Thread regarding Cisco Systems Inc. layoffs

Chuck is a Chambers copy which is why John picked him

Cisco will continue to dominate the market in the foreseeable future simply because of the name recognition. The momentum has been built that there are so many legacy product lines that Cisco is selling without engineering investment. Yes, LR will continue to happen. Corruption and nepotism will continue to exist. The Indian maffia will continue to lie to the customers and their employees. It doesn't matter who the CEO is and all these will continue.

Seems like the real mistake was in not getting rid of Chambers and his crony board. Too much time and energy spent on failed Chambers projects and vendettas. My personal belief is that until Chuck purges Chambers, there is no hope.

It should have been someone from a software/SaaS/cloud background.

well one Mr Z.Singh who was recently cto was of that background...

you need the right guy too, not just senior alumni status from big names like amzn/goog/msft.

its very hard to find such people I would imagine. at that pro-league would have 100s of millions of golden handcuff rsu wherever they are.

Chuck has no clue of technology....I have a friend in the M&A group and Chuck is planning to spend $10B this year on acquisitions to slowly replace Cisco. I have seen their pipeline of acquisitions of ~120 companies deal ready...so forget about Chuck innovating from within. Chuck and Kelly have enough cash not to worry about for next 6 years even if Cisco does not innovate from within. All executives are well taken care of for the next 8 years. Interestingly they are planning to buy Nutanix and financial valuation work is ready....Will see if it just a war room preparation in case of emergency. John has left plenty of cash for Chuck and Kelly Kramer to play around. Problem will start for the guy who takes over from Chuck. Remember, he is looking to spend ~$10B this year.

But how many acquisitions per year are they having to make to maintain the $50bn pa figure? The core business is in a freefall. It won't be long until you see large declines in business.

To car manufacturers, the only good car is the one that gets sold. It is not the one with good quality and performance. The same is applicable to Cisco. As long as Cisco continues with 50B revenues, what problem does the company have?

Completely agree! It should have been someone from a software/SaaS/cloud background. Instead we have a leadership team who were mostly in the field when the sales process was "hello Mr customer, how many routers do you want?" None have an understanding of selling against competitors, cloud or software. The logic behind Chuck was to maintain the culture.... well that's already gone, so maybe there is nothing to loose now.

My prediction is gradual YoY decline in revenue for the next 2 years, followed by a sharp drop in revenue in FY19. This year will be held up by 6500 refreshes and next year Sup2 cards, after that there is nothing and by then most large businesses will be 30-50% in the cloud anyway. I can't remember the last time a deal I the forecast wasn't a refresh or building move and that says it all really.

What's wrong with selling hardware? As long as it brings in millions of revenue you should keep it in parallel to your new product portfolio and not laying their employees off.

Also, before laying employees off, Cisco should offer them to transition them to other BUs.

Cisco is a sales driven company, choosing Chuck to replace Chambers was the logical choice and a good choice if Cisco's problems were solely sales related. Cisco needs another Steve Jobs, someone who can lead the organization through its Kodak Moment, namely the business I am in now will not exist in 5 to 10 years or Cisco will not have a valuable competitive position in the industry. If you can manage your core business as a commodity, transition from hardware to software, being relevant in the cloud, diversifying into new markets, you should consider applying!!