Smith CIO Forum and InForum 2004 Unite Again For Successful Exchange

The Smith CIO Forum, held October 8, explored the advantages and challenges of mobility with a full day of discussion and presentations on mobility in the workplace. Going Mobile, Changing the Pace and Place of Business brought together the world-class research of the Smith decision and information technologies faculty with the experience of high-level practitioners to explore issues of security, applications performance, and infrastructure key to the success of a mobile work force.

Attendees from the CIO Forum and InForum, a concurrently held event for MBA students, heard about the transforming power technology can have on business processes in a keynote speech by John Morgridge, chairman of Cisco Systems.

Dean Howard Frank, in introducing Morgridge, noted that Cisco took complex, expensive technology and turned it into low-cost, easy-to-roll-out technology. Morgridge reflected on the journey to get to that point.

Cisco Systems was initially a one-product company, said Morgridge. It was a major step to get our engineers to go downscale, to take away features in order to drive down the cost. Once they did, Cisco had two products a large router and a small router. From this modest beginning, Cisco has grown to become a giant in the industry, with almost 35,000 employees and a run-rate of $22 billion.

Morgridge is an enthusiastic evangelist for the benefits of online technologies. Cisco takes pride in using all the equipment they sell, right down to the recent addition of 55,000 IP phones. Cisco is not only a top provider of Internet technology but also an example of how those technologies can provide a significant competitive advantage to companies.

Cisco first made a major investment in customer support, not, Morgridge said, in marketing. Online tech support made Cisco's customers happy while saving money for the company: customers no longer had to endure lengthy waits on the phone for human assistance, and Cisco was able to reduce the manpower needed for effective customer support. Self-service tech support also ensured that the quality of service was the same worldwide, no matter when or from where a customer called. Now 90% of Cisco product orders are done online as well, resulting in cost reductions, time savings and improved accuracy.

Today Cisco also manages its supply chain online, going so far as to make its suppliers meet a certain network standard before it can sell to Cisco. Having employee information online, from regulations to benefits, saves time and money as well.

Cisco also profits from the mobility of online technologies. Installing high-speed Internet access in employees homes, for example, has led to an increase in productivity, putting Cisco employees just moments away from their virtual desks at any time of the day or night. With these online systems, we've convinced our employees to work 24/7, said Morgridge. That makes me smile.

Richard T.C. LeFave, senior vice president and chief information officer for Nextel Communications in Reston, Virginia, also addressed participants at the CIO Forum. LeFave is responsible for the strategic deployment of information technology (IT) resources throughout Nextel and talked about the future of mobility. 

The Smith School also hosted InForum 2004 on October 8, an annual MBA student-led business conference focused on the relationship between business and technology.

InForum keynote speaker Donald K. Peterson, chairman and CEO of Avaya, spoke to MBAs about the need to be aware of technology change. Peterson related trends in the digital economy to key concepts studied at the Smith School such as the increased focus on work efforts in group settings. He stressed the need to have technology that would support the changing dynamics of the workplace. Peterson singled out workforce mobility and the seamless flow of information to consumers in the right way, and at the right time, via their medium of choice as the trends of the future.

At the Women in Technology Panel, the discussion ranged from work/life balance to the changing corporate ladder and the evolving perception of senior management. Discussion at the Outsourcing Panel touched on topics like the outsourcing of service-oriented jobs, the value proposition created by outsourcing, and a policy discussion on key responses to address outsourcing consequences, fielding questions from the audience on global competition, trade perceptions, potential policy responses and global job creations.

Smith Media Group, Monisha Banerjee, MBA Candidate 2006, contributed to this article.