Nothing irritates me more than technology that goes unused. Shiny things, cool bells and whistles, and technology features don’t excite me unless I see people using the technology to transform their business and gaining true return on their investment.
I often ask customers, “What is more important to you, get the cheapest deal or realizing the benefits the technology can offer?” Do you choose something because it is free or something that delivers a solution to your needs? Often I’ve seen people choose cost over benefit, to deeply regret it later; spending valuable time not realizing the productivity benefits.
The key to finding the right balance is designing value into our technology. It means creating products that are intuitive and easy to use for faster adoption by users; products that can solve business problems; and perhaps my favorite – products that can help transform a business.
One of my passions is video, and I have worked in this industry for 10 years. What keeps my passion ignited is when I see small businesses like Singlewire changing their sales model to use video, which not only improved the efficiency of their small sales force, but they were able to grow their business while portraying an image of a much larger professional firm.
Transformation in big enterprises is also very exciting. Our video and collaboration solutions are transforming traditional banking delivery; helping them to extend their reach with remote experts in a cost –effective way with lifelike video conversations and collaboration tools. Access to financial experts at a bank is no longer confined to a physical location, the flexibility and reach is there for them today. Such an example is Citizen’s Financial Group who used Cisco’s Remote Expert solution, based on Cisco’s TelePresence and other advanced collaboration technologies, to offer a virtual face-to-face consultation between a customer and subject matter expert through high quality video and online information sharing.
There are so many other examples in how we are helping people use our technology to transform their business whether it is in education, retail, or manufacturing – we are truly changing the way people work, live, play and learn.
Whether you are developing, selling or buying products and solutions – don’t’ start with the bells and whistles, start with the business transformation you want to achieve.
By OJ Winge
