The Transformational Tech series highlights Cisco’s grant recipients that use technology to help transform the lives of individuals and communities. This blog features Cisco’s partnership with Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

The Transformational Tech series highlights Cisco’s grant recipients that use technology to help transform the lives of individuals and communities. This blog features Cisco’s partnership with CareerVillage.org, a nonprofit organization based in the United States that helps students get career advice online from real-world professionals. If you are interested in a deep dive on this partnership, please contact Kyle Thornton.

Every child deserves opportunities for success. But socioeconomic factors can play a huge role in children’s development that can disrupt their education and life progression. According to the American Community Survey, about 17% (more than 10 million) of all U.S. children under 18 live below the poverty line and are considered at-risk.

An essay from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth highlights that children from low-income families are more likely to start school with limited language skills, have less parental support with homework, and deal with more emotional and social problems that interfere with learning. CareerVillage.org is helping to change the systemic equation by democratizing access to career information and advice for underrepresented youth. This is done in part by crowdsourcing the answers to questions from students about careers that any online learner can access anytime, anywhere.

Having reached over 7 million individuals and mobilized more than 150,000 volunteers across 190 countries worldwide, CareerVillage.org aspires to be the universally trusted source for career information that youth can turn to, and a place where they find the encouragement they need to persist in the face of adversity. And with recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, they are expanding their reach and accessibility with Coach, an AI-powered career prep platform that tailors advice to an individual student’s goals, learning from each interaction.

Jared Chung, Founder and Executive Director and Rebecca Gitomer, Special Projects Senior Manager, CareerVillage.org

CareerVillage.org’s Founder and Executive Director Jared Chung and Special Projects Senior Manager Rebecca Gitomer share the non-profit’s technology evolution and how its partnership with Cisco has led to crucial, high-impact, replicable and scalable partnerships in the education industry.

Cisco invests in nonprofits to increase their impact through replication and scale, how has this influenced CareerVillage.org’s strategy?

For us, scale is extremely important and always top of mind. Career development is a challenge that affects young people all over the world, and there is a real lack of investment and overall support, especially in underserved communities. Cisco has been aligned with our scalability mission from the beginning of our partnership in 2017, and what began as volunteer opportunities for Cisco employees to participate in has evolved into crucial funding from Cisco to help us unlock high-impact partnerships that have allowed us to scale across classrooms in the U.S.

An example of this is in 2020 when we piloted our first district partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) that was supported by the Cisco Foundation. This relationship remains today with educators and students across SFUSD schools still using CareerVillage.org in their classrooms. The empowerment Cisco provided us to begin our K12 district partnerships allowed for important learning lessons to replicate similar partnerships across the country. Our work testing with educators and students in classrooms and the learnings from these experiences have led to dramatic growth in educators using CareerVillage.org and helping them meet the needs of their districts. Since 2020 our educator reach has doubled.

What are some key areas Cisco is helping with to transform your technology?

There have been several improvements and enhancements to our technology, partnerships, and core team that have enabled this change, which would not have been possible without Cisco’s continued support for our mission. We see Cisco as a uniquely aligned partner in this work for a few reasons:

We prioritize scalable technology-based solutions that impact underserved populations.
We share ambitious global social impact goals.
We have visions to transform K12 education.

We also believe that the movement we’ve created is laying the foundation for a transformative nationwide college access and career readiness program and the Cisco Foundation has been fundamental to this work.

Most recently Cisco funding has gone towards supporting our latest innovative technology the AI Career Coach. We’re incredibly grateful for supporters like Cisco who are early believers in our work with cutting edge technology, and thousands of Cisco employees have advised students through our platforms impacting millions of learners around the world.

What is Coach, who is it geared to, and how is it a differentiator for people that use it?

This is a natural next step for CareerVillage.org, which has reached over 7 million people over the past decade. For years we’ve been mobilizing huge online communities to give career advice, and now, we have this opportunity to use AI to scale up even further.

Our AI-powered career prep platform ‘Coach’ can help people practice mock interviews, improve their resumes, explore new career options, and much more. In short, Coach helps with everything you need to get career-ready and land a great job. Coach is knowledgeable, encouraging, and reliable, just like every career coach should be.

Currently in beta testing and ever-evolving, Coach is intended for everyone – middle schoolers all the way through career changers, and we’re ensuring that we’re getting a diversity of perspectives in user profiles to test Coach now to make it higher quality, eliminate bias, and more. Recent feedback from some of our beta testers includes:

“I will be using this platform in the future as I near college applications and need to submit essays and resumes. Not only was I challenging the AI, the AI was challenging me.” (Student Beta Tester)

“Out of the activities that I completed, my favorites were the career exploration activity and the mock interview. The responses were beyond incredible!” (Student Beta Tester)

“I would absolutely love to use it with my students. I would recommend it to my colleagues and friends as well!” (Educator Beta Tester)

“Everything is extremely tailored” (Educator Beta Tester)

“It helped me identify my passions, matched me with suitable careers, provides step by step plans to achieve my goals.” (Student Beta Tester)

“This activity definitely helped strengthen my skills and communication abilities!” (Student Beta Tester)

Free at the individual level, Coach will be a game changer when it comes to career supports, which as it currently stands is something that is systemically underinvested in. And our largest differentiator is the coalition of partners we have established backing Coach, helping to test, co-design, and integrate resources into the Coach database while ensuring responsible AI is at the forefront of development.

What are the biggest benefits of incorporating AI for career development?

For most people, career guidance is a huge life-changer and, until now, we’ve never been able to put a world-class personal career coach in front of every underserved person. Our model is all about making resources more accessible, more personal, and more responsive. The personalization is a huge opportunity with AI and because career development is such an individual experience, this personalization is key, and AI allows us to do it at scale. In our current beta version, even from the first day of testing the feedback we were hearing was that the personalization was really shining through. Through AI we are also able to reduce silos by more easily aggregating sector resources, become more scalable and offer 24/7 accessibility, and be more cost effective.

