In collaboration with Joel Barbier
To stay aggressive, and to draw and retain staff, a rising variety of corporations have adopted a hybrid work mannequin: designing the work expertise round and for staff, wherever they’re.
This implies enabling staff to work equally successfully on the workplace, at residence, and — if you’re an automotive firm — on the street.
Ford Motor Firm has enlisted Cisco’s assist to do exactly this — deliver the hybrid work expertise to drivers and different car occupants. The businesses are collaborating to offer next-generation buyer experiences in Ford’s newest battery electrical automobiles (BEVs), together with the Mach-E Mustang car and F-150 Lightning truck.
The joint initiative contains integration of Cisco Webex into new Ford BEVs. The truth is, the immersive, extremely collaborative mobile-office expertise might flip Ford BEVs into the absolute best place to carry a gathering. And, simply as you wouldn’t trip in a BEV with out your seatbelt mounted, Cisco has protected Webex with our full safety stack, together with Cisco ThousandEyes, Umbrella, Duo, and Meraki software program.
The partnership is the product of shut collaboration between Ford, the Cisco account group, Cisco engineering enterprise entities, and Buyer Zero.
“Permitting folks to stay productive by utilizing Webex in vehicles will unlock actually hundreds of thousands of hours for purchasers,” mentioned Ford Motor Firm President and CEO Jim Farley.
Cisco Webex permits Ford to take mobile-office conferences to the following stage
Ford’s integration of Cisco Webex into its new BEVs makes it the primary auto producer to run native Cisco software-as-a-service in automobiles. Whereas utilizing Webex, drivers can take full benefit of the beneficiant 15-inch show and high-end sound system featured within the Mach-E Mustang and F-150 Lightning BEVs, which offer a wholly distinctive, “always-on” hybrid work expertise.
To keep away from the opportunity of distracted driving, all Webex assembly capabilities are accessed hands-free by way of voice instructions whereas the automobile is in movement. As soon as the Ford BEV is parked, nevertheless, drivers can benefit from the full Webex video collaboration expertise.
This initiative additionally extends the Cisco community into Ford’s new BEVs – primarily offering a lifeline from every car again to Cisco. One function – Webex Calling – assigns a singular telephone quantity to every car, enabling connectivity from nearly wherever, whereas additionally permitting Ford to contact the driving force if vital. Webex will present optimum audio efficiency by leveraging the car’s modem and antenna – and thru useful options akin to cabin noise cancellation.
Cisco safety software program makes every Ford BEV a safe “cellular gadget on wheels”
To turn into and stay viable, hybrid work options should guarantee extremely safe connectivity from any location – together with electrical automobiles. For that reason, Ford will likely be incorporating Cisco’s full safety stack in its Mach-E Mustang and F-150 Lightning automobiles. This package deal will embody the next safety elements:
- Cisco ThousandEyes: Provides proactive community visibility/troubleshooting and dependable buyer/car community connectivity
- Umbrella: Supplies DNS question safety; visibility into – and prevention towards – ransomware assaults; and risk intelligence
- Duo: Performs multifactor authentication, permits Hybrid Work Zero Belief (any car, any firm), and ensures a tool safety posture
- Meraki: Adjusts entry and enforces safety coverage primarily based on compliance, whereas additionally authenticating every person’s identification primarily based on SM set up standing with Duo
… And there’s far more to return, with Cisco appearing as “Buyer Zero”
As a part of their partnership, Ford and Cisco are instituting a fleet program that may assist make Cisco staff extra productive on the street, whereas additionally decreasing their carbon footprint. In consequence, Cisco will supply BEVs for its inside car fleets beginning in 2023. What’s extra, 4,000 Cisco EMEA staff could have the choice to obtain a BEV as their firm car – making Cisco a large Ford buyer and offering an lively laboratory for testing the businesses’ joint options. (And our EMEA staff aren’t complaining, both).
The Ford-Cisco partnership will in the end embody the next further substances designed to strengthen any firm’s cellular collaboration capabilities:
- Utilizing Webex because the UI/UX for partaking with roadside infrastructure. This perform has the potential to dramatically improve security by enabling Webex to convey alerts about street situations, visitors, pedestrians, roadside work zones, and extra.
- Leveraging the Webex Predict AI platform to allow interactions with the individuals who have the largest impression on success.
- Bidirectional vehicle-to-vehicle charging, permitting BEVs to distribute their cost to different close by automobiles. As well as, automobiles will likely be charged by connecting a particular plate on the underside of the automobile to inductive coils within the asphalt of a parking zone.
“In my 40-year profession, I’ve by no means had the prospect to enhance merchandise and invent new capabilities for purchasers after we launch the product,” defined Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. “Shifting to a digital product and having software program be the large differentiator goes to utterly change the sport for Ford.”
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