IT remains critical in current scenario

BANGALORE: Information technology (IT) will play an even more critical role in the current business environment for enterprises and businesses who are looking at higher productivity and newer business models, says Cisco chief information officer Rebecca Jacoby. In an interview to ET, she said different pieces of technology will increasingly collaborate to come onto a single platform. Excerpts:

What role will IT play in the current environment?

A company that values technology will be rewarded. It will play a critical role as people are interacting more with technology. The economic situation requires IT to enable productivity, create new business models & show growth opportunities.

Is Web 2.0 influencing new technologies?

Web 2.0 collaboration is a newer way of bringing communities together. Many people use it in their personal life and many are looking at bringing it to an enterprise scale. For example, video technologies which were primarily used at the consumer level are now finding applications in large enterprises. IPTV, video communication and some other interesting individual technologies are coming together towards creating an enterprise scale platform where the foundation is communication and creation of virtual workplace.

What about the small and home business?

These are equally important as they are looking at scaleable technology. Collaboration is all about bringing the entire eco-system together giving small businesses access to resources and ability to create new business models.