Cisco Systems CEO Chambers admits: "Unacceptable execution"

By Richi Jennings. April 6, 2011.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) CEO John Chambers sent an all-hands email message yesterday, admitting that the company is in deep doo-doo. He says things have to change -- does that mean he's on the way out, to be replaced by new COO Gary Moore? In IT Blogwatch, bloggers point the finger.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention PRECISION: Great Sci-Fi short made in 48 hours...

Rob Cox and Robert Cyran break the news:

Chambers, one of Silicon Valley's most respected corporate chieftains, confessed ... that the networking giant had been slow to make decisions, fallen down on execution and lacked discipline. ... He warned staff to to prepare for a number of unspecified changes ... [and] confessed his company let investors down and confused its own employees.
...
In past quarters, analysts have begun urging the company to focus on ... serving enterprises with networking data center products. ... Chambers has run Cisco since January 1995 and is considered one of Silicon Valley's foremost prognosticators. ... Some analysts suggested Cisco might be wise to concede some of its ... consumer-focused endeavors [such as the] ... "Umi" ... home teleconferencing.

 
Dean Wilson adds:

He emailed the roughly 1,500 word message to staff on Monday. ... He said that the company has been "slow to make decisions", ... it has been surprised by things it shouldn't have, ... it has "lost the accountability that has been a hallmark of our ability to execute consistently".
...
He added that Cisco "needs more discipline" and called the network equipment maker's flaws "unacceptable". ... The criticism follows poor financial performance. ... Share values have dropped by roughly a third over the last 12 months. ... As pressure mounts from shareholders ... it's understandable that he decided to issue the blunt memo.

Shira Ovide shares her opinion:

Cisco’s mea culpa doesn’t have the writerly panache of ... Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s “Burning Platform” memo. ... But it’s clear he’s prepping employees for a significant shake up.

Jim Duffy is the master of the run-on sentence:

Some believe Cisco's lackluster financials over the past two quarters are due to its ambitious agenda of targeting 30 or so market adjacencies to stimulate high growth while sales of its traditional routers and switches chugs along at more modest growth due to Cisco's massive installed base and dominance in both markets.
...
At the same time, there are also indications that sales of these new products in these new markets is overshadowing the bedrock routing and switching business, signaling a transition underway at Cisco to depend more on these new markets for growth and less on routing and switching.

Speaking of which, here's Robert L. Mitchell:

[Cisco's] Karin Combs, brand manager for Linksys, had barely started on her pitch before ... I launched into my diatribe. ... The big issue with the router is dropped connections, which often require rebooting. ... And of course the router has no on/off switch. ... Why don't these damned routers just work?
...
She listened patiently - and then agreed with me. ... It has been, she admits, a totally crappy user experience. ... Cisco's marketing strategy is clear: Heavy duty use ... requires a premium-class, industrial-strength router. But this model costs three times as much. ... Is it worth the price? If it solves my problems, absolutely. ... There's only one way to find out.

 
And Finally...
PRECISION: Great Sci-Fi short made in 48 hours
Bonus linkage: Behind the scenes
[hat tip: Sizemore]
 
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.

You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.