Chuck Robbins - CEO, Cisco
Partners have been a key part of Cisco’s success thus far and will continue to be a vital element of the company’s future progress, according to the multi-national technology company’s CEO, Chuck Robbins.
Robbins was speaking at the keynote session of the company’s annual conference, the Cisco Partner Summit 2016, in San Diego.
Robbins said technology trends are moving faster than they ever have and it has a significant impact on how people think about businesses. And partners are now a key part of this evolving business model.
“With all the opportunities available today, the winners in the next decade will be defined by partnerships. The days of vertically integrated models are behind us. Our customers have changing expectations and we need to work with our partners to achieve business priorities,” he said.
“This era of digital transformation has seen us go from18 billion devices to 50 billion devices in four years. Businesses around the world need to embrace this transition and those that are strong will do it now regardless of the dynamics in the economy, geo political issues, or competition.”
According to Robbins, the digital transformation is a huge opportunity for partners as the lines of business today care more about technology.
“Technology is going to be at the heart of GDP growth. We need to drive innovation, start-ups, and the ability for unemployed youth to leverage technical capabilities to take advantage of innovation centres.
“So, we need to evolve the value that we bring, and we have to think that all the way into our future because businesses are looking for different things from future partners. That’s the opportunity that lies ahead for us,” he added.
Robbins also mentioned that speed, innovation, and commitment are the three key strategies in helping customers achieve business outcomes. And in reaching those business outcomes, he said Cisco will be reinforcing its build, buys, partners, investments, and co-developments.
On top of this, he claimed having a collective services capability is essential.
“Our customers don’t want to be systems integrators anymore. They don’t have time and want to be more focused on the strategic value of technology to their markets. They look to us to advise, implement and manage solutions for them.
“Together, we have to evolve services so that we can provide value and for this to happen, we need to think differently and move with tremendous speed,” he said.
In addition to customer focus and speed, he referenced innovation and trust in partners as progression points.
“Our future is also powered by a relentless focus on our customers. It’s also around innovation in our internal R&D, our ability to acquire, invest and partner, and your ability to build applications or solutions.
“In saying that, our commitment to you partners has not changed, and it will not change. We will continue to talk about how we will collectively serve our customers and that trust will be a denominator to all we do,” he added.
ARN’s Hafizah Osman is at the Cisco Partner Summit 2016 in San Diego as a guest of the company.
