RIYADH — Cisco is accelerating its focus on serving small businesses by announcing new offers tailored to the small business buyer. In November 2019, Cisco introduced the new Cisco ‘Designed for Business’ portfolio at Partner Summit. Now the portfolio is growing with the addition of Cisco technology that originally powered Fortune 100 organizations and can now bring the same technology innovation to meet the needs of small businesses. Small business is big business and accounts for 44 percent of all IT spending — as a segment it’s faster growing than the enterprises segment. Now more than ever, small businesses need to be agile when digitizing their business models. Ultimately, technology is critical to helping them grow their revenue, optimize their customer experiences and differentiate themselves to remain competitive. Small businesses need to connect securely and focus on protecting their users, data and devices at all times. To help address these needs, and allow small businesses to focus on their core activities, Cisco is announcing brand new updates to the Cisco ‘Designed for Business’ portfolio bringing together the power of machine learning, AI and cloud-driven solutions, and created to make buying, installation and maintenance simple. The simplified experience includes: • New App to manage small business networks: IT systems can be complex and expensive to maintain, especially with the limited IT resources of a small business. The new Cisco Business Wireless Mobile App provides a simple way for an individual or company to configure and manage networks in any location, all from the convenience of their smartphone. Available in the Apple App Store (iOS) or on Google Play (Android). • New user experience. Simpler to buy: We now have a new button to connect small business customers to a Cisco partner to buy directly on Cisco.com. Plus, faster access to technical and sales specialists is now available, in 24 languages, globally, through live chat or call back in 15 minutes or less. • New bundles and offers scaled for small businesses: To further reduce cost and complexity while improving operational efficiency, bundled solutions will be available that focus on key technology areas to support rapidly growing businesses. • Secure connectivity via Meraki: Network downtime and security issues can impact revenue, customer loyalty and data security. Bringing together the high-speed and high-density capabilities of WiFi 6 to the cloud-managed Meraki portfolio of access points, the new Meraki Wi-Fi 6 Access points bring simple network management and help with improved network performance, reliability and security — without the need for more IT staff. Cisco’s first WiFI6 access point for Small Businesses brings flexibility to growing businesses looking to digitize quickly. The technology will enable their network to scale to effectively manage more connected device and richer content like video, as well as provide better performance as new applications emerge. • Meraki Cloud-managed Smart Cameras: Not only can cameras help reduce inventory shrinkage and other risks, they are also powered to deliver valuable business insights on areas ranging from foot traffic to identifying which displays are attracting attention to parking utilization. These new cameras include high-quality video, wireless connectivity, on-appliance storage and built-in advanced analytics, eliminating costs involved in sending traffic to a data center. They offer a 360-degree view through a fisheye camera, and one unit can cover an entire premise efficiently for small businesses. “Our mission at Stratus Information Systems is to find the right networking solutions for our SMB customers that can free them up to focus on their core businesses rather than the complexity of a pieced together network and security products. Having the breadth of the Cisco Designed portfolio is a real advantage for them and for us. “Whether it’s the cloud-managed Meraki portfolio or the zero-config Cisco Business Products or the new wireless mobile application it makes it simpler for us and our customers to install, manage and expand.” Jason Lacey, regional sales director Stratus Information Systems “Talent Garden is the largest European network of campuses for professionals working in the tech and digital industries. Our mission is to create local, vibrant, globally connected campuses that empower digital & tech communities. A secure, reliable network is the backbone of our business and our members experience. “Since we introduced Cisco Designed for Business technologies such as Meraki access points and smart cameras to our campuses, it has freed our team up to focus on delivering on our mission. We deployed more than 500 managed access points and 250 cameras across our 26 locations in a short space of time. “This infrastructure is managed by APIs without the need for a dedicated team. Now our local staff across the Talent Garden network can focus on customer satisfaction, using these tools to understand potential problems and make requests for improvements in our operation,” said Alessandro Braga, chief digitization officer, Talent Garden. “Small businesses have tremendous opportunity to thrive; to do so, it is important that they remain agile, adaptable and innovative. At Cisco, one of our key focus points is to provide small businesses with the right tools and solutions so they can harness the power of technology to establish secure, reliable and robust businesses” said Hani Raad, general manager of small business at Cisco MEA. — SG