Voice Over IP Expert

Just returned from Networkers in Vegas.

First, I’d rather get punched in the face every time I walk outside, rather than deal with 117 degree heat.

My dislike for extreme temperatures aside, this was by far the most interesting Networkers I’ve been to.

I think the most common discussion I had was people’s now general dislike of John Chambers.

I must admit, I myself have noticed a change in the company. Many of its employees have become elitist, snobbish, and downright hard to deal with. The once great “get it done right now matter what” attitude seems to be gone. The spirit of the company has also become extremely hard-core coporate – and not good corporate either. More like bogged down in crap corporate. Reminds me of the old IBM in a way.

Combine this with things like charging ten times over for memory, and other assorted issues, and you’ve got a bad situation developing.

My personal feeling is that after the crash Chambers kept them together, but never really pulled them into the next era well. Yes they have brought new products out, some of which are great, some of which are not.

Would I buy some other vendor’s switch? Doubtful, but this leads to an interesting point.

If someone brought out a new switch/router/security device that matched Cisco’s device in performance, but it was cheaper, I’d most definitely buy it. Will this happen?

Additionally, Cisco’s partner relationship has been somewhat quirky – they tell someone to make product X, but when Cisco needs more revenue, they will start making that product X and essentially push the partner out of that market. I understand the need for renevue growth, they are a public company.

But these new attitudes are disturbing, and not at all what their customer base deserves.

Cisco has also been having hiring problems. No one wants into that culture now, where before you couldn’t find enough people to get in.

I think it’s time for a new leader, and Chambers should step aside. He’s done well for the company, but he’s lost his leadership edge. New blood, new direction and new spirit are needed – now.

Anyone else noticed a significant lack of SE’s lately?

I have, and so have several folks I’ve spoken to.

In my eyes, I’m seeing, and feeling a lack of support from Cisco.

Yes, TAC is still there, however, not all TAC centers are created equal. From the discussions I have had with numerous people, almost everyone’s TAC experience has gone down the drain. Couple this with the lack of SE’s we seem to be seeing, and one must wonder what’s going on inside Cisco.

One individual I spoke with theorizes that Cisco is becoming a more sales oriented company. I couldn’t argue with that statement. If this is the direction Cisco is going, that is to say moving away from it’s fantastic support model in the 90’s, this is going to become a problem. One that will eventually hurt the sales it is so desperately seeking.

I can understand the need to grow revenue, but not at the expense of the customer base. How about rebuilding that fantastic support system it had? A recent discussion I had with a Cisco partner (they were also an HP partner, MS partner and part of several other vendor programs) yielded an interesting bit of info.

The person I was speaking to told me of a discussion that he had when the Cisco account team came in. Apparently the Cisco team wasn’t happy this partner was still selling HP switches. This partner’s response was – the HP switches fill a need, they are cheaper and have a lifetime warranty. They fit in many situations where any Cisco switch with similar capacity was siginificantly more expensive. Cisco apparently yelled at them, got upset, and stopped short of major threats. That is not the Cisco I know.

The Cisco I know of years past would have found a way to compete, not bully. They would have offered better support. Perhaps if Cisco tried the “lowering taxes brings in more money trick” with its products, it might get the sales it wants. In other words, lower prices, put a better warranty on a product (I think Cat6509’s have a whopping 90 day warranty), and you’d sell more.

I am by no means scientific in my analysis of what might be going on. But one has to wonder what really is going on.