digitization

The next big phase of the Internet is the race toward digitization, which brings together people, processes, data, and things in new, more productive ways. In this emerging hyper-distributed digital world, connectivity is even more vital than ever before. Companies that are going to thrive and reali…

Back in 2011, web pioneer Marc Andreessen wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, entitled “Why software is eating the world”. I couldn’t agree more! First, let’s have a look at what’s going on in the industry at large. Every company in every vertical industry is facing unprecedented competitive…

I had the great privilege of attending and speaking at Fortune Global Forum this week, which gathers business leaders to discuss the most pressing challenges we face and to set the global business agenda. The theme of this year’s conference was “winning in the disruptive century” and focused on how…

If you’ve ever gone hiking through the woods, you know the importance of a trail marker. You can have a great map and plenty of wilderness experience, but sometimes the wild gets the better of you. All of the trees start to look the same. It’s disorienting. You can be on the right path all along, bu…

I’m an entrepreneur at heart, and I love coming up with wildly innovative ways to solve problems and create business value. This entrepreneurial mindset is a requirement in today’s digital age—as technology changes business landscapes and rules. If you read the media, you associate entrepreneurs wit…

I can remember it vividly: The year was 1995, and I was working at a start up in Silicon Valley. What was the Internet like back then? It was certainly not ubiquitous, as it is today. At that point, the Internet was still fledgling—although it was exploding—and ecommerce was starting to take off. Th…

October marks five quarters since I took on a role to lead Cisco’s Internet of Things (IoT) Systems and Software Group, a critical business for Cisco to help organizations connect the unconnected. And, wow, what an incredible time it has been. I’m so proud of the many team accomplishments—from the I…

High stakes can ride on the telling of a story. In One Thousand and One Nights, the legendary Persian queen Scheherazade tells 1,000 stories on successive nights to save her life from the vengeful sultan. She ensnares his imagination. Her words took him to places and times he’d never witnessed, cons…

Worries about diminished GDP growth, a shrinking middle class and rising geopolitical conflicts are rampant. Many may be concerned about the direction our world is headed in, but complete disruption of the ways our cities and countries operate is key to turning it around. Digitization will impact pr…