"The best time, never seen before" Cisco's three brand transformations

“We are technology optimists,” wrote Karen Walker, Cisco’s chief marketing officer, in the opening paragraph of her article “The timing has never been better.”

Yes, I am too. My view on technology is not only optimistic, but also positive. Does this make it easier for me to understand Cisco's new round of brand themes, which may not be so technological, "the best time, unprecedented".

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Ms. Liu Shuyi, General Manager of Cisco Greater China Marketing Department

I agree with the expectation of Liu Shuyi, General Manager of Cisco Greater China Marketing Department, for this new brand slogan. Just like the brand value of "Just do it" for Nike, which is "only understandable but not expressible", will "the best time, unprecedented" allow Cisco's brand to have similar sublimation possibilities?

Everything is possible, why not? In the era of mobile Internet, the application of industries is constantly crossing boundaries. Many applications and technologies that seem to be in different dimensions are combining to subtly change the world. This is the future, so "the best time, unprecedented", this is Cisco, why not?

Three brand transformations

As Cisco's former global CEO John Chambers often said, "For Cisco, the biggest constant is change." Therefore, Cisco has been seeking business transformation through continuous technological innovation, and as the guiding principle of the entire Cisco company, the direction of the brand also changes with the times.

The most impressive one is probably the “people-oriented network”. For me, I first heard the concept of “people-oriented network” in 2008. Before that, Cisco was a technology company that provided large-scale Internet infrastructure. The impression Cisco left on the industry was “technical excellence” and it had accumulated a strong technical influence on carriers and enterprise users.

However, Cisco, contrary to its usual practice, proposed the "people-oriented network", showing its more "humanistic" side. This brand strategy lasted for a long time. As far as I can remember, it was Cisco's brand slogan until 2014. I think that as a company like Cisco that is determined to change the world, technology is people-oriented, which itself has a good combination point. Only when we look back at the past with today's perspective, we will realize that the centripetal force formed by the core value of "people-oriented network" also has a considerable impact on Cisco today.

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Cisco's second brand transformation stems from Chambers's further sublimation of the attribute of connectivity. The concept of "Internet of Everything" was first proposed by Chambers in 2013 and became Cisco's global value guide in 2014.

In my opinion, the Internet of Everything reflects Cisco's forward-looking thinking. Let's look back at the technology and Internet world in 2013 and 2014. That was the era when cloud computing began to become popular and the mobile Internet was in its infancy. In other words, this was the beginning of the peak of the era of human networking. In this context, Cisco was the first to realize that in addition to the connection between people and devices, there will be a wider range of connections, which also provided new imagination space for the "Internet of Things".

When we analyze Cisco's previous two brand strategies, we can still vaguely grasp the main thread of Cisco. First, whether it is "people-oriented network" or "Internet of Everything", connection and network, the core keywords surrounding Cisco's technology and products, are still the top priority; second, these two brand strategies also contain a strong technology orientation, which makes people know at a glance that this is a technology-based company.

I think that in the era of "people-oriented network", Cisco has well explained how a network company can connect people and technology. In the era of "Internet of Everything", Cisco has completed the transformation from a network company to an IT company. Both strategies are successful.

Then the third Cisco brand transformation, the slogan "Great opportunity, unprecedented", is much more alternative. It no longer continues Cisco's conventional network or technology label, but takes a different approach. In what direction will it lead Cisco to further lead the era of change?

If we take it apart, we may get a glimpse of the secret of the treasure mountain. First of all, "perfect timing" represents a sense of urgency, a sense of urgency that the opportunity cannot be missed and will never come back. This is highly related to the rapid changes in the mobile Internet era and the rapid changes in corporate leadership.

Secondly, "unprecedented" means that the current situation is not a multiple-choice question, but a positive answer. An unprecedented opportunity is right in front of us, and the only choice is to seize it.

Therefore, the connotation of "perfect timing, unprecedented" is that Cisco has seen that the world is truly at a critical juncture of digital transformation today, and has proposed an adaptive strategy. Quick follow-up and full effort. This is the profound meaning of this brand strategy.

Digitalization will disrupt every industry, and four of the top ten will be eliminated

Liu Shuyi said that today, no one will ask "why do we need to carry out full digital transformation", but "how can we achieve full digitalization through transformation". The world is changing too much and too fast today, so how can Cisco help customers and partners solve real problems through technology?

