@Mb663Cz-8wlj, Cisco has been going through a 'transitionary period' since 2001 (which is when they had the first big layoff). Layoffs have become an almost annual event and have nothing to do with transitioning.
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This is very true. Being someone who works closely with AM's in my role, I can see the good ones have been leaving, whilst none of the bad ones have left. Even more worrying though is the good AMs leaving are being replaced by SEs who lets be frank aren't the best fit for this role if you're looking to grow the business. Instead of being good AMs they just seem to become poor SEs, although most were poor SEs before the became AMs anyway.
Top forward thinking account managers are leaving (fact). Deadwood are staying (fact) and milking the systems for what it's worth. Well done to Uki world class board for all of this chaos. Stop blaming the FX rate and look in the mirror. Bland, burning, unengaging. You will be found out soon with no CDA program to save you from the mothership.
@8wlj which kool aid fountain are you drinking from? Direct from the horses you know what?
Very positive about future but changes made are poor and will impact us all hence the uproar. We want cisco to succeed just like you. Oust the bandits and witches , bring in the good folk.
@8wlj thread not for you since you are so positive about things. Got a promotion have you? Who did you kiss a-- on the board?
many have given tons of feedback onBrighton and general leadership situat ion directly but it's an old boys (old witches) club so they won't change. The force will rise... you sit back and watch da ride.
Anyone go to the SE beat up session? What a lovely layout it was. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo motivated by new leader of SEs. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
After working at Cisco for 5 years, an old colleague redirected me to this post....
Oh dear dear dear - you bunch of moaning toads. A simply pathetic thread.
If Cisco is such a horrible and intolerable place - how about returning that call to the recruiter on LinkedIn. Leave.
Either that or be professional and pragmatic, be part of the solution, give feedback and suggest ideas - don't just sit back moaning. Mr Sparks is right.
I bet none of you said a dicky-bird of constructive feedback in Brighton, instead you've gathered as a bunch of key-board warriors.
Cisco is clearly going through a transitionary period to move the business towards software and more annuities based revenue, and during this period difficult decision have to be made - that's business. Cisco remains a leading and highly respected brand, and culturally is head and shoulders above many other IT companies.
Be part of the change, contribute; positivity costs nothing. Either that or leave.
Loved the seaside, popcorn, rock, lunch and dodgems. Buy boy oh boy we're the leaders presenting bull. Who was that competitive fool with the rocky music. Get real man.
Why would you tell the worlds best networking sales team a story about how networks are. Changing from fixed to wireless. Why show her old mac as a prop. The whole pitch was so dated and uninspiring. Does the architecture leader think we are fools?
Seems to love saying we need the message in layman terms. WTF. You need it those terms not us you bafoon.
Not from UK and don't have anything valuable to add to this discussion. Just wanted to inform you that names and personal insults are not allowed here, so some of these posts containing names and such will probably be nuked. Been here for a year, seen it before.
A few more trips to Brighton and Cisco will be nothing but good eggs. Let's look forward to the future
We're well on the way to making Cisco great again. A few more trips to Brighton should do it I reckon.
@7qjt - most of us did love Cisco once upon a time. Then everything fell apart and the company we loved and the culture it had all died around us.
The good ones have already left. I feel sorry for most of those remaining - they have to work with the sort of people who decimate teams, stab people in the back, lie to their colleagues and get "punished" with good egg awards and promotions.
I can only assume lack of market-relevant talent or misplaced loyalty keeps them at Cisco now. I'm sure the LR machine will spring in to action sooner or later and make the hard choices for them.
That's exactly what the wicked witch is doing on a very regular basis of save her a--.
@7qjt you are correct. The event was very well planned, run and managed. Top marks for that efforts. Some sessions were good as well like innovation and the chairman update and CEO update. The rest of it was utter sh--e.
No one can argue with that if they are honest. People in those teams were as embarrassed. It was absolute crap with a topped up with s---ing up to the emear svp thrown in. We are passionate about this business and can't believe the mess so need a way to vent so if you don't like it stop coming hear and reading it.
