Runner-up Winner: Erik (Ontario, Canada)

My Connected Smart Catalogue. I am an SMB. In my connected life, orders would be audited "conversations", not contracts. I want to engage online customers just like people who walk into my shop. I want to chat with them about the things they want, and refer them to product specialists. I want my sales team to give advice when orders are initiated, and throughout the order life-cycle. I want it to be easy for my shipper to provide status updates. I want this entire dialog logged with the order in real-time. I want to view/add to it from multiple devices, anywhere.

• View Erik's Video

My Connected Smart Catalogue: Q&A with Erik

How did you find out about the Cisco Connected Life contest?
I saw it publicized on Yahoo! News … I follow stocks, so I read that regularly.

What inspired your entry into the Connected Life contest?
It all started with my brother's company – he is an SMB wholesaler, and it was witnessing his frustrations at trying to manage his inventory and engage his partners that helped me come up with the idea for my own company, Corefile.  It was all about looking for a simple, easy, real-time solution.  Corefile is a hosted ecommerce solution … basically a rich Web 2.0 application allowing people to better manage their catalogues and channels.  My entry into the Cisco Connected Life contest is an extension of this core idea – simple, easy, real-time inventory management in the SMB space.

Which technologies do you use today?
It's mostly the Web … I'm on a browser all day.  I'm generally a Microsoft Office user, but I have to also say that the collaborative power of Google Spreadsheets is inspiring, and was also one of the inspirations behind my own business. In terms of current trends, Adobe Flash is repositioning the desktop.

Which technologies do you think you'll be using in the future?
I see the world as being massively networked in the future, and mobility is the underlying strategy.  The development of a rich hosted SMB operating system will allow SMBs to become truly mobile, which will really be a breakthrough.

What will you do with your prize money?

I'll be taking the Corefile team out for a nice dinner!  It's their hard work that makes visions like the one in my entry become a reality.