Collaboration is Hot … A Report from Toronto, Canada

I just concluded three days of customer meetings and participation at Cisco Connect Toronto – a fabulous one-day conference hosted by our Canadian team which enjoyed a sell-out crowd of 1800 customers.

Toronto has an energetic vibe that makes visiting this city such a treat. This year, Toronto is literally abuzz – construction is transforming the downtown area in preparation for the 2015 Pan American Games.  Likewise customers are abuzz about new collaboration technologies and how they can transform how they work. 

I found that Cisco’s collaboration journey, consisting of the integration of social, mobile, video, apps and content, truly resonated with my audience of 160 business and IT leaders at Cisco Connect. BYOD and mobility continue to be top of mind as Canadian firms pursue the “work anywhere, anytime” model – popular not only with the Millennial generation but also by Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y.  

After the Cisco conference I was also able to spend some quality one-on-one time with customers, spanning the sectors of law, government agencies, insurance, banking and cable companies. The key takeaways are that the collaboration strategy message continues to resonate across all verticals. This time, there was lots of interest in mobility, apps and content as well as how we deliver the new collaborative workspace (covered in my earlier blog).

Clearly we all agree that changes in IT right now are occurring at an accelerated pace – we must find ways to deliver faster to our employees. The bar has been raised and most employees expect to have that “Apple-like” experience at work. That is one of our primary goals at Cisco IT.

The other goal is how to really rethink the workspace. Obviously, more employees are working from home but when they do come to the office, how do we provide an experience that allows for productivity, enhances innovation, and sparks and ignites our workforce?  At Cisco, we achieve this through our Connected Workspace which maximizes flexibility, choice and collaboration. It has been designed to meet the needs of five distinct worker styles. You can read much more about our Connected Workspace, and view photos and office designs at our interactive website.

It’s always a pleasure to connect with our North American neighbors – Happy Collaborating!

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