We think the potential is enormous, and that these new capabilities may change the way enterprises distribute their workforce. Faster networks, HD video, and collaboration features can reduce geographical barriers and help global organizations to concentrate their staff in places where certain skills are more available and cost less. This will set the stage for competition between countries and may have significant implications around service regulations, salary levels, and employment rates.
With a growing number of connected mobile devices of all types finding their way into enterprises, it is not surprising that Cisco considers mobility to be one of the core elements in its collaboration strategy. It has expanded its portfolio, and the Borderless Network Architecture vision now also includes routing, switching, and security solutions, which gives it a more comprehensive approach to mobility.
However, mobility beyond premise and WiFi products is an area where Cisco will need to rely heavily on partnerships with other vendors and carriers. The lack of mobile access solutions may prevent Cisco from offering mobile video with end-to-end service level agreements in the public domain.
Cisco emphasized B2C collaboration, which we think is good. There were also some interesting video-enabled applications that we think are innovative and provide more evidence that Cisco is a leader in video as a channel for collaboration. But we would have liked to see more use cases of mobility. Cisco’s lack of carrier products may limit its ability to develop and deliver mobile collaboration applications from a public network, and the company will need to address this to complete its collaboration vision.