This is the second post in our"Six Essential Steps for Unleashing the Power of Enterprise Mobility"blog series featuring Vine-format videos.To read the first blog and watch the video describing how enterprises can build a mobile structure, clickhere.

I'm excited to discuss the second step enterprises can take to enable more efficient ways of working in today's mobile world. It may seem basic, but with more mobile workers than ever before and more mobile devices per user, enterprises can enable greater mobility by revolutionizing the workspace. This revolution isn't about new cubicles and chairs -it's about going virtual.

Virtual workspaces are not only efficient, but this next-generation workspace has the potential to build a complex, talent-based competitive advantage. Here are some key steps to consider when going virtual: 

1. Consider User Experience Initially at the Time of Deployment

Enterprise IT leaders surveyed in the Cisco 2012 BYOD and Virtualization Study indicated that half or more of their organization's employees could benefit from workspace virtualization. Some enterprises are just embarking on desktop virtualization. Others have deployed virtual desktops and are not getting the hoped-for results.

Whatever the case, there are several ways we can help to increase value from virtualization investments. One thing we tell all of our customers is that virtualization should be about more than cutting costs and improving security. Today's highly competitive environments require collaboration-friendly virtual desktops. Any virtualization initiative should help employees access the people and resources they need to do their jobs effectively

User experience is the single biggest competitive differentiator for consumer technology. If voice and video quality is poor, no one will use their virtual workspace. One way to enhance user experience is to do more than virtualize the desktop. For example, to virtualize a workspace, provide advanced collaboration capabilities such as IM, voice and video conferencing.

2. Create a Consistent Collaboration Experience across Multiple Devices

It's important to create a consistent collaboration experience across devices. To enable a "work from anywhere, anytime" culture requires bringing unified communications and collaboration tools together under a single, common interface. They must be accessible from any device, in any location. Make sure your virtual desktop applications extend into your unified communications environment.

Like the first step in enabling enterprise mobility, planning, building, and managing the strategy and implementation of new mobility solutions are difficult tasks. So it is with introducing a highly collaborative virtualized environment. Typically, it requires traditionally siloed teams within the enterprise to work together, including client computing, desktop applications, networking, security, and data center. Converging these environments requires time and expertise throughout the entire lifecycle of desktop virtualization, but it's clear the benefits of a mobile workforce are worth it.

Today we discussed a short checklist for going virtual. For more information about virtualization and additional steps to consider, check out Cisco's whitepaper, "Six Essential Steps for Unleashing the Power of Enterprise Mobility." Stay tuned for my next post which will discuss the third step enterprises can take to unleash the power of mobility.  Until then, please feel free to leave comments below on how your enterprises are planning on deploying a collaborative workspace virtualization.