Cisco’s Solution Framework for the Digital Journey

Every country, city, industry, and business is becoming digital in order to leverage the unprecedented opportunities possible from rapidly expanding connectivity around the globe.

Digitization requires customers to rethink their business, operations, and technology strategies. Cisco’s research, along with countless business experts, forecasts that 40% of today’s leading businesses will be displaced by competitors disrupting the market with new approaches— digitization is an imperative for business survival.

I am excited about today’s announcement of Cisco’s Digital Solutions for Industries. This showcases our unique approach to help customers capture the promise of digitization.

Digital transformation necessitates a combining of business and IT strategy that connects everything, embraces analytics, and takes a holistic approach to data security that spans technology and operations. According to the 2014 Digital Transformation report by the Altimeter Group, 88% of companies report undergoing a digital transformation — however, only 25% have mapped the digital customer journey and have a clear understanding of new or under-performing digital touchpoints.

A Solution Framework for the Digital Journey

Digital transformation (or, digitization) is complex. There are many challenges along this journey, some of which include:

Siloed networks

Expanded security vulnerability

Data overload

Automating the extraction of insights and resulting actions

Complex integration

Cisco has developed a framework for addressing the challenges the digital journey presents. This framework successfully addresses the obstacles to digital transformation that will enable customers to achieve the results needed to survive and thrive as a digital business.

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Here’s a brief explanation of the framework and how Cisco products and solutions are uniquely positioned to address customer requirements.

Unified connectivity: Digitization requires replacing the data silos with a single unified network. Cisco has expanded beyond an IT network to a portfolio of purpose-built products for industrial environments, so customers can get everything on a unified network that is easy to manage.

End-to-End Security: With so many new endpoints, a new approach is needed to cyber and physical security. The network can’t just be a set of pipes passing data up to the cloud. The network needs to be a sensor as well and have the intelligence to enforce security policies.

Manage Data from Edge to Cloud: IoT deployments result in a deluge of data. 60% of data is processed at the edge of the network and that means the network needs to do more than just pass data. We have built compute capabilities directly into the network, what we call fog compute, as a complement to cloud compute.

Capabilities: It’s important to extract insights from all that data and automate the actions that respond to those insights. Cisco is investing in analytics capabilities that can be deployed throughout the network and we are partnering with the best of each industry to pass data intelligently to applications for the digital workforce.

Outcomes: Customers need to focus on the business outcomes that technology provides rather than on the components that make up the solution. Cisco has integrated all of the elements into Digital Solutions and developed connected services to help our customers throughout the digital journey.

Cisco’s Digital Solutions for Industries
Cisco has a robust portfolio of industry solutions where digitization provides critical value.

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The Manufacturing, Transportation, Utilities, and Oil & Gas industries have been evolving for quite some time. Now, for the first time, organizations in these fields have the opportunity to integrate digital capabilities across all business operations. They can break down information siloes, optimize operational performance, and get access to the information they need to innovate, all the while mitigating an ever-increasing number of risks.

Cisco’s digital solutions for industries connect machines, assets, and people across the business. With these proven industry-specific architectures and technologies, companies can digitize data in an integrated way. They can generate insights, transform processes, and optimize operational performance. Additionally, companies can access the information needed to make better decisions faster.

● Manufacturing: Redefine secure, efficient, and visible operations.
● Transportation: Deliver greater safety and mobility with a better passenger experience.
● Utilities: Deliver smarter, safer, highly secure power grids for reliable, efficient service.
● Oil and gas: Make operations safer, more efficient, and more secure.

Cisco offers unmatched depth and breadth of security, connectivity, and end-to-end system visibility–and we do it in partnership with other leading companies our customers work with.

Learn more about Digital manufacturing solutions and our oil and gas solutions. Please look for more information about each of the new solutions we are launching in the coming weeks.

Be sure to give me your feedback in the comments section. What do you think of Cisco’s approach to digital industry solutions?