Wow amazed by the amount of vitriol in these posts. Also the poor spelling, almost as shocking. It's pretty poor to slate people in this manner and is unbecoming. The ev net was well run and well meant. You can never satisfy 500 odd people when presenting. Fact. For those that are dissatisfied I would urge you to find organisations you feel deserve your talent, put your energies into something more positive is my advice.
@7tqc the place is doomed if people have to print f---ing emails!! I bet they have a folder in on their desk with all emails filed away to be easy accessed!!
Word on the street is that the new arch leader is on her usual warpath. Dc team be aware as well as collab team. Mistaken emails printed by dummy admin giveaway the clues! LMAO. her pets in the EN team will be fine as can do no bad even though they do guck all and just chase upgrades. What a cluster full the arch org is under this management.
Rightly so. The DC team is complete sh!te. The team grew too much when UCS was hot stuff, now no one wants it and none of the of the ex-HP printer salesmen or commodity storage bods know how to position the strategic stuff any customer would care about. They just want to bolt on the new stuff like Hyperflex and ACI bundles as FoC items to Nexus refresh deals, so it looks like they are hitting the companies strategic milestones. Unfortunately all the good ones got jobs at AWS or Azure and the ones remaining tried but got turned down, fact.
Am hearing more PSS to be cut especially in DC as the new arch leader does not get it. Only knows a router and even that at a very high level.
Is the SEM role dead? Or do we simply have dead wood SEMs in UK business?????? Just resource allocation units, no charisma or technical leadership in any of them, chasing CAP cases and blocking resources is all we can see.
Role that should be stopped from going chairmans: PSS, PAM. VSA, BDM, SBDM, TSA. No arguments, just do it.
Folks who sloped of should have any expenses charged back to them. It was still siting on arse for 7 hours then train and then plane back home. Could have TP'd in.
The phrase "couldn't organise a p1ss up in a brewery" comes to mind. The whole thing was badly organised and the sessions were dull. I respect they did it though as it is desperately needed. Shame some teams still think they are too good to participate in the evening activities with their colleagues and left to do their own thing undermining the whole purpose, but I guess that's a demonstration of the culture that now exists.
Partner org is an utter joke. In nearly all other vendors that role is seen as the lowest of the low it terms of sales ability, yet these morons who couldn't sell water to a man with his hat on fire, are paid the same OTE packages as end users sales in enterprise!! And even worse still some get sent to Chairmans Club even though the partner they look after, thinks they're completely useless. It wouldn't be so bad if they took some accountability, but instead they are on the hook for nothing. If they miss their number, its because some issue in their partner, if a deal doesn't book for year end its some reason out of their control, but when they have a good year it's all down to their phenomenal doughnut buying skills and get sent to Hawaii. Start by cutting these talentless mugs and make it a role for grads to move in to after their training year.
@3ard most of these folks were seen sloping off into Brighton town right after the presentation finished, no chance of coming to paid for fun evening in hotel so SG and new boy in town Should check expenses incurred that night by these sales champions. Anyone else wonder why AW of partner org is still her after 21 year?????!!! Jeez the places needs an upgrade as no new ideas at all.
Let's face it the UK is being bleed to death by the old boys, many of them sitting in commercial not doing anything other then looking busy and making sure the bookings they had nothing to do with get allocated to them. While at the same time there are teams off PSS' doing even less and getting paid for stuff they did nothing on too. No sales are happening, just order taking and sreadsheet tracking. If you want proof just look at the city commercial team and how often they are sitting around in the office but apparently doing really well. In other sales orgs I've worked in, there would be no one ever in the office as you need to be in front of the customers as much as possible if you're actually selling. Instead so called sales people are happy for the partners to do all the work and deliver average results. Some are just so good at playing the system they always smash their numbers but also boast about how little they do. No one is happy as its not fulfilling and no one will leave as it's such an easy ride. The shame is right now we need a strong sales culture to turn things around but it will never change while the old boys are still running things as they know on other way.
