The year 2020 saw significant business disruptions, which caused many organizations to adopt new technology strategies, repurpose or resize infrastructure, and honestly assess the suitability of existing solutions moving forward. Amid all this introspection, one general theme seems apparent: Automation should be a key component of any business strategy not only in the office but in the home office as well.

What follows are five tips to help get the creative juices flowing as you look to automate more of your daily tasks. Then, you can make room for innovation and a more rewarding work experience — regardless of location.

In 2020, Cisco introduced enhancements to the Webex cloud and Webex device series, providing a way to connect to Microsoft Teams meetings directly from Cisco video devices.

There are two technologies at play here: Cloud Video Interop (CVI) and Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC).

This past October, Cisco released a new flexible edge platform to support use cases like SD-WAN and cloud networking. This new platform is the Catalyst 8000. There are three major platforms within the Catalyst 8000 family:

1. The 8500, designed to replace the ASR 1001-HX / ASR 1002-HX and is positioned at the data center/colocation for extremely high performance.
2. The 8300, designed to replace the ISR4400 and is positioned at the branch. This platform offers very good performance but also focuses on delivering services like switching, VoIP, security and more at the branch in a compact footprint.
3. The 8000v, positioned to replace the CSR100v. This one is designed to run in virtual environments and on cloud marketplaces.

Before spring 2020, many organizations didn’t let people work from home for one reason: security.

Sure, business leaders also may have had concerns about potential issues with productivity and collaboration if people weren’t in an office. But perhaps more than anything, there was concern about the heightened possibility of critical data breaches.

The coronavirus pandemic, of course, left many companies with few, if any, other options. In March, managers were forced to send employees home to comply with regional lockdowns and protect the safety of their workers. For the most part, organizations have been pleasantly surprised with the ability of their employees to work productively outside the office. And, with a few exceptions, organizations are also largely finding that their technology tools are up to the task of keeping their environments secure.

In particular, Cisco Systems has gone to great lengths to make enterprise security a key component of the popular collaboration platform Webex. Here are some important features to be aware of that are helping keep organizations safe.

Big changes are upon us when it comes to Cisco licensing. On Jan. 23, 2021, everything changes with Cisco Unified Communications Manager licenses. For some organizations, this will be a moment to celebrate, given the detailed complexity of Cisco’s reporting. Who hasn’t struggled at times to figure out what your organization owns, what’s covered and whether or not that’s reflected in the Cisco report?

You can say goodbye to perpetual license purchases and multiyear support contract renewals. No more deciphering what type of license you need based on the phone model you plan to buy. No more reviewing your Prime License Manager to see if you even need licenses. No more wading through the PLM output. Cisco has finally simplified its license consumption model.

Welcome back to the third part of this blog series, where I’ve been exploring the options available in the cloud contact center space. A quick recap of who we have talked about in this series: The first post was on the power of RingCentral, the second was showing off the red-hot Five9.

In this third blog, I will explore where Cisco Systems is at in this cloudy landscape. In a business landscape influenced by the pandemic and remote work, cloud computing has been a valued resource for many companies, especially those relying on cloud contact center technology. Let’s dig into where Cisco, one of the on-premises leaders of contact center, is with cloud.