Thank You !!Cisco Systems in Canada has been around for about years, in that time we have quiety grown to become a multibillion dollar organization with over 1000 people employed – 60% of which in Engineering and R&DCisco in Canada is the third largest entity in the Cisco corporate world so clearly we are punching above our weight The view of the current leadership team is that we have a responsibility to drive growth productivity and innovation in Canada. We have an active CSR program and are contributing - we believe we have earned the right to be at the table, to participate in discussions such as this where we can collectively make a difference.
Cisco recently commissioned a report entitled the connected world technology report. The research focused on two groups. The report was international capturing results from 14 countries and in each country a group of 1400 students aged 18-23 and 1400 professionals under 30 were surveyed. The reports were quite interesting Key findings Social life today is more about being connected than it is about personal interactionSocial media is growing and in some cases more important that friends and datingOne in three in college and professionals see the internet as important as air water food shelterMore than half the respondents could not live without internet and cite it as more integral than cars dating and partying40% saw the internet as more important than dating going out with friends or listening to music
Connected education has arrived !! WE better figure this out Wednesday of last week – 10/05/11 The $35 tablet is Wi-Fi enabled with a 7-inch touch screen and is based on Google's Andorid 2.2 operating system. It has an internal storage capacity of 2GB which can be increased to 32 GB with an SD card, a battery back up of nearly three hours and two USB ports. Internet access can be with the help of separate data cards, or WiFi. Datawind, which makes the tablet in Hyderabad at 700 units a day, will begin selling the tablet commercially by end of November at with a year-long warranty and additional, under brand name of UbiSlate.
Canada's productivity trap: Recovery running on 'sweat and toil ... not brains and innovation'Key Messages:Canada can't seem to escape a productivity trap that is sapping growth and threatening to lower the living standards for future generations of workers.Canadian companies bounced back quickly from the recession, rehiring most of the workers they had laid off. But output - the goods and services they produce - has been slower to rebound, taking another bite out of productivity, which drives economic growth, sows the seeds of future job gains and raises living standards.When the Canadian dollar was low, companies put off investing in technology because they didn't have to.Labour was cheap and they could easily compete in the United States and around the world.Productivity growth makes companies more profitable, and allows them to hire more workers and pay employees higher salaries.Now that the low-dollar era is over, those investments are more necessary than ever. But businesses remain just as reluctant to invest because demand has dried up and the sputtering recovery has left them jittery about what the future holds.Labour productivity - or output per hours worked - fell a disappointing 0.8 per cent in the second quarter from the first three months of the year. And most disturbingly, Canada is falling further behind its main rival, the United States.Year over year, U.S. productivity also surged 3.7 per cent in the second quarter and unit labour costs continue to fall as companies do more with fewer workers. In Canada, annual productivity was up a mere 0.8 per cent in the second quarter from the previous year.Productivity drives economic growth, and sows the seeds of future job gains and raises living standards.Since the first quarter of 2006, productivity has grown a meager 0.1 per cent a year in Canada. In the United States, it has grown an average of 9.8 per cent.What's puzzling is that Canada has done so much, policy-wise, over the past couple of decades to make itself more competitive. It's wrestled down the debt, contained inflation, embraced free trade, loosened foreign ownership rules, cut corporate taxes, privatized Crown corporations, deregulated key industries and harmonized the goods and services tax."Everything is out there to help businesses invest," said TD Bank economist Francis Fong. "The key is: will they?"In a speech earlier this year, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney chastised Canadian companies for being too timid and not investing enough in the future. The government, he said, has done its bit by creating the conditions needed for a "productivity revival," and now it's time for business to step up to the plate.The numbersProductivity: down 0.8%Unit labour costs: up 0.5%Hourly compensation: down 0.3%Hours worked: up 1.2%Worst sectors: Retail trade (down 2.2%), wholesale trade (down 1.1%) and construction (down 1.4%)
At the G20 Summit in Seoul that took place in November last year where Korean President Lee Myung-bak invited more than 100 CEOs to present a report on the Need For Sustainable And Balanced Growth.For me, technology can play a huge role. I see Technology as an enabler to drive sustainability / Cisco as a horizontal player across all verticals to drive innovations / social virtualization – any services, any time, seamlessly.In parts of the world today, people have access to technology before they have access to quality water and electricity Cisco estimates that the number of devices connected to the Internet in 2020 could potentially reach 1 trillion - driven by sensors on buildings, smart meters, livestock, even your toilet can be connected providing you with a daily health update. This will enable huge productivity gains in the developed markets especially and create new services
Main message:Given how far behind Canada is in terms of our business capabilities in productivity and innovation, ICT provides the best chance of closing the productivity gap quickly.
What will it take to create these cities/communities… new visionary leadership & the creation of New Business Models.Imagine the huge opportunity for new services. Technology will be the key enabler.Only 2% of infrastructure spend – 2% of a trillion dollars is spent on technology – even an increase of 1%? To enable this we should together drive:Visionary leadership is key – finding people with similar mindsets, passion and vision for the future…that’s really key.Global open standards – this is what we do! We did it 25 years ago with the internet…bringing together different protocols and making them all work together. That’s not something just anyone can do.Smart regulation – we need leaders to step up….LEED certification….give benefits to people who implementPublic private partnerships – this has been key to our success so far.And a New ecosystem – working with developers, people like Schneider ElectricBut it takes all five of these factors…without one, it changes completely.
