How I Manage a $4B Business from my Phone

I don’t use my laptop to run my business.

It’s not that I don’t like my laptop. It’s just that I really love using my mobile device — for everything. My mobile is incredibly convenient, small, and functional. Let’s face it: we’re lucky to be in the era of the smartphone when one device can do almost everything. And best of all, I actually can run my business with just this device.

Two years ago, when I started at Cisco, it was not possible for me to run my business with a smartphone. Something was missing. I used email and SMS and voice/video on my phone, but it wasn’t quite enough. I realized that I needed one place to stay connected to the work we were doing and to stay connected to the people I needed to work with. And do it both in real-time, and non real-time.

That need is pretty obvious to other people too, as it now seems every week there is a new messaging app targeting mobile workers like me. What all of these apps are missing is a way to connect real-time collaboration with non real-time conversations. Most of these apps treat this problem as an afterthought, but we didn’t. So while everyone is running in one direction, we’re going a different way. A better way.

Today, I’m excited to tell you that Cisco has developed that very tool and we launched it today: Project Squared built on our new Cisco Collaboration Cloud.

Project Squared is our brand-new enterprise business collaboration application. With it, I can better connect with teams and individuals – reduce email threads, improve meeting requests, and stay connected to the projects, ideas, and content that matter most. It lets me chat, talk, and meet live – via real-time video calling to individuals and groups. And the rooms in which we meet never go away, even when I log out.

I can connect in a way I’ve never been able to before, virtually. It’s simple, fast, intuitive, and fun. It’s a new way to work in a new world. Project Squared lets me work the way I want to work – mobile-first and agile. I can manage projects, provide input, and make business decisions from anywhere, at any time.

I can preview documents right in the app without downloading. Teams now share their desktop so I can see real-time edits, and I can provide real-time approvals. I easily connect right into WebEx conferencing from my virtual rooms to meet with all the right people – no meeting invites, no calendaring issues – instant, fast, and integrated.

Project Squared lets me get the job done faster, better, on my device of choice—which is pretty great. But it has enabled something more, which is to connect me to conversations that I may never have been part of before.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not dissing laptops or even the existing business tools out there. Quite the opposite – I’m a huge proponent of using the right tool for the right job. And that’s exactly why we’ve integrated Project Squared with existing business tools like calendars, Active Directory, WebEx, and Box… and yes, if you are so inclined, even your laptop inside a modern browser like Firefox or Chrome.

I know that Project Squared is the best tool for me, given how I now prefer to work. And I believe Project Squared is the best tool for the way everyone is beginning to work today: agile and fast, with small teams, juggling lots of concurrent projects, and with very short cycles.

Don’t take my word for it. Go download Project Squared for your mobile phone right now. See my keynote from Collaboration Summit, watch this overview from my team or join me… Get Squared today.