How can people learn more about Coach and get involved with CareerVillage.org?

Interested institutions who would like to get involved and partner with CareerVillage.org
Interested individuals who want to sign up to the Coach waitlist
Learn more about CareerVillage.org and its various opportunities

  Learn how Cisco and CareerVillage.org have partnered to transform career development for underrepresented youth through the AI-powered Coach.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Co-authored by Ilham Rahali, Head of Commercial Partnerships at Orange Business, and Pascal Allochon, Partner Sales Leader at Cisco in France.

Pascal Allochon, France Partner Sales Leader at Cisco
Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Co-authored by Ilham Rahali, Head of Commercial Partnerships at Orange Business, and Pascal Allochon, Partner Sales Leader at Cisco in France.

Pascal Allochon, France Partner Sales Leader at CiscoIlham Rahali, Head of Commercial Partnerships at Orange Business

Cisco and Orange Business have at the heart of their business a drive to power an inclusive future. We create the space for our employees to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to create a positive impact, not only for customers and partners, but also for wider society and the planet.

Recently, we partnered together to host a Green Day event in the French countryside.

A Common Purpose

With our common goals and joint values around environmental sustainability—Cisco has a goal to reach net zero GHG emissions and Orange Business has an intent to become Net Carbon Zero, both by 2040—it seemed obvious to us to create this event together, with the aim to use the learnings to strategize new ways to support making digital transformation more efficient and sustainable for our customers.

Around 90 account managers, sales specialists and leaders from Orange Business, Cisco and ThousandEyes attended the event, and we are thrilled by the enthusiasm generated by the Green Day.

Our Green Day Intentions

The primary objective of the day was to provide insights and explore opportunities on what Cisco and Orange Business could do together to support environmental sustainability within the technology industry.  The second objective was to develop more intimacy between the sales teams. The Cisco and Orange Business teams work well and closely together, and the Green Day was designed to create much deeper connections to encourage co-innovation on CSR topics and related challenges, which are top of mind for our customers.

Cisco, ThousandEyes, and Orange Business employees attend the Green Day conference

We all arrived by electric vehicles, and the day started with a number of seminars on addressing climate change, environmental stewardship, and exploring how Cisco and Orange Business can leverage technology and their combined expertise to help our customers with their social and environmental sustainability goals.  The presentations were delivered by subject matter experts from both companies.

Out in the Field

In the afternoon, we all went to a local farm, specializing in biodynamic agriculture, and got first-hand information from the owner of the farm on the impact of climate change on his crops and harvest, the ways he thought technology could help, as well as guidance on how we as individuals can make conscious sustainable choices when buying produce.

We then spent time helping with the process of organic juice extraction from apples picked from the trees grown in the orchard on the farm. We ended the day planting 30 melliferous trees, as well as a variety of other trees to help in the preservation of the biodiversity of the soil. Indirectly supporting the apple orchard in a way that is respectful of nature.

A Strategic Partnership

Planting trees together not only ensured we played our own small part in the service of the planet and small business farmers but was also symbolic of our strong and growing partnership, as we continue to collaborate and consider next-generation sustainable solutions for our customers.

Our next steps are to develop and execute on a joint plan for building a positive future for our customers, for our planet, and for ourselves.

A Personal Note

We have achieved so much for the partnership between Cisco and Orange Business, and we are deeply aligned and excited to move forward on this environmental sustainability journey together.

Alone we go faster, together we go further!

Learn more about Partnering for Purpose on SalesConnect

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with #CiscoPartners on social!

Cisco Partners Facebook  |  @CiscoPartners Twitter  |  Cisco Partners LinkedIn

  Cisco and Orange Business have at the heart of their business a drive to power an inclusive future. We create the space for our employees to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to create a positive impact, not only for customers and partners, but also for wider society and the planet. Recently, we partnered together to host a Green Day event in the French countryside.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Do you feel a bit lost when people refer to certain environmental sustainability topics and aren’t sure where to start when it comes to learning more? Sustainability 101 is a blog series that you can … Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Do you feel a bit lost when people refer to certain environmental sustainability topics and aren’t sure where to start when it comes to learning more? Sustainability 101 is a blog series that you can turn to for information about different environmental terms that may come up at work, during discussions with friends, and even at your annual holiday gathering.

Products have a lifecycle that starts before they’re made and goes beyond their use – including what they’re made of and how they’re manufactured, shipped and eventually disposed of. Many companies talk about how the “circular economy” can reduce environmental impact – but what does that mean, in general and in practice?

The circular economy: where design thinking saves both cost and the environment

The concept of a circular economy is not new. In the 1970s, architect and economist Walter Stahl shared a vision of an economy in loops (now known as the circular economy) in a research report to the European Commission. In a circular economy, companies tune their processes to enable the reuse and regeneration of materials or products, as a pathway to making products with the smallest environmental impact and resource use possible.

In practice, this involves applying circular design principles across a product’s lifecycle. Take for example a wireless access point.

To engineer an access point for circularity, a company would start with two key areas:

first, selecting what materials are used in making that new access point, such as incorporating recycled (versus virgin) content, reducing the use of nonrenewable materials, and considering resource scarcity risks as part of material selection;
second, designing the access point for repurpose, remanufacture, or recycle at its end of life, for example not requiring shredding or radical disassembly for recycling, or enabling streamlined disassembly to support harvesting individual parts from the end-of-use product.

Companies should aim to design products for circularity and sustainability the same way they design products for user experience – by making it an inherent part of the process. This circular thinking extends to other areas of a product’s life as well. This includes waste reduction and the environmental impact of packaging, such as using recycled paper and cardboard. Manufacturing processes should reclaim material left over from each access point (e.g., cut metal, etc.) and recycle that material for other products.

In addition, when we use less material to make products, we also reduce the amount of energy used for mining and production of materials, not to mention reducing the additional environmental impacts of mining. And when we reduce how much of them end up in landfills, we protect groundwater supplies, avoid emissions from landfill gas from biodegradable items, and avoid filling valuable landfill space.

