The Digital Edge

Aruba recently presented their vision of the SilverPeak integration into the Aruba family, now branded as EdgeConnect Enterprise and augmented a number existing solutions to round out the offering with EdgeConnect SD-Branch, Microbranch, and Mobile. The mix of solutions here enables use-case based right sizing of the hardware. Aruba's pivot to support this space and expand the existing footprint from mostly on-premises solutions to enabling robust solutions for the entire spectrum of work environments from large enterprise to remote worker and SOHO spaces is necessary in today's environment as the traditional practice of "protecting four walls" is antiquated as users connect from everywhere, with a much larger percentage now remote.

• EdgeConnect Mobile - VIA for remote VPN users
• EdgeConnect Microbranch - RAP/IAP for SOHO users
• EdgeConnect SD-Branch - "Office in a Box" style use cases
• EdgeConnect Enterprise - large office, enterprise use cases

I recently watched a TED Talk by Marc Kushner on how technology and social media have connected the general public to architects and how it has enabled a closed feedback loop for their business. Marc highlights a pendulum that swings between innovation and symbolism that has been accelerated to a blur through technology. so much so that buildings are becoming an icon before they are even complete and firms have a chance to understand the impact of their design on a community faster than ever before. He postulates that as a result of this acceleration "now we can make nearly instantaneous emotionally charged symbols out of something that is brand new." Engagement with the community enables faster and better decision making.

It doesn't matter how we build, it matters what we build. -Marc Kushner

Throughout the presentation I couldn't help but drawing parallels to what is happening with technology in architecture today as every new building should be built with engagement in mind and continue this trend of closing the feedback loop. Merging traditional forms of engagement such as wireless infrastructure and digital signage with Internet of Things (IOT) and Operational Technologies (OT) and merging the data with the enterprise data warehouse and CRM information is the start of the process, however there is much more to be done. Making the technology relatively invisible, yet present and natural is critical to successful outcomes. When we blend engagement and interactions in with the background through preference driven lighting, signage dynamically presented in your native language, and personalized human interactions such as being greeted by name or recollection of and being handed a glass of of your favorite wine, this is when we move the needle substantially for our customers. Technical architects should strive to create visceral experiences for the users that indelibly write memories for the users of these spaces.

It is critical that these conversations are happening early in the process and that desired outcomes are clearly in focus. Creating a space that conveys the organizational message and meets goals, yet allows users to consume technology on their terms is not an easy task and does require substantial planning, intelligent product selection, commitment to integration, and creative vision. At EVOTEK we are doing this daily for our customers as a trusted advisor, system integrator, and technical architect. Reach out to learn more about our Digital Experience vision.

Special thanks to Marc Kushner for his TED Talk and to Dave Allard for making me aware of this presentation.

Engaging customers via their mobile devices is an exciting proposition for many organizations; however, it has to be done with care. These solutions often carry a significant cost and depend on a Return on Investment (ROI) model to make sense. Achieving this ROI requires walking a fine line between meaningful engagement and being a nuisance. Here are five best practices to help you do that.

5 ways to ensure your mobile strategy works 1. Think big picture The goal is to create a user experience that provides vast amounts of data to the organization while delivering value to the customer. Accomplishing that means the experience needs to be immersive and omni-channel (e.g., SMS, email, app-based, digital signage, direct mail, etc.). Too many organizations jump straight to the mobile application without realizing adoption of mobile applications is low and retention of those mobile apps is even lower. A holistic approach that embraces the web (traditional and mobile), mobile apps, digital and physical signage, and some of the emerging areas such as augmented reality (AR) and context-aware chatbots will be far more successful. Analytics and business intelligence tools must be included because understanding the success of these messages and their impact on the bottom line is a necessity, as engagement attempts that are ill-received may create a negative effect on the business. 2. Establish a baseline Before rolling out any new engagement solution or even a single targeted campaign, it is important to understand the baseline. What is normal for a specific time of day, day of week, demographic, location, etc. If there are areas in which these baselines are unknown, the success of an engagement will also likely be unknown. The length of time to determine a credible baseline depends on business and vertical; however, a month of data will provide statistically valuable data for many organizations. 3. Consider your social credibility Each engagement or touchpoint with the user must be carefully weighed prior to being implemented, as the organization is spending “social credibility" with the customer in issuing these engagements. Determining that a message is hitting the right person at the right time and place is paramount to success. While the organization may want to drive a specific behavior, it must be done in such a way that it is graciously accepted by the recipient. For less important messages, consider other channels for delivery—email, direct mail and digital signage integrations are options that are less invasive than a targeted push message. 4. Leverage employee engagement Business should ensure the human component isn’t lost in this digital marketing frenzy. Consider a scenario in which an employee could be notified when a user has spent more than five minutes in front of a specific retail display or there has been a high density of users in line for a drink at a sports game or concert venue. Rather than trying to ping users to have them go find another bar, consider triggers that have an employee come over with a mobile payment system and perform line-breaking transactions. This human component may still be considered a “digital engagement," but it won’t feel like it to the consumer. 5. Keep it fresh Digital engagements should always be timely and relevant. Organizations can’t afford to be lazy about managing these platforms because pushing irrelevant messages will drive away customers, cause them to remove their mobile apps, and even consider competitors. Campaigns should also create a sense of urgency—create a fear of missing out or at least ensure customers understand this immediate deal is good for only the first 100 redemptions. Gamification is one way to keep things interesting for consumers, and it can drive additional spend as it may promise “bonus" rewards for the additional engagement. The solutions should be simple enough that they can be managed by marketing teams and not IT. Originally posted here with Network World. Republished with permission as originating author. Also available on my LinkedIn page.

