The age of the old business world is dead and gone. No longer can a company hunker down to one way of doing business for 20 years and expect to survive. The future is coming, and coming fast, and companies that build their businesses to catch the future when it arrives are the ones that will prosper in the 21st century.

To gain some insight into what tech companies see on the horizon, Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, joined Monique Morrow, CTO and evangelist of New Frontiers Development and Engineering at Cisco Systems, Inc., during at the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference 2016 event.

Looking forward

The conversation started with an explanation of Morrow’s unusual job title. A New Frontiers Engineer, she said, is into forward-thinking technology and research. They create a potential portfolio for the future business of the company. Their duty also involves a care about the core business, she said.

Right now, Morrow said, they were looking at such things as Cloud computing, mobile, cyber security, and video. The point was to accelerate what they already had, but also to create new opportunities. Software and services, she pointed out, will be very important to the company.

Building the landscape

Morrow then expressed her opinions of how to build the landscape of the future. Women do count, she said, change is exponential, and at the end of the day it’s all about keeping one’s skills current. Collaboration, she continued, is the currency of anything we do now, thanks to global networks.

The important thing, Morrow said, is to pivot one’s skill set, keep up with things, and remember it’s never too late and one can start to learn now. She stressed that broadening and developing one’s skills will also develop the ability to work and create.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference.

Photo by SiliconANGLE