Personally, I have been working with Cisco for a number of years and you are really starting to see how their vision of 5 or 10 years ago is coming together – the network being the core enabler in helping the enterprise solve the business problems of today and in the future.

It was a definite improvement on messaging and strategy than in previous years, and well worth the investment of time.  While there is still a lot of work to be done, which Cisco acknowledge, one thing that Cisco clearly understands is how all the various market trends & transitions currently taking place will influence and shape what the enterprise will look like in the future.  The big underlying themes which will have a huge impact on us all over the next five years are not surprisingly; video, BYOD and Cloud.

BYOD is the one that really excites me more than any others.  The ability to allow anyone in your business, regardless of where they are or what device they are working on (corporate or otherwise), to access the network and communicate with anyone else using any form of communication.   What Cisco managed to articulate at this conference is their vision to provide secure voice and video functionality across those same devices regardless of brand.This has to be big game changer, doesn’t it?  Where I think Cisco have this spot on is that you cannot achieve this vision without embedded network intelligence that is able to make dynamic decisions and ensure traffic gets delivered to where the user expects seamlessly.  In my opinion BYOD has to be a top priority item for every CIO in this year’s IT strategy.  Imagine the productivity and efficiency gains that can be provided to the business and CEO…  It does however require a carefully considered approach before moving down the road to implementing….

It is on this point that I want to focus, as I believe that by having a ‘considered approach’ which is in Block’s DNA, and in wanting to empathise and solve the problems that each of our customer’s face is the key reason I believe we picked up such a prestigious global award – alongside multi-billion $ fellow award winners like IBM, AT&T, the list goes on…

It is not all about booking large deals though, and it’s great that Cisco recognise that companies like Block really bring something different to the party – the ability to innovate and solve real business problems with vendors such as Cisco and other eco partner technologies.

Our work was singled out with one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals for a business-changing video and collaboration solution that incorporated in-theatre video, remote diagnostics and telemedicine.  It was the approach that we took to achieve the result that I believe differentiates Block and our people from those of our competitors.  As part of this process, our lead video consultant scrubbed up and observed live theatre procedures to ensure we understood exactly what problems the hospital where trying to solve.  Sound familiar? Mmm…..

This is why I was so proud to receive the award.  You cannot achieve a result that is truly business transformational without a great team that is prepared to go that extra mile to deliver.  Congratulations to everyone involved.

Cloud computing and virtualisation have been promising to change this for a few years now. The ability to separate the server resources and storage from their physical ‘boxes’ has allowed companies to build and re-allocate raw compute power across the company in a matter of minutes and hours, rather than the days or weeks that it would have taken in the past. This is especially important in industries such as finance where market conditions may change in milliseconds, and new projects may come up requiring IT support very quickly.

There is no doubt that the raw potential to adapt and reshape an organisation’s IT is readily available, and business practitioners now understand the need for greater agility in an organisation. However, drawing the two together will be what truly defines the new wave of 21^st century companies.

We have always instilled into our people the importance of listening to customers about what they want. I always say ‘if you don’t listen you are presuming that you understand the customer’s issue and therefore know what he wants to buy!’  There are a lot of people within organisations that do this all the time.  What then happens is that the sales person (usually within the same meeting) will try and position one of their products or solutions that they’ve been trained to sell.  Seems reasonable… But is it the right thing to do? I will come back to this point…

Over the last 6 years as a successful, growing consultancy, we have had some great wins and our share of disappointments along the way, and it has been important that we’ve learnt from both, as it helps us continually improve. For some time now we have been focused on discussing with our customers the challenges they are facing and working out, and how best we can help them – business communications.  Typically most companies like us offer solutions that are, in the main, driven by dominant technologies, vendors or market trends.

We have always maintained a consultative approach, but we have now decided to take this a stage further.  We’ve invested a lot of time in trying to understand what key ICT problems need to be addressed – and what we have found is that there are several common challenges, of which most of our customers are either in the process of trying to solve one or more of them at the moment, or will shortly need to do so.  Four of these dilemmas can be summarised as follows:

• How can I stay productive when I can’t get to work?
• How can I let my staff use their own devices at work and protect our integrity?
• How do I build a ‘cloud’ solution without throwing away existing IT investment?
• I understand the power of unified communications but how can I get people to use them effectively?

Let me for a moment refer back to my earlier point about whether a sales person should position a solution or product. If the customer asks for something quite specific then the answer may be ‘yes’, but in my experience, probably ninety percent of the time, the correct answer is ‘no’, as they do not have the skills to solve the actual problems for that customer.  For me, the sales person should be asking questions to understand what keeps the customer awake at night and what their main concerns are.  They also need to know what is stopping them from solving them today.  They may also suggest ideas like ‘what if we were able to solve this problem and achieve XYZ result, how would that make a difference to you.’ Then set the next steps and yes, walk away! What no first meeting sale!  Absolutely.

