By Lance Perry, Vice President for IT Customer Strategy and Success, Cisco These are challenging times for all businesses. While Cisco is well-positioned to weather the ongoing economic storm, many companies, governments, and individuals worldwide are feeling the initial effects of what may be a protracted downturn. At Cisco, we are committed to actively working closely with our customers to help them transform their businesses. This is a crucial time for Cisco to amplify its business relevance with customers. Every customer and partner I talk with believes that Cisco's major areas of focus are the right priorities for today's environment: Survive and ThriveCisco has a powerful story to tell about these priorities, and how they have contributed to Cisco's business strength. It's a story that can help customers not only survive but thrive today and in the future. Cisco has seen its share of tough economic times, and we've learned valuable lessons that have allowed us to survive and emerge stronger than ever. These lessons include: 1. Save to InvestEvery company needs to find ways to immediately save money and realign resources. As Cisco has proven, the virtualization of resources - from expertise, to IT, to the data center - is an effective way to do just that. Take Cisco TelePresence as an example. We've virtualized workspaces across our entire employee population, including our sales and marketing forces, and enabled virtual access to our internal expertise, with TelePresence. We have the largest deployment of TelePresence units in the world right here at Cisco. And that deployment paid for itself in only nine months, by significantly reducing travel costs while simultaneously increasing our customer touch points. TelePresence also allows for flexibility and quality of life. I learned this firsthand myself last year. Before my father passed away I spent most of my time in New Jersey with him. I had access to TelePresence at a Cisco office 10 minutes away and full virtual office capabilities in the apartment upstairs from my father. I was able to spend significant time with him while still being engaged at work; my work location did not matter. 2. Unlock Employee PotentialA company's most critical resource is its employees. And in today's rocky environment, employees are likely to be feeling anxious. This is the time to engage with them using the same network-enabled communications and collaboration tools that we've used successfully at Cisco. Ultimately, these tools will help drive the kind of collaboration required to meet the challenges businesses face. Web 2.0 collaborative tools, such as Cisco WebEx web conferencing, video blogs, and wikis, let employees share ideas and foster innovation in ways that help companies compete and save. In these economic times it is very important to stay close to your employees, communicating business strategies so everyone can contribute effectively, within a secured environment. 3. Drive True Customer IntimacyOne of the main ways to increase your value to customers is by creating intimate, personalized customer relations. More than ever before, companies need to shift their focus to the customer experience. Cisco's use of intercompany TelePresence with its most strategic customers is an excellent example of how technology can drive customer intimacy. But for those companies that might not be in a position to deploy TelePresence today, other collaborative technologies such as Cisco WebEx Connect give businesses a platform to invite their customers to actively participate and work closely together in real time. More than 50 percent of customer briefings that engage the Cisco IT group are now virtual; we've increased our customer touch more than twofold, even while reducing travel. 4. Outpace Your CompetitorsEven challenging economic times offer opportunities to grow your business, provided you are well positioned to take advantage of them. Companies with strong balance sheets that intelligently reduce their costs and invest wisely in strategic opportunities can enjoy a position of leadership in the marketplace. These companies will be able to proactively seize new opportunities while others focus simply on maintaining profitability. They can capitalize on their position of strength to enter new markets and expand existing markets. Cisco is one of these companies. Those who adopt a more defensive position will lose advantage to these more dynamic, forward-thinking companies. It's important to cut costs with intelligence, and your IT infrastructure can function as a significant tool in keeping costs down while also enabling you to accelerate your core business. Simply and arbitrarily cutting the IT budget severely reduces the opportunity to truly transform expense management, productivity, and innovation across the entire company. 5. Transition to a Borderless EnterpriseCompanies that collaborate both internally and externally, across the entire business ecosystem, are in a position to become borderless enterprises. This is where software as a service, and IT as a service, come in. These companies are now in a position to embrace global talent, global markets, and new forms of partnerships and business ecosystems. Enormous opportunities exist for our customers to grow and adapt right now by embracing the tools and technologies of the second phase of the Internet, just as they streamlined their businesses during the first wave. Cisco is taking advantage of those opportunities and will help its customers do the same. Remember, globalisation is also about consideration; if it is 2 a.m. for someone on the team, make sure you share the tough hours as well, rotate meetings, and talk to each other about what times work well for you. A Final WordAs you prepare for the upturn, stay focused on your company's goals and remember the five initiatives:
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