Cisco reveals streamlining plans

John Chambers

Cisco has outlined its reorganisation plans following chief executive (CEO) John Chambers' calls for big changes at the networking firm.

The sales, services and engineering divisions of Cisco are all due for streamlining as the firm hopes to simplify its management structure and reduce bureaucracy.

Analysts had criticised the complicated structure of Cisco's business, saying it had led to troubles at the company.

"Cisco has driven transformational change before, and we are again transitioning to the next stage of the company's evolution," Chambers said.

"It's time to simplify the way we execute our strategy, and today's announcement is a key step forward."

As part of the reorganisation, six of nine so-called "councils" Chambers introduced to ensure customer focus was consistent across the world will be cut.

Global field operations will now be reorganized into three geographic regions, including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific/Japan/Greater China.

As for personnel, notable changes have been made in the engineering division.

Senior vice president Pankaj Patel and senior vice president Padmasree Warrior will now co-lead of the engineering division.

Within that unit, an "emerging business group," to be led by senior vice president Marthin De Beer, has been established to focus on "early-phase businesses."

Last month, Cisco ditched its Flip camera business, which will result in a reported loss of more than 500 jobs.

This followed Chambers' calls for a rethink of the company's strategy, after disappointing quarterly results and increased competition from he likes of HP.

Tom Brewster

Tom Brewster is currently an associate editor at Forbes and an award-winning journalist who covers cyber security, surveillance, and privacy. Starting his career at ITPro as a staff writer and working up to a senior staff writer role, Tom has been covering the tech industry for more than ten years and is considered one of the leading journalists in his specialism.

He is a proud alum of the University of Sheffield where he secured an undergraduate degree in English Literature before undertaking a certification from General Assembly in web development.