2026 Award Categories & Finalists
AI-Visionaries
The AI Visionaries Awards celebrate customers who are building the secure, resilient, and high-performance foundation required to transform AI potential into tangible business outcomes.
AI Infrastructure Innovator
- CVS Health
- Five9
- McCain Foods
- Palm Beach County
Applied AI Pioneer Award
- Las Vegas Metro Police Department
- Amazon
Future-Proofed Workplaces
The Future-proofed Workplaces Award honors customers modernizing work environments, ensuring secure access, immersive collaboration, hybrid work, and innovations in smart building tech and secure networking.
Modernized Infrastructure Maestro Award
- Yale University
- DTCC
Workplace Innovator
- Orange County Information Technology Department
- Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services
- NYC Health + Hospitals
Digital Resilience
The Digital Resilience Award honors customers excelling in security, reliability, and performance with advanced threat prevention, connectivity, and observability for optimized services and user experience.
Cybersecurity Defender Award
- San Juan Regional Medical Center
- Louisiana State University
- Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Assurance Avenger Award
- NYC Health + Hospitals
- United Airlines, Inc.
Observability Visionary Award
- TIAA
- Indiana Office of Technology
- Autodesk, Inc.
Sustainability Changemaker
The Sustainability Changemaker Award honors organizations using Cisco’s solutions to reduce environmental impact, drive sustainability, and lead in energy management and clean energy.
One exemplary customer has been determined to receive this award. Stay tuned until the Awards Ceremony at Cisco Live 2026 Las Vegas to find out!
CX Customer Hero of the Year
The CX Customer Hero of the Year Award honors the customer with the strongest outcomes from Cisco Customer Experience, including those in AI-Ready Data Centers, Future-Proofed Workplaces, and Digital Resilience.
- Scott Gibbons, GlobalFoundries
- Jeff Lutz, NYC Health + Hospitals
- Patricia Voight, Webster Bank
Cisco Insider of the Year
The Cisco Insider of the Year celebrates the customer with the greatest impact on the Cisco Insider community, recognized for mentorship, advocacy, and supporting others through events and case studies.
- Tim Roberts, Fleetworthy
- Jeremy Shupick, Wyoming Machinery Company
- Gustavo Leon Delgado, Emerson
AI-Readiness
The AI Readiness Awards celebrate customers transforming their organizations to power AI workloads seamlessly across clouds, on-premises, and edge, using Cisco's advanced solutions.
Winners:
- TaxSlayer – Infrastructure Innovator Award Winner
- SmartCap – Operations Pioneer Award Winner
Future-Proofed Workplaces
The Future-proofed Workplaces Award honors customers modernizing work environments, ensuring secure access, immersive collaboration, hybrid work, and innovations in smart building tech and secure networking.
Winners:
- Missile Defense Agency – CX-Powered Workplace Warrior Award Winner
- Fairlife – Modernized Infrastructure Maestro Award Winner
- Northern Kentucky University – Workplace Wizard Award Winner
Digital Resilience
The Digital Resilience Award honors customers excelling in security, reliability, and performance with advanced threat prevention, connectivity, and observability for optimized services and user experience.
Winners:
- Itaú Unibanco – Assurance Avenger Award Winner
- Steve Madden – Cybersecurity Defender Award Winner
- REPAY – Observability Visionary Award Winner
- Grupo Xcaret – CX Resilience Ranger Award Winner
Sustainability Changemaker
The Sustainability Changemaker Award honors organizations using Cisco’s solutions to reduce environmental impact, drive sustainability, and lead in energy management and clean energy.
Winner:
- Eletrobras
CX Customer Hero of the Year
The CX Customer Hero of the Year Award honors the customer with the strongest outcomes from Cisco Customer Experience, including those in AI-Ready Data Centers, Future-Proofed Workplaces, and Digital Resilience.
Winner:
- Joe Gleeson, Intel
Cisco Insider of the Year
The Cisco Insider of the Year celebrates the customer with the greatest impact on the Cisco Insider community, recognized for mentorship, advocacy, and supporting others through events and case studies.
Winner:
- Marcelo Morais, 4XPERT
