Cisco 'pours its own champagne' for growth

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 30 September 2009 03:34

IT Industry - Listed Tech

Never mind 'eating your own dogfood', Cisco says it has been able to achieve revenue growth and cost reductions in Australia and New Zealand while maintaing staff numbers by 'pouring its own champagne' - especially through the use of its collaboration technology.

Cisco's Australia and New Zealand operation has followed a "pretty tough" financial 2008 with 20% revenue growth and a 22% reduction in discretionary spending during financial 2009. (The company's financial year ends in July.) The impressive thing is that this was achieved without affecting customer satisfaction.

That's "not a bad story given the market environment," said Les Williamson, vice president for ANZ.

It was largely achieved, he said, by using the company's own telepresence tools to slash internal travel costs, combined with an acceleration of the sales cycle through better collaboration.

For example, Cisco now has 18 telepresence units compared with three last year. These allow people to stay in regular contact without travel, to "sustain much more intimate relationships," according to Williamson.

Rather than cutting staff, the company saw "a modest headcount increase" during the year.

Every member of Cisco's ANZ staff was "realigned" in terms of goals, compensation and skills as part of the drive for growth, he said.

The adoption of hot desking - even for the most senior staff - also helped keep costs down while improving collaboration.

Some of the company's customers have picked up on similar themes, with the Council of Australian Governments using Cisco telepresence units to 480 flights per year to just 40, and National Australia Bank's use of hot desking.

"Cisco truly is leading in this tough time," said Williamson.

During financial 2010, the company's focus will be on productivity improvements arising from the government's continuing stimulus measures, managed services ("a massive growth area"), and its partner community.

Stephen Withers travelled to the Cisco Networkers conference as a guest of the company.