An increasing circularity gap

When old electronics are simply discarded, they often contain hazardous materials like lead or mercury that may travel through a landfill and back out into water supplies or soil. The more electronics can be recycled, reused or otherwise repurposed instead, the less our environment is impacted by those products breaking down and by the virgin materials we must mine or create to make new products.

But research shows our society is not taking enough of these steps.  The 2023 edition of the Circularity Gap Report, an annual study of circularity adoption worldwide by Circle Economy, states that the global economy increasingly relies on materials from virgin sources. This is due to growing demand for materials needed for buildings, infrastructure, and other durable goods – like electronics. The authors estimate that the global economy is only about 7.2% circular, down from 9.1% in 2018.

This increasing gap is also evident in the European Environmental Bureau findings that more than 13 million tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment were sold in the EU in 2021 – an increase of over 85% since 2013. In that same year, 4.9 million tonnes of e-waste were registered – just over 37% of the volume sold.

And other parts of the world fare worse on e-waste—a report published by the United Nations in 2020 estimated that, based on 2019 data, the global collection rate for e-waste is only 17 percent, leaving a tremendous amount of valuable materials that could be recovered and reused.

The missed opportunity for recycling and reuse isn’t simply an environmental issue, it’s also an economic one. Global e-waste means billions of U.S. dollars’ worth of raw materials, including copper, iron and tin, and more valuable metals like gold, silver, and palladium are being discarded and are no longer available for use. Not recovering those materials means that manufacturers must source fresh supplies of them.

If companies can close this gap, they can deliver benefits to the bottom line while also protecting the planet.

Evolving from linear to circular models at Cisco

Circular economy principles have been around for decades, but in order to fully realize the benefits, companies must transform many of their practices. This includes engineering principles, supplier engagement, manufacturing and logistics processes, and even their business models. As a part of Cisco’s transformation, we aim to transition more of our business from  one-time transactions to ongoing services. This includes adopting business models that serve to extend the value of our products and reduce their environmental impacts.

And we’ve already started to evolve our practices and programs. For example, we set a goal to incorporate Circular Design Principles into 100% percent of our  products and packaging by 2025, and in 2021, we launched a circular design evaluation methodology and tool to help us track progress toward that goal.

In addition, we offer a range of programs to help close the loop on our products:

Through the Cisco Takeback and Reuse Program, Cisco facilitates product returns for end-of-use gear at no cost so that it can go to its next best use. Cisco reuses or recycles nearly 100% of the equipment that is returned to us.
The Cisco Refresh program offers Cisco certified remanufactured equipment, available for most of the portfolio, providing a second life to products and reducing waste. Cisco Refresh has been part of Cisco’s offerings for more than 20 years.
Cisco offers IT payment solutions that support circularity and make it easier for customers to build a technology strategy to support their sustainability goals. For example, through the Cisco Lifecycle Pay with Trade-In Incentive, customers can realize up to 10% off their monthly payments by trading in legacy Cisco or third-party equipment.
And lastly, Cisco offers as-a-service and subscription models across many products and solutions, allowing customers to move to recurring revenue models that support circular consumption and responsible takeback, recycle and reuse of hardware.

Circular transformation is a foundational requirement for a regenerative future, and it is therefore one of three key priorities in Cisco’s environmental strategy. To learn more about these initiatives and other Cisco efforts, check out our ESG (environmental, social, and governance) Reporting Hub.

  Many companies talk about how the “circular economy” can reduce environmental impact – but what does that mean, in general and in practice?  Read More Cisco Blogs 

You’re about to close your day when you receive a call from your customer asking for an urgent meeting tomorrow. They want to know if one of your Managed Security offers includes something that can h… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

You’re about to close your day when you receive a call from your customer asking for an urgent meeting tomorrow. They want to know if one of your Managed Security offers includes something that can help them improve their secure workforce environment. You know what it’s all about. Last week, a company in the same industry suffered significant losses due to a compromise access from one of their top executives. The good news is you’ve already done the hardest part–earning customer trust in the cybersecurity world, where the digital and human mix and “trust no one” is the premise. That a customer trusted you to manage their Zero Trust journey is both an honor and a responsibility.

The journey to Zero Trust involves many solutions. Still, there’s one solution that connects them all. Cisco Duo, a multi-factor authentication solution, is the steppingstone of a Zero Trust architecture, verifying identity, establishing the device’s trust, and finally allowing access to the application.

In this blog, we will explain how Cisco Duo for MSPs, with its simple-to-operate and modern approach, will help you scale and provide a frictionless customer experience.

Finding the balance between security and productivity

Zero Trust is a cybersecurity framework that assumes threats exist both inside and outside the network and uses continuous monitoring and adjustment of trust levels before granting access. Its principle is, “never assume, always verify, and trust no one”. The benefits of Zero Trust include risk reduction, enhanced visibility, and a smaller attack surface due to micro-segmentation.

Cisco Duo helps balance productivity and security in the Zero Trust framework, simplifying access management for all devices and enabling flexible Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) deployment. Risk-based authentication also provides password free experiences, which evaluate profiles, resources, context, and risk signals to determine access.

24% of the companies surveyed in the last Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index ranked identity management as the number one risk. – Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index

Cisco Duo MSP: Scaling zero trust services

Identity management is still a significant concern among cybersecurity leaders. Cisco Duo can solve their problems thanks to its open platform, which can work with different operation systems on mobile phones, tablets, and PCs. Another advantage of Duo is that it is also Mobile Device Management (MDM) agnostic, protecting access from unmanaged devices.

For you as a partner, Duo has a Managed Service Platform (MSP) to help you accelerate your customer journey to Zero Trust without security compromises, and with the best customer experience and optimal operational management. Cisco Duo MSP allows you to offer licenses by consumption, opening more choices for our customers to meet their budgetary goals.

