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In upcoming installments of our The Next 10 Years series we'll drill down on some of the specific technology trends that industry insiders think will be important – and not so important – as we contemplate the next decade of smart grid development. But today we're sharing a high-level perspective on coming transitions in business and technology from Cisco CEO John Chambers.

Future of technology…

I believe the future of technology will be driven by market transitions, or industry inflection points. Emerging societal, environmental and operational goals will drive initiatives for greater customer participation with energy providers, modernization of the energy infrastructure, and the smooth transition of an aging workforce. Supporting these initiatives will require increased integration of disparate business systems and processes both within and across organizations – and we anticipate technology evolving to enable greater connection of information, people, and things.

Internet of Everything…

At Cisco, we call this transition the Internet of Everything, and I believe it will drive the next wave of business innovation, productivity and customer engagement for years to come.

For the energy industry this will take the form of more distributed intelligence throughout the grid and increased collaboration solutions across a distributed workforce, enabling customers to be both consumers and providers of energy- related services.

Agile organizations…

Our organizations must become increasingly more flexible, adaptable and agile. More and more devices and people will be connected on the network, making our business more and more complex. At the same time, we must continue to innovate and transform our business to meet the demands of our customers. This unprecedented level of complexity will require a unique organizational structure and a unique style of leadership.

We continue to monitor the impact on the environment from our operations, supply chain, and products so that we not only reduce our environmental footprint but create opportunities for greater efficiencies.

Adapting to change…

We are in the midst of a challenging global economy, and these market conditions, coupled with changes in regulation will have a significant impact on our business and those of our partners and customers as well.  In order to adapt to these changes, support for open standards and technology innovation is critical. We will continue to solve our customers’ most important business challenges by delivering intelligent networks and technology/business architectures built on integrated products, services, and software platforms. The key regulators and stakeholders need to communicate and align themselves in order to provide the correct regulatory environment.

Industry transformations…

Over the next ten years, the one of the major opportunities will be for companies to evolve their organizations to thrive in the new environment. As a result organizations will reassess their culture, processes and reward systems to foster desired business outcomes and work environment for their employees. 

Connected Grid has been a strategic growth area for Cisco since we began to focus on it four years ago, and we will increase our investment in engineering and development in this area. Modernizing the grid requires the integration of intelligent communications with the existing energy infrastructure and Cisco recognizes the opportunity and responsibility presented by this industry transformation. Cisco will continue our commitment to the energy industry by leveraging core strengths and driving innovation.   

More from SGN's The Next 10 Years series…

Getting standards down so we can move on to the good stuff

What we can (and can't) expect from regulators and policymakers

Maybe customer engagement isn't so dang important

Empowered "digital natives" become a force to reckon with

Silver Spring exec insists we need to go faster

Where we've come from (and how it shapes where we'll go next)