So who is best to solve a customer problem?  In my opinion it is the business and technology architects who have industry or sector specific knowledge, who then can share those ideas and insight with the customer.  This is how we have always worked with our customers, building trust with them through credible experts.  Solving business problems with technology is the key, not presuming you know what the customer’s problem is before you arrive

Now to some this might be surprising, however when you take into account just how many iPhones and iPads have been sold across the globe since they launched and the sheer volume of people who have them in their pockets / bags on a daily basis – you start to realise that they are very quickly becoming mainstream in both the consumer and business world.

There has been a lot of talk in the media of late around BYOD (bring your own device to work), highlighting the popularity of employees bringing in consumer devices and using them on the business network. These stories have covered off both reasons for and against businesses allowing this, but we at Block believe that this is something businesses should be fully embracing, if not to stay ahead of the curve then to keep employees happy as they go about their work.

If business productivity is increasing by this much (20%) surely companies should be trying to take full advantage of this as quickly as possible?

As with any new product integration, there are risks and pitfalls, but these can easily be overcome by the IT team or external vendors being brought in to ‘officially’ integrate the products to the system.  As we mentioned in our previous post (Backing the consumer) we at Block have introduced Mac products into our systems and with the right procedures in place the transition can be as simple as downloading an App.

So as more and more people push their businesses and bosses to let them use their personal device in the work place, it is about time that the IT department sat up and took notice of solutions which could not only revolutionise the way they work, but also the way they motivate and drive the workforce on a day-to-day basis.

After all a happy worker is a productive worker!

The official line for keeping the division was that it was the right move for the shareholders, partners and employees, but surely part of the decision has to be down to the recent boom of consumer IT in the workplace?

It is hard not to see a story in the media at the moment which doesn’t lead back to businesses adopting consumer products into their infrastructure. Of course we largely have Apple to thank for this, but since the launch of the iPhone and the popularity of the iPad, others have followed suit and as a result taken the business world by storm.

At Block we too have been using consumer products in our everyday working lives and through the right balance of policy integration and security preparations our staff have been able to enjoy the many benefits of using their own smartphones, tablets and Mac laptops and become more productive.

It is for these reasons why it would be unwise for HP or any company with a consumer business to pull out of the market just as the trend starts to take off – as not only could the move hurt their reputation, but it is more important than ever that brand leaders such as HP continue to be visible in this space to be able to compete in both the enterprise and consumer markets alike.

This is a great achievement for the company and it’s great to be recognised by an award programme which ranks the country’s fastest growing technology companies based on percentage growth in revenue over a five year period.

As you would expect there are some great names on this year’s list and everyone at Block is extremely proud to be in a position to compete alongside them. Every single person on the team has worked incredibly hard to help build the company’s positioning and we hope to continue this success long into the New Year, to benefit not only ourselves, but most importantly our customers.

There are certainly plenty of SME’s out there who are still trying to clarify and understand the arguments and reasoning around a full transition to Cloud based solutions and I’m sure there are still large percentages who even feel they need to expand their understanding of Cloud more generally, before even considering it as a serious option. However HP do pose a valid question and one which is worth addressing none the less – if and how, will businesses make this transition to Cloud?  

There is certainly incentive enough for businesses to push Cloud high onto their agenda. There will of course be some obvious triggers for this, such as consolidation and virtualisation programs to rationalise energy and density costs.

Organisations which do not make the move to Cloud computing could be making life unnecessarily difficult for themselves. However, managing a complete transition to the Cloud and proving the benefits of the technology in the way the user experiences it, can be extremely difficult.

This is because the case for businesses to move to the cloud is built up through business benefit, and almost nothing will initially impact the way the user experiences it – with the exception of a faster provisioning service, virtualising the organisation doesn’t change the overall user experience.

Handling the change in control and understanding how to extend security policies so that they encompass the Cloud can also give IT teams a very large headache. There will inevitably always be other reasons to avoid putting certain assets in the Cloud when it comes to contractual, legal and financial considerations and of course, there are some systems which should be kept in-house.

But it is vital for organisations to base their IT strategy on what will make life easier for their staff, more stress-free for themselves and support their business objectives. Ultimately by having a Cloud based IT strategy in place the options for staff self-servicing become more varied and the speed to which they can access new resources becomes far quicker.

This is where it becomes important for businesses to be made aware of the variety of their options when it comes to Cloud. It can be a daunting decision to make, with many implications for businesses, but adopting Cloud doesn’t need to be a ‘‘to do or not to do’’ situation. Ultimately each business can move to the Cloud in their, own unique way and a bespoke approach is available to them. With a hybrid approach in place for example, businesses can benefit instantly from leaner, more agile IT and yet still be supported through the challenges, when making their transition to the Cloud.