One of the benefits of Cisco Duo MSP is that it offers a multi-tenancy interface, enabling you to manage various customer tasks without switching screens. Further, Duo MSP provides a well-documented integrations library and comprehensive support. Another key attribute for service growth is that Duo MSP allows the possibility of trial management, training access, and the Not for Resale (NFR) program that enable you to be your first customer.

Time to earn the trust

You have the knowledge, you have the practices, and you have the Duo MSP platform. Now it’s time to meet your customer. Here’s your checklist for a successful meeting:

Establish the objectives: What Zero Trust outcomes do they want to achieve first–secure workforce, secure workflows, or secure workplace?
Run a Gap analysis: What challenges do they have now that impede this objective?
Draft a plan: Map the analysis outcome with where they are in the Zero Trust journey and determine what the next steps should be.
Lead with Cisco Duo MSP: This is a good starting point thanks to the solution’s role in the framework and its scalability and ease of operation.
Don’t forget the trial: It’s an opportunity to showcase the platform attributes and your value as a trusted partner.

Want to learn more about Zero Trust and Duo MSP?

Watch the recorded November session of the Managed Services Voice of the Engineer. During this session, the Managed Services Americas Partner Organization (APO) team expanded on the challenges and considerations of Zero Trust managed services and explained how Duo MSP is the point of entrance for a successful journey.
Visit Duo’s MSP Program to explore the solution and the Duo MSP program.

Register for the upcoming Managed Services Voice of the Engineer

to stay up to date with the latest on Managed Services. #GoManaged

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with #CiscoPartners on social!

Cisco Partners Facebook  |  @CiscoPartners Twitter  |  Cisco Partners LinkedIn

  In this blog, we will explain how Cisco Duo for MSPs, with its simple-to-operate and modern approach, will help you scale and provide a frictionless customer experience.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Back in 2007, after months of intensive studying, I passed my first Cisco certification exam: the CCNA. I walked out of that testing center with tears streaming down my face, just like Chris Gardner… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Back in 2007, after months of intensive studying, I passed my first Cisco certification exam: the CCNA. I walked out of that testing center with tears streaming down my face, just like Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness.

That CCNA certification was my ticket to kickstarting a new life and career in IT. The satisfaction of passing after two previous failed attempts was incredible. Little did I know then that this achievement was just the spark that would ignite a passion for lifelong learning. My real growth began in the months and years after passing the exam. 

We all take certification for a reason: our employer wants us to get a pay raise, a job promotion, or a new job. But these do one thing: they give us self-growth and self-knowledge. What happens after the certification is what I will uncover here today.

“Achieving Cisco certification is a major accomplishment, but true success comes from havinga lifelong commitment to learning. Continually engage with the Cisco community,share your expertise, and leverage micro-learning resources.”

Connecting with the Cisco Community  

In the lead-up to my exam date, I joined the Cisco online community forums. Interacting with Cisco experts expanded my knowledge far beyond textbook concepts. I learned invaluable real-world troubleshooting tips and best practices from professionals using Cisco technologies daily in their environments.

Their insights exposed me to new perspectives and solutions. One member helped me better understand how OSPF cost metrics impact route selection—a concept I had struggled with. Another gave a great tip about using port security to prevent MAC flooding attacks. Not only did the community help fill knowledge gaps, but exposing me to how other network engineers approached problems developed my critical thinking abilities. 

Empowering Change: Together, We Make a Difference 

After getting so much from the Cisco Community, I was excited to start giving back and paying it forward. I shared my lessons learned by creating blog posts and instructional videos and even mentoring other newcomers studying for their certifications. Helping fellow learners made an impact and reinforced my knowledge as I had to explain concepts in a simple and logical way. Never underestimate how much you know and how sharing this can help someone following your path.  

Short-form learning content has distinct advantages in today’s world of condensed attention spans and packed schedules. Technology topics can easily be distilled into <10-minute videos that convey the core concepts learners need. These bite-sized tutorials match modern consumption preferences; they are easy to access on any device, simple to repeat for reinforcement, and quick to fit into small pockets of free time.

Short videos take advantage of our brain’s visual processing capabilities through slides, screenshots, and code samples. Learners can gain broad exposure by watching numerous condensed tutorials on a subject area, building foundational knowledge piece by piece. While not comprehensive, short videos effectively impart fundamental principles, terminology, and workflows. They provide enough baseline understanding to enable deeper independent study.

In an era of information overload, compact learning experiences ensure key ideas stick. Technology topics are well-suited for focused, efficient delivery in snackable videos that spark interest and deliver value in minutes. 

Full Snack Developer  

Snack Minutes are short, bite-sized videos created by top IT professionals that teach focused lessons on technical topics. They are an easy and engaging way to keep expanding our skills. 

One of the great things about Snack Minutes is that they cover emerging topics like network automation. Network automation uses software and protocols like Ansible, Python, REST APIs, and NETCONF to programmatically configure and manage networks. This can make networks more agile, efficient, and resilient. If someone is new to network automation, this will be invaluable for learning foundational concepts quickly. The short videos give exposure to automation basics and terms.

More recently, the Snack Minute team has made some great content on core networking principles—perfect for reinforcing foundational networking concepts such as TCP/IP, routing protocols, and VLANs; distilling topics into compact lessons ensures that you do not forget what you worked on so hard to learn. 

Discovering New Cisco Products and Solutions  

The networking world moves fast, and Cisco is always releasing new technologies. With Snack Minutes, I can keep up with the latest Cisco solutions like Meraki SD-WAN, Catalyst 9000 switches, Umbrella Security, etc. Bite-sized videos quickly bring me up to speed on new innovations from Cisco. This allows me to stay conversant on where Cisco product families are headed and see how these technologies can benefit my organization.

It’s not just about staying informed; it’s about leveraging these insights to make informed decisions that drive efficiency and success in our networking strategies. With Snack Minutes, it is not only keeping pace with the ever-evolving tech landscape but also equipping ourselves toward a brighter, more connected future. 

