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Connected Workforce Book Indicates Employee Mobility will Effect the Biggest Change in Working Practices since Industrial Revolution


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Worldwide business leaders collaborate on new book published by Cisco which presents latest, global view on impact of mobile technologies

LONDON, UK - July 6, 2005 - A book signalling the way mobile technologies will fundamentally change the face of business, as they affect the manner in which people communicate and work together, has been published today by Cisco Systems. Essays collected in Connected Workforce suggest that organisations are already reaping productivity benefits from employee mobility - the creation of a virtual workplace wherever we are - and that employees are taking more control of their work/life balance. The book also looks to the future and how the rapid expansion of mobile communications will have a profound impact on work practices, business strategies and on society as a whole.

Edited by Cisco System’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) Mobile team, Connected Workforce consists of 14 essays from senior business leaders, industry visionaries and innovative service providers*. These include British Airways, Capgemini, France Telecom, Google, Hutchison Telecom, Intel, New York City, Reuters, Sprint, Telecom Italia Mobile and Vodafone.

It brings together current case studies and future perspectives; giving a global view of how businesses are benefiting from distributing information through mobility solutions. A few are restructuring more fundamentally, embedding knowledge directly into new streamlined business processes. The book also reveals how telecommunication providers are investing heavily behind the scenes to secure, personalise and deliver the huge volumes of content available wirelessly to a workforce on the move.

One of the contributors to Connected Workforce , Gino P Menchini, commissioner of IT and Telecommunications for New York City, discusses how the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001, prompted the city to review its working practices and embrace mobile technologies: “Increasingly New Yorkers are turning to mobile solutions in their businesses and in their private lives. We are seeing a massive change in the working culture for public employees, with the proliferation of wireless devices enabling personnel to connect to the City’s network wherever they are, whatever the time of day.”

Barbara Dalibard, executive vice president, Enterprise Communications Services at France Telecom comments on the challenges mobility presents to service providers: “Making life simple for the user is a complex process. Our aim is for mobile connectivity to seem as serenely effortless as a swan gliding on the water. But beneath the surface there will inevitably be a great deal of hard paddling, in order to make different technologies and applications integrate and ’talk’ to each other.”

In reviewing Connected Workforce , Dr David Dean of Boston Consulting comments: “This publication makes an important contribution to understanding the true potential of mobile technologies in the workplace. Besides demonstrating clearly that mobile applications are ’real’, it also underlines that the connected workplace will only be achieved if many different companies - telecommunications companies, software providers and systems integrators - work together across the value chain to deliver solutions that add value to their customers and their customers’ customers.”

Connected Workforce is the sixth in a series of books produced by Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group which gives current analysis on private and public sectors by international visionaries. Books already published include Connected Heath, Connected Cities, Connected Schools, Connected Government and Connected Homes. Connected Workforce , and all the books in the series, are available from http://www.cisco.com/en/US/about/ac79/wp/ctd/index.html priced €15, £9.99 or $19.
* List of Contributors to Connected Workforce

Introduction by: Cisco Systems - Simon Aspinall, Director of Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) Mobile and Anja Jacquin Langer, Mobile Advisor, IBSG in Europe, Middle East and Africa

* Author - Howard Rheingold
* British Airways - Fergus Boyd, senior manager, Technology Exploitation
* Capgemini - Mal Postings, global lead for Mobility and RFID Solutions, and Andy Mulholland, global chief technology officer
* City of New York - Gino P Menchini, commissioner of Information Technology and Telecommunications
* Dartmouth College- Larry Levine, CIO and associate provost for Information Ttechnology and Brad Noblet, director of Computing Technical Services, USA
* France Telecom - Barbara Dalibard, executive vice president, Enterprise Communications Services
* Google Europe - Nikesh Arora, vice president European Operations
* Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong - Agnes Nardi, managing director Hong Kong
* Intel - Shreekant (Ticky) Thakkar, director of Mobile Technology Development, Mobile Platforms Group
* Landspitali University Hospital- Baldur Johnsen, director information technology Iceland
* Reuters - Geert Linnebank, editor-in-chief
* Sprint Corporation - Len Lauer, president and chief operating officer
* Telecom Italia Mobile - Mauro Sentinelli, deputy chairman, GSM Association and formally managing director Telecom Italia Mobile
* Vodafone Group - Arun Sarin, chief executive officer, and Alan Harper, group strategy officer

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, celebrates 20 years of commitment to technology innovation, industry leadership and corporate social responsibility. Information on Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com.

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Contact Information

Third Party Contact(s):

Lesley Daley
Torworth Associates
+44 (0)1304239488
lesley.daley@torworth.org



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