Cisco and Dimension Data are known for connecting manufacturing plants, sports arenas, hospitals, you name it.  

But in the South African bush, the companies are partnering on another kind of challenge: saving the rhino.

These magnificent animals are being hunted to near extinction for their horns, which in some Asian countries are believed to be an aphrodisiac and cancer cure. In fact, rhino horn is made of keratin, like fingernails, and cures nothing. But that hasn’t stopped a thriving black market. 

How can digital technologies protect wild rhinos? Connected Futures senior writer Kevin Delaney spoke with Bruce Watson, who leads Dimension Data’s global strategic alliance with Cisco.

Cybercriminals are brilliant, relentless, and ruthless.

So how can organizations hope to fight them?

One way is to hire people just like them (minus the ruthless part).

A growing wave of companies are using hackers to foil hackers. They unleash “researchers” (aka hackers) to “attack” an organization’s defenses.

Some of these companies create their own elite Red Teams of ethical, or white hat, hackers, as they are known. Others commandeer virtual armies of crowd-sourced hackers. The goal is the same: probe for weaknesses that may have escaped the internal security team’s best efforts.

Kevin Delaney, senior writer for Connected Futures is joined by Jay Kaplan, CEO of the ethical hacking firm Synack.

The business world gets more complex every year, if not every week. Yet we’re essentially making important decisions with brains that evolved tens of thousands of years ago. And while we’re no longer fighting for survival on the African Savannah, some days it may feel like it.

But whether facing hostile tribes or belligerent boardrooms, primitive “fight or flight” instincts don’t have to cloud our decision-making.

Kevin Delaney, senior writer for Connected Futures, is joined by Cathy Davidson, author of Now You See It: How Technology and Brain Science Will Transform Schools and Business for the 21st Century. Cathy serves on the Board of Directors of Mozilla and was the 2016 recipient of the Ernest J. Boyer Award for Significant Contributions to Higher Education. In 2011 she was appointed to the National Council on the Humanities by President Obama. She holds the position of Distinguished Professor and is the founding director of the Futures Initiative at the City University of New York.

$506 billion dollars. In the retail industry, this is the Digital Value at Stake globally over the next three years. It's a big opportunity. And yet, less than one quarter of retailers are actively doing something to secure those dollars.

This two-part series explores the impact of digital disruption on the retail industry. This episode dives into the problem: why retailers are leaving money on the table. Stefanie McCann, editor of Connected Futures Magazine is joined by Shaun Kirby, leader of Cisco's Rapid Prototyping Group and Jason Goldberg, SVP at Razorfish

Today’s manufacturers are challenged with how to start digitizing their factories. Many want to differentiate with new service-oriented revenue models, especially those that rely on connected machines and machine as-a-service. Yet, complexity and a lack of digital capabilities are holding companies back.

To resolve this service dilemma, the services and digital journeys must converge.

In this podcast, Douglas Bellin, Global Lead, Manufacturing and Energy Industries at Cisco, and Scott Lapcewich, VP GM Customer Support and Maintenance for Rockwell Automation, discuss how manufacturers can implement a service model in order to digitally transform their business. They will highlight the challenges and opportunities as firms manage products and services simultaneously.

Join the conversation, @CFuturesMag

In this episode, Steve Durbin, Managing Director of the Information Security Forum (ISF) and James Mobley, Vice President of Cisco’s Security and Collaboration Services Group continue their discussion about the CFO’s role in cybersecurity. They explore how executives can move past the notion that security is an only an IT problem and view it as business growth enabler.

There’s no question that chief financial officers are spending more money on cybersecurity. While many are doing so to protect against threats, others see cybersecurity as an opportunity to innovate.

In this podcast, Steve Durbin, Managing Director of the Information Security Forum (ISF) and James Mobley, Vice President of Cisco’s Security and Collaboration Services Group explore how executives view cybersecurity less as a “cost center” and more as a change catalyst.

What are the “secrets” and best practices of successful executives? How are they leveraging digital and talent in a disruptive marketplace and leading transformation from within?

In this podcast, Part 2 of a three-part series, Peter High, Metis Strategy President, Author and Keynote Speaker, interviews Ted Colbert, Chief Information Officer of The Boeing Company. Together, they highlight The Boeing Company’s digital journey and what this means for the aerospace industry.

What are the “secrets” and best practices of a successful c-suite? How are executives leveraging digital and talent in a disruptive marketplace and leading transformation from within?

In this podcast, Part 1 of a three-part series, Peter High, Metis Strategy President, Author and Keynote Speaker and Gus Shahin, Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President of IT at Flex shed light on these trends and questions.