To be honest my moral was destroyed by going to GSX (realising it wasnt just me pissed off) and the fact senior management treated us like idiots at times, that was the point I realised the org was in the sh-- and it then got worse with the way LR was dealt with. Oh and the sheer volume of top technical talent leaving (and many others trying) in a short period of time with mgmt not able to try and retain them (the lack of exit interviews is also embarrassing).
Any news if the UK will cut some of the super fat in partner org. Needs a clean up major league style as a lot of paper pushers. Some old school bozos to say the least. No way cisco can move on with that lot at the helm. Can't get basics right in any area but corporate entertainment- finance need to check expenses.
SEs got a good whipping session the next day in Brighton. Buckle up SEs new honcho due in town. No past sell by date SEM to protect you. My the luck of the Irish be with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How are those Pulse surveys going? Those not painting a real picture for management? Are the 'Beat' sessions still just a monthly 'good news' circle-jerk?
@3dcr the problem is BOTH sales AND innovation is down!
From your tone you sound like a typical Cisco manger. With that attitude it's no surprise the company is bleeding off good talent. How many good SEs have left in the past year? More than should be going. None of them gets an exit interview so the echo chamber continues.
A lot of people want it to be a great place to work. It's not and the quicker they realize (+ leave) the worse off you middle-management paper pushers will be.
As for individual character assassinations here, it's not needed. The company is rotten to the core. It brings out the worst in people now. Nothing will change.
Don't read these messages or com to this site if u luv what you are getting pushed down to you by the witch and HM and SG and the inner circle . Clearly you are not 100% all in otherwise you'd be pushing for a change like the rest.
Did anyone understand the c-space marketing section or were you as lost as everyone else in the room? LOLOLOL.
The wicked witch will bite all of you, just wait. Coming from people who know her well. Careful what u wish for. Am a female employee just for reference. At least her dc guy made the session a laugh. All in all Brighton was good to meet people so no issues there, just that some of those on stage came across like they were from a bygone era. But that's what the new CEO put in place so like it or lump it.
If you are all so miserable and hacked off with Cisco get off your (sore) a**es and leave. Stop the whinge fest. Its pathetic.
How come whenever sales are down its the sales team that moan and whenever our innovation is falling behind the competition its the engineers who moan.
If you don't like it at Cisco just go.
Just to bring some balance to the force, the thing with Brighton is getting a sore arse is considered normal. The event was an effort to bring people together and let's face it we can always pick the sh-- out of any corporate all hands. To be fair I think that some of the comments on here are perhaps a little harsh. The so called "Wicked Witch" nickname I don't think is deserved (while I do find it hilarious) and actually she's new to the role so we should give her a chance. At least she's identified a challenge and is willing to look at addressing things. Yes I didn't want to be there either but then it's easy to become complacent with the freedom we have and the company still has some good stuff going for it. All in all yes things have changed but that's life. If you're that hacked off then it's up to you to take control of your destiny and just do it. (Sorry couldn't resisit). I do agree that some of the stuff was a little bit 101 but the mid afternoon coffee break provided an opportunity to find a local pub which served good beer that wasn't boring at all. Can't remember much of the stuff after that.
What position does SC hold? I just need to get some anchor point so I can use the corporate directory to find out who the hell you are talking about?
If the purpose of the event was to get me motivated, it failed. As someone has already said, it was the same old stuff from the same boring and poor presenters. The only interesting bits were at the end by which time I was half asleep. I commend the effort but my god does SC need to make some changes quickly before this atmosphere gets anymore toxic.
Let's hope SC can clean up the lazy tospots doing nowt and just working a spreadsheet.
Got to say that some of the "leaders" on stage in Brighton look like they are from another era telling same old story. No energy or charisma. Some other speakers were good and told us new things but very late in the day... innovation stuff should be right at the start not the end!!!!!!! but those in arch updates were boring and bland.