The Journey Continues: Investing in Lifelong Learning 

My Cisco certification was just the starting point on my journey to grow as a network engineer. While the studying and exams were challenging, the real work began after passing, as I looked for ways to continuously expand my skills. Connecting with the Cisco community, giving back by creating tutorials, and staying on top of new developments have been crucial to my ongoing education. Short, snackable learning resources like Snack Minutes make it easy and engaging to reinforce foundational concepts and pick up emerging topics like automation. The bite-sized videos are the perfect way to keep growing your knowledge and skills wherever you are in your career. 

Achieving Cisco certification is a major accomplishment, but true success comes from having a lifelong commitment to learning. Continually engage with the Cisco community, share your expertise, and leverage micro-learning resources. This passion for ongoing education will keep you relevant and ahead in our rapidly changing technical landscape. 

Check out the Snack Minute Presented by Cisco U. playlist on YouTube for easily digestible videos that expand your skills and knowledge. The short, visually engaging tutorials are a great way to keep advancing on your career journey long after passing your certification exam. 

Read next: From Network Automation to Security: Cisco U. Role-Based Learning Paths

Sign up for Cisco U. | Join the Cisco Learning Network.

Follow Cisco Learning & Certifications

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

Use #CiscoU and #CiscoCert to join the conversation.

  Cisco Designated VIP Stuart Clark reflects on life after earning his CCNA certification, from the importance of lifelong learning and engagement with the Cisco community to the value of short-form learning content like Snack Minutes, which cover emerging topics and reinforce foundational tech concepts.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Each year, Cyber Monday has this amazing ability to sneak up on us. I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only one in the U.S. with that lingering summer-just-ended feeling. But folks, Cyber Monday 202… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Each year, Cyber Monday has this amazing ability to sneak up on us. I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only one in the U.S. with that lingering summer-just-ended feeling. But folks, Cyber Monday 2023 is less than a week away. And if you’ve been a member of the Cisco learning community for a while now, then you already know:

The Cyber Monday sale at the Cisco Learning Network Store is kind of a big deal.

This year isn’t any different. With only a few days to go, now’s the time to start planning. Keep reading for the full rundown of everything you need to know to make the most of the Cisco Learning Network Store’s biggest sale of the year.

When to shop the Cyber Monday sale at the Cisco Learning Network Store

This year’s sale starts on November 27, 2023, at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. You will have a 24-hour window to shop Cyber Monday savings on Cisco learning products. However, the first four hours of the sale are our 40% off Doorbuster Deals, giving a nod to sales so big that people would literally bust down the shop’s front door to grab the goods before the store ran out of stock:

Lucky (and safer) for you, there will be no busting down of literal doors since the Cisco Learning Network Store is an entirely online experience. However, do not mistake convenience for a lack of incentive. If you want to make the most of these Doorbusters, then you need to thoroughly research and vet these products and deals before you reach checkout.

Now, everyone is different. But, if you’re anything like me, you hesitate. Sure, you get the emails. You know when the sales are. All is fine and well until you reach the checkout screen and think: Wait. Did I think this through? How much did that [insert shopping cart item] cost, again? Wait—let me search my email and make sure I didn’t miss anything. Can I afford this? Maybe I should run some numbers here. I wonder if I can find a better deal elsewhere…? I really want this.

 …Do I need it, though?

Ugh, I should really go do that thing I said I would do right now. I’ll just leave it in my cart and come back to it later.  

And boy, I can’t tell you how many times “later” became too late, and I missed that amazing deal. So, let’s start planning together now—before you have the pressure of an end-of-sale cutoff time.

Inside our Cyber Monday Doorbuster Deals

When it comes to shopping at the Cisco Learning Network Store, there’s more than meets the eye. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you shop the Doorbuster Deals at the Cisco Learning Network Store.

Self-paced learning directly from Cisco

Official Cisco learning means you learn directly from the source, whether you’re en route toward earning a Cisco certification or strengthening your knowledge of Cisco tech. When you see courses that share the same name as a certification exam, you can trust that you are investing in learning that directly aligns with the exam topics. I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of anyone better to learn from than the person who created the exam to begin with.

Earn Cisco Continuing Education (CE) credits

Personally, I think that earning CE credits is the most underrated benefit of official Cisco learning courses. Once you become Cisco Certified, you have three years to complete recertification requirements. One of the ways you can do that is by earning the number of CE credits required for your certification level. For the full breakdown of what you need to do to stay actively Cisco Certified, visit the Cisco Recertification Policy.

Let’s say that right now, you’re an active CCNA certification holder. You need 30 CE credits to recertify. Well, if you take a look at the courses from the Cisco Learning Network Store, you’ll see the number of CE credits you can earn upon completing the course.

For example, here is the course aligned to the CyberOps Associate certification exam, CBROPS:

(Price does not reflect sales offers or discounts.)

Now, let’s fast-forward into the future: It’s six months from now, and you’ve completed the CBROPS course. Not only have you built your skills in cybersecurity, one of the areas highest in demand right now, but you have also recertified your CCNA for another three years! And you’re ready to take the exam that will earn you the CyberOps Associate certification. And if you pass the CBROPS exam, you reset your 3-year recert cycle.

Which leads us right to the best offer of the sale: Study Bundles.

Study Bundles = accountability

It’s one thing to plan ahead and mark the day you plan to get Cisco Certified. But it’s a whole different ballgame when you get a Study Bundle. Study Bundles package up the official course and the exam voucher* for its respective certification into one single product. Here’s the catch: you need to use them both before they expire, 180 days into the future, based on your date of purchase. Now, that’s raising the stakes on holding yourself accountable.

*Some Study Bundles include a practice test called “Exam Review.” Look inside each bundle for details on what is included.

Doorbuster Deals include Study Bundles for the CCNA and DevNet Associate certification exams at the Associate level. At the Professional level, ENCOR and SCOR, the technology core exams required for CCNP Enterprise and CCNP Security certification, respectively. These exams also act as a prerequisite to the practical exam at the Expert level. In this case, ENCOR before taking the CCIE Enterprise Infrastructure or CCIE Enterprise Wireless lab exams, while passing SCOR (no pun intended) precedes sitting for the CCIE Security lab exam.

