Cisco Spark is an app-centric, cloud-based service that provides a complete collaboration suite for teams to create, meet, message, call, white board, and share, regardless of whether they’re together or apart—in one continuous workstream before, during, and after meetings. At Liberty Technology, we’re an innovative team that thrives on using the tools we sell in-house, so we become experts at them. Because we use these tools daily, we know what technology will make your office life easy and allow you to focus on accomplishing your goals by eliminating bottlenecks in your business.
Spark allows the office to be anywhere you are. At Liberty, there are nine Cisco Spark Ambassadors including the CEO, Ben Johnson. They each utilize Spark in different ways to maximize features that are most relevant to their daily roles.
What is a Spark Ambassador?
A Spark Ambassador is a worldwide network of engineers, account managers, developers and marketing professionals who use Cisco Spark to enhance the way customers, partners, startups, and companies achieve their goals. Ambassadors are specialists in chosen fields varying from CEO’s, marketing, account executives or developers.
We often act as mentors and informants through:
- business outcome demos,
- event presenters,
- leading conferences and meetups,
- hackathon participants,
- sample code creators,
- assistants to developers,
- partners in startups,
- community leaders,
- teaming up with other Ambassadors to create workflows and events.
There are two types of Cisco Spark Ambassador roles: Associates (non-developers) or Professionals (developers).
How do you become an Ambassador?
Ambassadors have to apply to get their certification online. They are required to complete all six test modules and take the COLT exam that takes three hours in addition to study time.
This is how the Ambassadors use Spark at Liberty Technology to transform our workplace:
Ben Johnson-CEO
“I use it to join meetings (Spark or Webex) and to remote control room units and share content on the big screens.”
Andrea Goodsell-Inside Sales / Business Project Manager
“My favorite spark feature is either call functionality, or the fact that I can pair up with a spark board or room kit super easily. It makes meetings sooooooo much easier.”
Donnie Howard-Account Manager
“The Spark training provided a great overview of spark features as well as typical use cases. I enjoy the flexibility of spark to conduct meetings from any location on any device.”
Todd Gardner– Engineer
“The training showed how broad of a platform Spark is, it is not just messaging/calling but true inter-connectivity through virtually every method of real time communication used in business today. My favorite spark feature is ease of administration. Creating just a phone user in a traditional VOIP offering could take up to a half hour with countless options and things to misconfigure, Spark is one account across all platforms and completed in 5 minutes via a process that anyone can do.”
Josh Messer– Account Manager
“As far as training goes, I’d say it’s all beneficial. Spark is 100% complete as a communication platform. I like that I can message with people inside the org as well as outside. I love that it keeps all shared documents in the space where it was shared, so you can always re-visit docs/files, etc. It makes it super easy to jump from a chat with a person or a team straight into a video call or Webex meeting.”
Than Williams-Account Executive
“My favorite Spark feature is the intuitive nature of collaboration that seamlessly transitions between my computer, cell phone, and conference room equipment. Saving, sharing, and going back to whiteboard sessions in such a simple interface is icing on the cake.”
Jordan Fletcher– Engineer
“Creating a simple to use calling/meeting platform that just automagically works when you walk into a Spark enabled room, out on the road or offsite, or just at your desk. The ease of use is a very powerful and attractive attribute of Spark.”
