Laurent Philoneko who is the Vice President and General Manager of the Unified Communications unit at Cisco kicked the session off and started by detailing that for convergence to work it needs to be in open environment that spans many platforms that you communicate across. Cisco actually believe that the number of devices we communicate across will grow in future which I thought a particularly interesting opinion.
Philonenko believes for UC to address the market it needs to be compelling so that the experience becomes intrinsic. It must also be visual since humans are visually stimulated which means video will play an increasing role alongside the social and collaboration tools such as Twitter and Facebook.
The BlackBerry MVS platform plays an important part in addressing this market with its single number reach abilities, and dial via: the office which allows office credentials to be presented to the customer from a mobile device. Presence then gives the status and ways which tells you how the best route to make contact with the user... including Twitter and Facebook.
Cisco then went on to demonstrate the functionality on stage using their Webex application for BlackBerry.
Alistair Rennie who is the General Manager for Lotus was up next and again looked to tackle to fixed mobile convergence subject. Lotus and IBM see this as becoming a smarter planet and taking systems across the world that traditionally had been disconnected and connect them all up, most importantly mobile.
Collaboration over the past few years has gathered huge pace in the business market. Rennie said that almost half our business decisions could be more effective if we had better data to base our decisions upon and collaboration using systems such as the new open Lotus 8 system operates in conjunction with BlackBerry.
Social software allows decision makers to find, manage and develop talent within the business. Information is moving from information-based to knowledge-based and managing this is critical. Rennie says that total mobility is access to all applications all of the time.
Paul Kalbfleisch then came on to introduce the panel for a discussion unlike any other. Its topic was about how to connect to new mobile users and the panel consisted of: Will.I.am from Black eyed Peas, Ben Silverman who is the CEO of Electus and Steven Berlin-Johnson who is the author of The Invention of Air by inside out.
Will went on to say how his song the now generation tries to address how social media and the such effects the whole world and that these tools are like a journey he shares with his audience. The phone means he doesn't have to wait on the middle man, allowing a dialogue directly with the people who enjoy their music.
Steven Berlin Johnson went on to say how collaboration allows an instant but constant stream of information without restraints. The youth of today has a greater tolerance for longer streams of data due to these technologies.
Ben went on to discuss how we are the MTV generation and that anyone interacting with a customer needs to do it in a way that collaborates and connects multiple streams of content in a mobile way. The content hasn't changed hugely, our delivery will however continue to.
Steven discussed social networks and how they changed the way we consume and engage on communal discussions such as MJ death, presidential debates etc... We discuss topics with thousands rather than 10's of people.
Will.I.am discussed how his DipDive application helps him connect to his people and puts the power back in the writer/publishers hand. The important feature is its mobile ability.
Great session, keep checking back to learn more about WES 2010 with HSC Live!
Antony Board
Senior Technical Consultant
HSC
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