I can’t overstate the value of these Study Bundles, but without further ado… here’s what’s included in our Cyber Monday Doorbuster Deals.

Save up to 40% during Doorbuster Deals (up to 25% off during the rest of the sale):

Cisco Modeling Labs – Personal
Cisco Modeling Labs – Personal Plus
CCNA Preparation Bundle
DEVASC Preparation Bundle
ENCOR E-Learning and Exam Bundle
SCOR E-Learning and Exam Bundle
Implementing and Operating Cisco Collaboration Core Technologies (CLCOR) v1.2
Understanding Cisco Cybersecurity Operations Fundamentals (CBROPS) v1.0
Developing Applications using Cisco Core Platforms and APIs (DEVCOR) v1.0
Performing CyberOps Using Cisco Security Technologies (CBRCOR) v1.0
Implementing and Operating Cisco Data Center Core Technologies (DCCOR) v1.2
Implementing and Operating Cisco Service Provider Network Core Technologies (SPCOR) v1.0

4-hour Doorbuster Deals: 8 a.m. to noon Pacific Time on Cyber Monday, November 27, 2023

NOTE: The Cisco Learning Network Store accepts Cisco Learning Credits (CLCs) as an eligible form of payment after Cyber Monday offers (including Doorbuster Deals) have been applied. 

Let’s recap: 5 key things to keep in mind

Doorbuster Deals will only be available for the first four hours of the 24-hour Cyber Monday sale, so make sure you add it to your calendar and set an alert to shop early.
Don’t miss out on 40% savings on select Cisco learning products during Doorbuster Deals.
After Doorbuster Deals end (noon Pacific Time), you can save up to 25% for the rest of the sale, which ends at 8 a.m. Pacific Time on November 28, 2023.
View the sale and start researching now so you’re ready to go on the big day.
Bookmark this page for quick reference.

Save the date for the Cyber Monday Sale at the Cisco Learning Network Store.

View sale | Add to calendar

I hope this blog helps you slide into Cyber Monday and lock in that deal with confidence. So, which product do you have your eye on? Leave a comment below and let me know, or feel free to ask any questions you have about the sale. You can also reach us on X via @LearningatCisco. Tell us what you’re getting and use #CiscoCert. (We’re always listening, and we love reposting your big wins.) Thanks for reading! 

Sign up for Cisco U. | Join the Cisco Learning Network.

Follow Cisco Learning & Certifications

Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube

Use #CiscoU and #CiscoCert to join the conversation.

  Just days away from the Cisco Learning Network Store's biggest sale of the year, find out what you need to know to supercharge your Cyber Monday savings—and lock in that deal with confidence.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Four telemetry pillars for clarity from a torrent of signals

In this hyper-connected age of distributed applications, when users face poor digital experiences, they do not care much about what is… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Four telemetry pillars for clarity from a torrent of signals

In this hyper-connected age of distributed applications, when users face poor digital experiences, they do not care much about what is causing them. They just want it fixed – and now! Whether transferring funds, ordering dinner, collaborating remotely with a colleague, or streaming the latest movies, customers and end users want flawless digital experiences that work every time, are secure, and highly personalized.

Consistent delivery of these digital experiences is immensely complex. Results depend on a myriad of  interactions across disparate systems hosted in multi-cloud environments – each generating a torrent of metrics, events, logs, and traces (MELT) containing fragmented information about performance, connectivity, responses, experiences, and outcomes.

Collectively, this telemetry data contains what teams need to ensure problems do not lead to security, performance, or experience issues down the line. It also holds the information that developers require to deliver optimized applications.

However, well-publicized examples show us that when something goes wrong, ranging from degraded performance to complete unavailability, the digital experience breakdown can be difficult to understand, analyze, and resolve.

Moreover, in a world demanding real-time flawless experiences, availability and performance are key success metrics and a “blink” of disruption comes at a high cost. For example, in the case of downtime alone, the average cost per hour approaches $250,000 according to a 2023 IDC global survey on full-stack observability (FSO).

Considering the real-time and near real-time expectations from the business, it would be paramount – and even faster – to determine where a problem is not, than to pinpoint the root cause of a multi-domain incident before an initial remedial action can even be considered.   This applies to both reactive and proactive / predictive motions.The challenge is typically two-fold.

The sheer volume of siloed telemetry, even further for real-time use cases, makes it almost impossible to assess the relevant data in a workable timeframe due to the lack of proper context. Solutions have emerged that rapidly surface anomalies or issues that are out of baseline, but just 17% of IDC’s survey respondents said their current monitoring and visibility solutions deliver the necessary context to take meaningful action.

Additionally, the distributed nature of today’s applications and workloads mean that relevant data may not even be captured by some monitoring solutions because they lack visibility into the full application stack from the application itself to infrastructure and security, up to the cloud and out to the internet.

Telemetry in a complex, distributed world

To be truly useful, an observability solution must have a clear line of sight to every possible touchpoint that could affect the way an application and its dependencies perform as well as how it is consumed by their users.

This requires a massive stream of incoming telemetry which can be extracted from networks, security devices and services and used to gain visibility as a basis for actions. Cisco has long sourced telemetry data from routers, switches, access points and firewalls, just to name a few.

Every day, Cisco surfaces more than 630 billion observability metrics, derived from telemetry streams from applications down to infrastructure, through the network, and out to the internet, while absorbing 400 billion security events.

In addition, telemetry from other sources such as application security solutions, the internet, and business applications themselves provide performance insights, uptime records, and even logs from public cloud providers. Here again, modern telemetry architecture ensures that observability gets the required streams of data to work without compromise.

In fact, with distributed workforces and the new reality of working from home, the correlation between end-to-end connectivity, application performance, and end user experience is so significant that any fast path to problem resolution must be able to assess MELT signals through the lens of connectivity, performance, and security, as well as looking at elements such as dependencies, code quality, and the end-user journey.