By working with a partner which can take a more holistic approach to virtualisation, companies can drive higher productivity and efficiency in-house, without having to go through lengthy training or hire external staff.

With this in mind HP’s proposition is admirable and shows great foresight but ultimately fulfilling that promise may prove a little over ambitious for businesses who still seem to be weighing up their options.

The key reason I think we have been successful is the consistent quality of our people.  If you have problems in your business, with time and effort you can solve most things; but only with the right people can you truly build a culture and solid basis for long-term success.

Looking back to 5 years ago, the challenges were very different from today.  When you are smaller and just starting up it is tough to win customers, going from 1 to 5 customers is without doubt harder than going from 5 to 25 customers – ultimately you are trying to overcome the lack of customer references.  Starting up is also all about getting basic systems in place that will serve you well without breaking the bank – CRM so you can prospect new customers, finance so you can order and invoice…  The number one thing that keeps you awake at night is how to win new customers.

With the size and reputation we now enjoy, we are competing for much bigger projects and the demand is currently at an unprecedented level, especially for our consultancy services.  The challenges now are around managing busy project schedules and focusing on acquiring specific customers that fit into our overall strategy.

The money we make has diligently been re-invested to continue growing the business – during recent economic times we have taken this approach while some of our competitors have taken a different approach – and as result believe we will come up out of the current downturn in a much stronger position than we went in.

Much of those funds have gone into recruiting more talent – this has got to be top priority for any growing business – as with the sales challenge, attracting people now as a reputable technology business is much easier than it was a few years ago.

We started Block because we believed there was a gap in the market for business to focus on solving business problems with technology – as opposed to the traditional ICT reseller approach of pushing product and solutions.  This has consistently been our approach since we started the business.   We are now set up well to meet the needs of more demanding customers as a result, while others are having to change their approach and adapt quickly.

This however, has presented a number of issues and headaches for businesses, the biggest being that the devices aren’t supported by the IT department, opening the organisation up to potential security breaches and nasty file infections. Not only this, but it also creates restriction issues for employees as they try to access certain documents which aren’t supported by the software built into the device – for example flash and word documents are a real pain to access and edit, especially on an iPad!

As the launch of the yet another fancy new version of the iPhone looms on the world and Amazon announces its colour all singing all dancing rival tablet to the iPad, it is clear that employees bringing their own devices into the workplace will only increase, forcing businesses to rethink previous policies and how to integrate them with current systems.

Whilst most organisations will protest and stamp their feet at this and continue to refuse the adoption all together, they could be creating an unnecessary and unwanted problem for themselves. Mobile working is becoming a common practice within all work places (it’s easier for those with young families and just more convenient for those who hate working from a dull office 5 days a week) and whether they like it or not workers will continue to connect to email or company systems whilst on the move.

By thinking pragmatically about it businesses need to put themselves in the shoes of their employees, to think outside of the corporate box and offer a flexible way of working, whilst at the same time not compromising on security. This is easily done and whilst could involve further investment, it may improve efficiencies and have a positive effect on staff productivity levels – and after all a happy workforce is a productive workforce.

But what are your thoughts on bringing your own devices to work?

The solution enables workflow automation and task allocation to be centrally managed within a hospital.  It utilises mobile devices such as Cisco WiFi Phones or Blackberry Handsets to provide organisations with the ability to manage processes and people.  It cuts delays by sending alerts and notifications to end users’ devices, who can then send a prompt response….compare this with traditional bleep and paging systems, where time is lost trying to contact people, and users do not know whether a message has been picked up at the other end.  It highlights how inefficient some processes are in hospitals currently due to the technical drawbacks of these legacy, out-dated paging systems…..    

Nerve Centre can remove these fundamental issues and promote efficient closed-loop communication.

But like most technology, it cannot be simply deployed out of the box –  to deliver real business benefit, it requires time spent up front to understand customer needs.

This solution can be used to help Hospital at Night initiatives, porter management, or to remove delay in patient discharge process – this can only be done once you understand exactly how these individual processes work for each customer – then it needs to be clearly articulated and quantified what benefits can be gained in language the customer understands. 

The conversations we are good at centre on the customer’s requirements, and are about understanding business goals, current issues and how we can help them be more successful.  We know that conversations about what products a customer wants to buy are less common and that a customer often requires multiple technologies and experts to solve a problem.  This approach is also known as customer-centric as opposed to process-centric, like a traditional reseller.  It is this quality that helps us differentiate. 

With the correct approach, Nerve Centre has the potential to deliver real benefit in healthcare.   I would really like to hear from our customers and partners on the potential scenarios where the Nerve Centre solution itself would have most impact in hospitals?  For more information www.nervecentresoftware.com