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Mary Freeman

No Longer with Cisco

Mary Freeman is the Retail & Hospitality subject matter expert for Cisco in the Americas, where she helps to define, articulate, and set the vision for how digital technologies can improve performance, transform operation models, and take industry businesses to the next level.

Mary has served as a consultant for SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, and other major technology leaders, developing books, papers, and other resources to help companies understand how disruptive technologies will impact the retail and guest experience. She also spent a number of years in the retail industry working for major retail chains.

“This is an unbelievable time to be a retailer or hospitality operator,” Mary says. “The entire nature of the guest experience is changing, transforming into a half-virtual, half-real series of interactions that is making how we work with businesses and other people a completely different experience.”

Mary has a BA from the University of California at Berkeley.

Articles

October 4, 2017

RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY

Back to School 2017 Takeaways on the Customer Experience

Back to school (BTS) 2017 is officially in the books, and retailers are getting ready for the upcoming holiday season. Now is the time to reflect on key lessons learned for retailers. This year’s back-to-school sales were projected to be the most successful in the last five years, with total combine…

September 21, 2017

RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY

Blockchain in retail: Cisco launches new IoT alliance

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about blockchain in recent months. The technology offers new opportunities for better security for retailers, but so far it does not have a clearly defined roadmap or protocols. As of September 19, Cisco has co-founded the Trusted IoT Alliance, a consortium of 17 c…

Ransomware Attackers Strike Again

On the heels of last month’s WannaCry cyberattack, a new ransomware attack shut down systems across Europe this week. The main focus of the attack appears to be in the Ukraine (including banks, telecom, electrical systems, the main city metros, and the airport), but it has now appeared in 65 countri…

Programmable Retail: Writing Intentions and Reading the Status of Your Business from the Network

These are certainly not easy times to be a retailer. Recently, our colleagues in Europe started to think about how to address many of today’s issues with “programmable retail,” the ability to write intentions and read the status of your business from the network. The weather, what a celebrity wore,…

Turning Retailers into Superheroes: Join Us at Cisco Live

Today we hear about “transforming the customer experience,” but for developers and IT staffers, what does this really mean? Join us in Las Vegas at Cisco Live on June 25-29, where you’ll learn how your store, hotel, and entertainment operation can use today’s digital technologies to deepen customer…

The 5 Critical Components of a Secure Store

In my last blog post, we discussed how the Cisco SAFE methodology can help you to implement a reliable security solution for your store. This approach can help you define and address each threat to the retail branch with corresponding security capabilities, architectures, and designs – guiding you t…

Securing Your Retail Network with Cisco SAFE in the Age of WannaCry

Thousands of companies around the globe were affected this week by a major ransomware attack called WannaCry. Ransomware is a type of cyberattack that encrypts data until the user pays a specified fee, and is one of the industry’s top evolving cyberthreats. As these and other threats continue…

February 21, 2017

RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY

The Worst Problem in the Retail Industry? Turnover.

Retail has one of the highest turnover rates in any industry. The Hay Group reports a median turnover rate of 67 percent for part-time retail employees.[1] I doubt any of us would be too challenged to list the problems driving this high turnover: Retail jobs are considered boring and repetitive, wi…

February 13, 2017

RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY

How to Better Manage Store Staff with Real-Time Analytics

A few weeks ago at NRF 2017, we spoke with a number of retailers looking to improve the customer experience in their stores. Challenged by today’s online competitors, brick-and-mortar retailers are doing their best to reimagine their stores with new services and technology. However, we also found th…