Furthermore, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have become a requirement to arrive at reliable predictive data models for deriving actionable insights that are directly tied to business goals and objectives. Finally, organizations now demand more integration points to collect different pieces of data, and analysis of root cause, pattern matching, behavioral analysis, and predictive capabilities.

To that extent, standardization with open source projects such as OpenTelemetry has made it possible to normalize data ingestion, ensuring it can be uniformly collected. OpenTelemetry provides an open, extensible observability framework that uses vendor-neutral APIs, and other tools for collecting data from traditional to cloud-native applications and services as well as the associated infrastructure, supporting teams to understand normal business operations. It also enriches the foundation of correlation solutions handling application performance, security threats, and ultimately business outcomes.

Cisco, one of the leading contributors to the OpenTelemetry project, has long been committed to open standards to build products and platforms such as Cisco Observability Platform.

Telemetry diversity drives performant digital experiences

For effective observability, all four types of telemetry data are essential.

Metrics are useful for creating baselines and triggering alerts when the output falls outside of the expected range.
Events are helpful to confirm or notify that a particular action occurred at a particular time.
Logs are versatile and empower many use cases from security analytics to those that rely on a detailed, play-by-play record of what happened at a particular time.
Traces record the chains of events within and between applications and are also key to tracking end-user experiences. Traces, in particular, have the potential to move observability beyond single domain monitoring into full-stack visibility, insights, and actions in a multi-cloud environment. For instance, through integrations with key portfolio solutions, Cisco has tapped the power of traces among the domains of applications, security and networking, to drive the correlations that reveal insights mapped to business risk and other crucial business indicators.

Not only does telemetry diversity allow organizations to derive insights from the broadest set of data, but also teams can see it in their own context. For instance, the impact of end-user experience on business outcomes associated with a mobile application hosted in a multi-cloud environment – SaaS or otherwise – can be seen through the lens of a consolidated visualization (c-suite) as well as through the automated action required by site reliability engineers (SREs) to address the issue causing that impact.

While their perspectives differ, teams within IT and across other business functions increasingly rely on each other in a world where applications, and the digital experiences they create, are crucial to business success.

This is at the root of the ongoing industry transformation associated with observability, and Cisco brings the observability perspective across the full-stack by tapping into billions of points of telemetry data across multiple sources to achieve cross-domain ingestion and analysis.

With Cisco Full-Stack Observability solutions, teams can then prioritize and remediate issues together, becoming true partners in achieving business objectives while ensuring customers and end users always get the best digital experiences.

Learn more about Cisco Observability Platform

  Users expect applications to be flawless. Telemetry diversity drives those performant digital experiences. Operationalize the OpenTelemetry framework with Cisco Observability Platform.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

The innovative ways Cisco and our partners are coming together to power an inclusive future for all were on full display during this years’ Partner Summit.

Last year, we announced Partnering for P… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

The innovative ways Cisco and our partners are coming together to power an inclusive future for all were on full display during this years’ Partner Summit.

Last year, we announced Partnering for Purpose, a new platform designed to make it easy for partners to leverage the work Cisco and our partners are doing to positively impact communities around the world and the planet.

This year, we were excited to introduce a new Partnering for Purpose category in our 6th annual global Partner Innovation Challenge. The new category awards $25K (USD) prizes to partners that best showcase how they are integrating innovation with purpose within four areas of focus:

 Digital Inclusion
 Employee Experience and Economic Empowerment
 Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship
 Crisis Response and Critical Human Needs

The winners of this year’s Partnering for Purpose category are:

Long View Systems, Canada  

Long View Systems, a Gold partner in Canada, developed a sustainable and intelligent buildings solutions utilizing machine learning.  The solution delivers continual improvement on commercial building management systems to provide even greater cost reductions, better user experience and improved environmental impact that can be metered and measured and utilized in the drive to achieve organizational ESG objectives.

KIW, Spain

KIW, one of our Environmental Sustainability Specialized partners in Spain, developed a comprehensive centralized, automated and real-time infrastructure management solution that will enable organisations have the data they need to make energy consumption analysis to achieve significant energy cost reductions and meet their zero emissions goals.

Connect Professional Services, Egypt

Connect Professional Services, a systems integrator in Egypt, is expanding access to healthcare to remote areas and reimaging the patient experience in Middle East and North Africa. The solution includes digitization of health records and health systems and leveraging artificial intelligence for patient self-triage and symptom analysis.

LiteScape Technologies, United States  

LiteScape Technologies in the US, developed a solution that provides greater access to visitation rights in correctional facilities, reducing the burden of cost, time, distance and other restrictions in ensuring family members can stay connected despite the separation.  The visitation portal provides scale and the ability for officers to securely set up calls on demand as well as monitor several meetings at once on a single device.

These inspiring submissions not only highlight the ingenuity and innovative spirit of Cisco’s partners, but also show how doing good for the world is good for business.  This new category also helped to drive a 68% increase in partner submissions in this year’s competition, exemplifying the deep alignment between Cisco and our partners to achieve business goals while supporting and driving social and environmental transformation.

Congratulations to all this year’s winners. I am excited to see how our partners combine innovation with purpose for the Partnering for Purpose category in 2024.

Learn more about the Partner Innovation Challenge on SalesConnect and read the blog announcing the 2023 Partner Innovation Challenge winners.

Learn more about Partnering for Purpose on SalesConnect

We’d love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with #CiscoPartners on social!