More and more companies are beginning to transform digitally. A recent Gartner survey revealed that half of the respondents expected their companies to complete digital transformation by the end of 2016, and this proportion will increase to 83% by 2019. According to another survey, 67% of CEOs of 2,000 multinational companies around the world have identified digitalization as the core of their company's strategy.

According to statistics, in 2016, global investment in the ICT sector will reach US$3.8 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 2%; global telecommunications investment will reach US$1.5 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 1.3%; investment in the Internet of Things will reach US$800 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%; global data center investment will reach US$110 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.9%.

It can be seen that the process of enterprise digitalization is about to sweep the world. Cisco's prediction for the Global Digital Business Transformation Center is: "In the next five years, digital disruption will lead to the elimination of about four of the top ten companies in each industry." I don't think this is alarmist. For example, the Internet has opened a new era of fierce competition and bred a new "sharing economy". Consumers have switched from buying cars to carpooling, and from staying in hotels to renting rooms. All these changes are likely to disintegrate the original industry.

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Therefore, many people are beginning to think about how to most effectively achieve full digital business transformation, create an extraordinary customer experience, deliver new products and services more quickly, and operate more efficiently. Cisco believes that technology can accelerate the realization of these goals.

Over the past 30 years, Cisco's goal has been to improve the way people work, live, play and learn, and as technology develops at an unprecedented speed, the digitalization of enterprises is the perfect opportunity to solve the most severe challenges in the economy and society with technology. It is also the perfect opportunity for Cisco to be committed to securely connecting everything and actively facing the challenges and opportunities of today's world.

Precisely because of the evolution based on the characteristics of the times, Cisco now positions itself as more than just a "network pioneer" and "technology pioneer" in the traditional sense. This is the significance of Cisco's de-labeling and adopting the more down-to-earth "perfect time, unprecedented" as its new brand strategy.

"Our latest positioning is 'technology optimists'. We believe that most of the difficult problems can be solved by using technology in a smart way," said Liu Shuyi.

Seize the opportunity and make it come true

In fact, Cisco's global marketing campaign "Great timing, unprecedented" has been launched since May 3. However, due to considerations of practical application, Cisco did not promote it in a big way from the beginning.

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Instead, Cisco will keep communicating with customers, partners, company employees and opinion leaders, and spread the word through real stories of Cisco customers and partners. For example, Liu Shuyi mentioned a real case in Australia, where Cisco used digital technology to revolutionize the mining industry with "driverless trucks" at the Nammuldi mine in Australia. This excellent solution was achieved by remotely controlling the trucks over the Internet.

This is not only an example of how network technology has overturned traditional industries, but also a typical example of how the perception of networks has changed. In the past, enterprise users believed that networks were cost centers, but today networks have become the center of driving business innovation and change. This is a result that Cisco is happy to see, and it is also the confidence that Cisco can use its powerful network technology to help enterprise users seize the perfect opportunity.

In addition to the mining case, Cisco has many different stories that show how technology is driving the transformation of entire industries and even countries, such as providing water to people in drought-stricken areas, making work safer, making cities smarter, and even saving human and animal lives.

Of course, it cannot be denied that in order to truly implement it in practice, in addition to convincing users through typical cases and stories, I think Cisco also needs to further segment the localization of "the best opportunity, unprecedented" around the world. In this regard, Liu Shuyi gave a positive reply, "The second phase of activities will be launched soon, and localization will be carried out according to the characteristics of countries around the world." For example, China's Internet+ is the process of China's traditional industries using Internet technology to achieve transformation and upgrading. I hope that Cisco's practice will have the opportunity to connect with Internet+ and give it more new connotations.

Finally, the advantage of "great opportunity, unprecedented" lies in its inclusiveness. This opportunity is also great for Cisco itself. The new brand strategy means that Cisco will enter a wider market and survive in more industries. Isn't this a new world?

(About the author: Zheng Kai, founder of the self-media technology positive energy (pp_tech); technology writer, author of "China Cloud Power"; focused on technology and Internet reporting and commentary for 13 years; Baidu Baike, Sina Chuangshiji, Titanium Media, NetEase column certified author; channel marketing training instructor)