This week was one of those weeks where I had the opportunity to witness one of the most personally rewarding things in my job and the greatest reason that I do what I do - I saw that spark that lit up my customer's world. We were sharing a narrative of how we could go about providing mobile analytics and business intelligence for our customer. The directors that we were presenting to immediately got what could be accomplished and we were off to the races discussing possible scenarios, story arcs, etc. We were shortly joined by a VP of Operations and the company's Owner who had been asked to join us by their colleagues. Our collective team spent the better part of the next hour and a half hashing out the details of what would make this a successful endeavor. Everyone left the meeting on a natural high sparked by the excitement of innovation and the opportunity to disrupt competition in a major way.

Heading into Aruba Atmosphere this year I was most excited to see Aruba’s new Niara solution in action and learn more about this product as it solves a very real need in every network. Inherently any network policy grants some sort of access to the network and users are free to work within the confines of that policy. Even using 802.1X-based authentication and dynamically provisioned VLANs, access roles, downloadable ACLs, etc. isn’t necessarily enough. Niara solves for these issues in an appealing way and lessens the workloads for SecOps teams.

February is an exciting month this year as there are two of my favorite conferences held back to back weeks—Wireless LAN Pros Conference in Phoenix, AZ and then Aruba Atmosphere in Nashville, TN. This year I have opted to present at the WLPC conference on the WLAN Engineer’s role in Digital Disruption and was invited to participate in the Tech Field Day live panel for Atmosphere. I have allocated a portion of my weekends in preparing for these events to ensure that I do my best and that the group benefits from the time that I have been allocated. Despite this being my third year doing these events, I am always amazed how much I learn from preparing to teach others. My goals for these two events for this year are the following:

We have a varied demographic at these events, so one of my goals is to explain the content in a simple way without “dumbing it down". I’ve found this to be a great source of my own personal learning as I need to ensure that I fully understand the topic first to do so without destroying what it is that I am trying to get across.

Everyone that attends these events comes from a different background and has their own life experiences that contribute to their value base and their viewpoints. I strive to share my perspective in my presentations and when I have the opportunity to field questions or discuss the content, learn from others perspectives.

My first presentations were the result of Keith Parsons challenging people to step up and share. There are guys who present on some amazing technical material and it can be intimidating, however real world experience is what these conferences are all about and sharing experiences either through a presentation, through the questions that get asked, or even social discussions at the bar are welcome.

I look forward to the discussions ahead and both sharing with and learning from the other attendees.

One of the most promising announcements at Mobility Field Day Live with Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company for me had to be the introduction of ClearPass Extensions. The concept behind this feature is to leverage a repository within ClearPass, such that new features may be created and ran without compromising the integrity of the system and the underlying code with some sort of “engineering special". This functionality adds substantial value to an already feature rich ClearPass product.

Aruba Clarity allows the access points to associate to another access point and run synthetic tests from the “client AP" to the Clarity server, effectively building a baseline and providing tremendous visibility especially for remote sites. Clarity Live tracks DHCP and DNS requests and responses in real-time to profile the typical health of the network. Clarity Synthetic allows for RF performance testing, iPerf, web page loads to a URL (Salesforce, etc.) Upcoming features that were hinted at but not confirmed include scheduling and wired line monitoring and testing.

Simplifying network management is a challenging task for any organization, especially those that have chosen a best of breed route and have a mix of vendors. I ask my customers to strive for these things when looking to improve their network management and gain some efficiency.

Following these steps will simplify the network, increase visibility, speed troubleshooting, and even help security. What steps have you taken in your environment to simplify network management? We’d love to hear it!