Cisco 2009 Annual Report Download - page 3

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LETTER TO SHAREHOLDERS / ANNUAL REPORT 2009
1
Fiscal 2009 was an extraordinary year by any
measure. Worldwide economic turmoil affected
countries, companies, and households. At Cisco,
we were not immune to the challenges, nor were
our customers. Yet in spite of the global reduction
in capital spending, we knew this was our time. The
network—with its ability to provide information,
efficiency, and control—would be crucial to solving
some of the most complex problems our customers
had ever faced. We pride ourselves on always being
close to our customers. In fiscal 2009, we made it a
priority to become even closer in order to understand
their challenges, their pain, and their opportunities.
This was the time to emphasize the relevancy of our
product and solution capabilities, and to stand with
our customers to face the uncertain economic future
together. In our opinion, the power of the human
network would never be more important.
Vision /
The Network as the Platform for Life’s Experiences
Throughout the world, our customers faced significant,
strategic decisions in fiscal 2009. Cisco was no
different. We moved quickly and decisively at the
beginning of 2009 to align our business with the most
compelling market opportunities. We prioritized five
business objectives: 1) building a next-generation
company capable of forging next-generation customer
relationships; 2) focusing on collaboration and Web
2.0 tools, both internally and externally, to maximize
productivity and speed decision making; 3) enabling
data center virtualization to reach levels of scale and
efficiency that were previously unheard of; 4) readying
all of our products and solutions for the escalating
use of video; and 5) expanding our reach through the
globalization of our enterprise.
“True leadership means being comfortable navigating situations that make
most people very uncomfortable. Positioning Cisco for future growth in a
declining economic environment is one of those situations. The challenges we
face and the decisions we make will define the future. It is also how we learn.”
— John Chambers, Chairman & CEO