December 20, 2006
There was a time when the local shop owner knew the name and preferred brands of each customer who walked through the door. Today, the stores we frequent are just as likely to have customers located around the world as around the corner. Technology has helped companies enhance communications and streamline operations, allowing them to expand their reach globally.
As this transition occurs, however, many businesses have struggled to maintain close relationships with their customers. They still face expectations from customers to be known personally and interacted with locally. In fact, consumer demand for personalized attention not only remains, but is rapidly increasing.
I believe we are in the midst of a major market transition, driven by consumers and significantly impacting business. Networked technology has put the power in consumers’ hands to control, define, and personalize their experiences. In turn, this rising tide of consumer expectations is disrupting and transforming business strategies. The network is closing the distance between businesses and their customers, making it possible to have personalized customer connections on a global scale.
Today's consumers are smart, empowered, and savvy. They are now the ones driving innovation, finding new ways to use technology to enhance and personalize their experiences. They are also increasingly informed, making smarter decisions about how to spend their resources. A global marketplace of information, goods, and services is now at the consumer's fingertips.
We believe that the network is the platform that Cisco and other companies can use to deliver the personal, convenient, and meaningful experiences today's consumers demand. Not just a traditional network, but one that is rich with intelligence—a network that not only transfers bits and bytes, but provides critical security, enables much-needed mobility, enriches experiences with multi-media capabilities, and so much more.
Cisco has enabled consumer experiences for years on the plumbing level. Today, and increasingly in the future, we are becoming more integrally involved on the experience level, with consumerfocused acquisitions such as Linksys, Scientific Atlanta, and KiSS. Combining our core focus on intelligent networking with these consumer additions, Cisco is in a leadership position to deliver the platform of the future, a network platform that will allow all of us—companies and individuals alike—to get closer than ever.
In this issue of the Executive Thought Leadership Quarterly, we offer perspectives on the rise of the empowered consumer, and what it means both to Cisco and to your business.
Dan Scheinman, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Media Solutions Group, shares his thoughts on the changes occurring in the entertainment industry, and how consumers are helping to accelerate innovation.
J. Michael Pocock, senior vice president and general manager, Linksys, discusses the Connected Home and some of the emerging capabilities that are driving consumer adoption.
Carlos Dominguez, senior vice president, U.S. Service Providers Sales, discusses the important role service providers will play in delivering meaningful customer experiences for consumers.
Michael Astle, an Executive Thought Leadership content manager, provides a research perspective on the rising importance of customer intimacy as a competitive advantage.
Larry Lang, vice president and general manager, Mobility, Signaling, and Control Business Unit, presents a progress report on the mobile Internet, and its impact in both developed and developing regions.
Ewan Morrison, editor, offers his perspective on the consumer as content creator.
I hope you find this issue of the Executive Thought Leadership Quarterly valuable.
Sincerely,
John Chambers
Chairman and CEO
Cisco Systems
