 and 2017. Global IP traffic (fixed and mobile) is expected to reach an annual run rate of 1.4 zettabytes ― more than a trillion gigabytes per year – by 2017. On a monthly basis, global IP traffic is expected to reach nearly 121 exabytes per month by 2017, up from about 44 exabytes per month in 2012. "Cisco's VNI Forecast once again showcases the seemingly insatiable demand for bandwidth around the globe and provides insights on the architectural considerations necessary to deliver on the ever-increasing experiences being delivered. With more and more people, things, processes and ...

Economic uncertainty surrounding the U.S. government sequester, European debt crisis and weakening GDP in China has resulted in volatile spending patterns across most segments of the market. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ), as a result of the current economic climate, business technology spending was slightly below expectations in the second half of 2012 and first quarter of 2013. IDC now projects worldwide IT spending growth of 4.9 percent this year in constant currency, down from the previous forecast of 5.5 percent growth -- and representing a slowdown from the 5.6 percent growth recorded in 2012. As a result, IT spending will reach $2.06 trillion in 2013. Including telecom services, ICT spending will increase by 4.5 percent to $3.7 trillion. So, what are the key trends that are shaping the updated global forecasts? Deteriorating PC Shipments The reduction in IDC’s overall forecast for 2013 is largely driven by rapidly deteri...

Online collaboration has evolved during the last decade, delivering even greater value -- thanks to a new generation of business technology applications. Forbes Insights released "Collaborating in the Cloud," a Cisco-sponsored study examining the ways business leaders increasingly look at cloud collaboration as a way to increase productivity, accelerate business results and enhance innovation across borders and functions. The research combines a global survey of more than 500 executives with 15 executive interviews. "The ability to collaborate in the cloud is becoming a key driver of competitive advantage," says Bruce Rogers, Chief Insights Officer of Forbes Media . "Leading companies are doing more to foster cloud-based collaboration -- not only internally, but also with an ever-wider swath of external groups including customers, suppliers, partners, and even regulators." The benefits of cloud-based collaboration, Rogers continues, include "gre...

As businesses increase the number of new application rollouts and create new connected user experiences to better serve their customers, IT organizations face the challenge of expanding network services and aligning their network strategies to meet the requirements of the business. A global study announced today by Cisco revealed that while the majority (63 percent) of IT professionals are confident in their ability to respond to the needs of the business, almost a third (27 percent) still equated the visibility of their IT department into their company's business initiatives to "a foggy day in London." The 2013 Cisco Global IT Impact Survey provides insight into IT's role as a business enabler, assesses the extent by which network investments are keeping pace with the demands of the business, and looks into IT's likelihood to adopt new technologies that can increase IT business impact. The top research findings reveal: Applications and user expectations ...

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...

The term Big Data is going to become a key part of the forward-looking business technology debate among informed, proactive and ICT savvy executives. But what's really driving the growing demand for meaningful solutions? While most companies are collecting, storing and analyzing data, they continue to struggle with both the business and IT challenges of Big Data -- more data is not necessarily better. Enormous amounts of data are being generated daily by smartphones, sensors, video cameras, smart meters, and other connected devices, adding to the huge store of information from traditional sources. This "data avalanche" represents a potential gold mine of insights, but a new study commissioned by Cisco reveals that IT professionals and businesses are challenged to extract strategic value from their data. The Cisco Connected World Technology Report ( CCWTR ) surveyed IT professionals across 18 countries to examine the IT readiness, challenges, technology gaps, ...

The cloud movement is about much more than the service offerings. It's a core ingredient of a larger commercial transformation movement -- where savvy leaders are using business technology to advance their operations and accelerate their key processes. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending on hosted private cloud (HPC) services will be more than $24 billion in 2016. IDC says that they define HPC as an operational model for deploying computing infrastructure services of many types via the cloud. IDC forecasts that HPC spending will experience a compound annual growth rate of more than 50 percent during the 2012-2016 period, as companies look to managed cloud services in its various forms as a means to transform the 'how' of what they provide to their customers. Evolution of Public and Private Cloud Models IDC believes that hosted private cloud offerings will become the backbone of a new set of infrastructure...

Are businesses truly prepared to adopt the most productive practices of high-performance ICT enabled work environments? In search of answers, Cisco commissioned independent research among IT decision makers in enterprise and SME organizations across the UK and Ireland -- to better understand how businesses are responding to macro trends in the marketplace. Next-generation workspaces will be a reality for 76 percent of businesses by 2016, according to the latest market study by Cisco Systems. Their study found that while IT decision makers are primarily focused on reducing IT complexity and balancing investment against cost-cutting, they still must tackle the more forward-looking core IT challenges. In particular, now they need to support investing in new technologies which enable new distributed working environments and thereby create these next-generation workspaces. CIOs face a myriad of trends which challenge and test current IT infrastructure and communication networks. Bri...