Cisco Partners Facebook  |  @CiscoPartners Twitter  |  Cisco Partners LinkedIn

  We were excited to introduce a new Partnering for Purpose category in our 6th annual global Partner Innovation Challenge. The new category awards $25K (USD) prizes to partners that best showcase how they are integrating innovation with purpose within four areas of focus.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

In her blog “Cisco Live is the time to jump into the future. Together.” Jacqui Guichelaar, SVP and General Manager, Cisco APJC, talks about how excited she is for Cisco Live Melbourne in December. I c… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

In her blog “Cisco Live is the time to jump into the future. Together.” Jacqui Guichelaar, SVP and General Manager, Cisco APJC, talks about how excited she is for Cisco Live Melbourne in December. I couldn’t agree more. Jacqui did a fantastic job previewing the event and providing an overview of several different areas where CX will make a splash this year. I’m here today to give you a glimpse of which specific CX demos you can experience at Cisco Live.

With a dozen CX demos throughout the event, let’s get you ready to explore and start accelerating your business outcomes.

CX Stand

Here are the demos you will find inside the CX stand in Melbourne:

Lifecycle Services (LCS)

Achieve business outcomes faster through AI and machine learning insights, tools, continuous measurement, automation, and expert-led delivery. We can help you reduce risk, minimize costs, and optimize your productivity.

Automation

Enhance your productivity and reduce your risk. Cisco offers solutions to simplify and speed up delivery with automation services. Our solutions are easy to consume and can be easily tailored to your needs. Let the experts in the CX stand show you how.

Success Tracks/CX Cloud

Success Tracks enabled by CX Cloud helps improve your operational efficiency and reduce risk by providing a 360-degree view of your entire network. Proactive digital insights let you remove roadblocks using expert best practices and boost your staff’s productivity and skills with learning resources.

Security

Explore the range of CX Security services that help maximize the benefits of Cisco XDR. Across the board, Cisco’s fully customized service solutions cover your XDR deployment across the detect, correlate, and respond spectrum. Let our experts walk you through it from end to end.

TAC Innovations

Cisco TAC leads the way with innovations that have revolutionized the industry. The team’s top priorities are simplicity, speed, and efficiency when solving your IT issues. Learn more about how self-service automated support workflows can reduce your time to final resolution.

Customer Success

Discover how adopting Cisco software and services helps simplify your operations, cut costs, grow productivity, and save you time – all while accelerating your business outcomes. These demos will explore adoption programs that span networking, security, data centers, and our unified digital platforms.

Cisco Community

One of the most visited Cisco digital properties is Cisco Community, serving more than 1.4 million visitors each month, and supported in seven languages. Learn more about this trusted, online, peer-to-peer community and knowledge hub where you always have access to real-time answers.

Partner Framework

Finally, don’t miss the opportunity to talk to the Cisco partner team. The CX Partner Framework covers all the activities that help partners achieve customer goals through the adoption of Cisco solutions. Partner Lifecycle Services helps partners build out branded partner support services. Partners can publish their own service offerings through Partner Experience Cloud. Stop by the CX stand to learn more.

Of course, that’s just what we have going on within the CX stand. We also have three more demos taking place in the Cisco Showcase. CX Security services will not only be featured in our CX Stand, you’ll also find a CX Security demo in the Showcase. In addition to Security, the Cisco Showcase will feature CX demos for Service Providers with a focus on our CX Test Automation Manager (CXTM), which provides easy-to-use automation. Finally, you’ll find a networking demo in the Showcase, where you can engage with CX expert advisors to unleash the value of Cisco Catalyst Centre to expedite the delivery of all new capabilities and services.

Finally, last but certainly not least, head over to the Sustainability Zone to see just how CX helps achieve sustainability objectives. Our experts provide a vendor-agnostic approach, and we can help you reduce emissions, reduce costs, improve resource efficiency, reduce waste, and much, much more. We start by listening to you to learn exactly where you are on your sustainability journey and then develop an executable roadmap to get you where you want to go.

We have so much we want to share with you this year at Cisco Live Melbourne. I’ll be in the CX stand as much as I can. I hope to see you there, but if not, feel free to leave me a comment or a question here and we’ll be in touch.

Let’s Jump into the Future. Together.

  With a dozen CX demos throughout Cisco Live Melbourne, let’s get you ready to explore and start accelerating your business outcomes.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Demand for flawless application experiences

Consumer expectations for seamless digital experiences have been rising steadily for several years. As the world’s most innovative brands deliver i… Read more on Cisco Blogs

​

Demand for flawless application experiences

Consumer expectations for seamless digital experiences have been rising steadily for several years. As the world’s most innovative brands deliver increasingly intuitive and personalized digital experiences, people now are questioning why other applications and digital services aren’t performing at the same level. 

 This trend has accelerated dramatically since the pandemic. In our latest research, The App Attention Index 2023: Beware the Application Generation, 62% of consumers claim that their expectations for digital experiences are far higher now than they were just two years ago. During the pandemic, consumers were grateful for brands whose applications were a lifeline to normality throughout what was a challenging period for so many. However now, there is only a sense of expectation and deep frustration when these digital services don’t perform as they should. 

 Our latest study of more than 15,000 global consumers reveals how these sentiments are amplified amongst younger people, aged 18-34—what we’re calling “The Application Generation.” Attitudes and behaviors toward digital services have evolved very differently for this group, and it’s presenting a huge challenge for organizations in all industries.  

Understanding the Application Generation

Here are three key takeaways from the research—things that every application owner urgently needs to understand about The Application Generation: 

They may be the heaviest users of digital services—using an average of 41 different applications every month—but younger consumers are more mindful about their use of applications. 67% report that they are looking to limit the number of applications they are using. The Application Generation is constantly evaluating the relevance and value of digital services, and they think hard before downloading new applications.
The Application Generation is eagerly crying out for innovation, always looking for the next evolution in applications and digital services. They want to push the boundaries in their use of applications and feel like they are benefiting from the most cutting-edge technologies. They pride themselves on enjoying the most intuitive, personalized, seamless and secure digital experiences.
The Application Generation is totally unforgiving toward brands who deliver bad digital experiences. These consumers feel disrespected if an application doesn’t perform as it should and they look for immediate retribution. On average, they’ve deleted as many as seven applications as a result of bad digital experiences in the last 12 months, and 70% report they’re now more likely to warn other people against using digital services that don’t perform. 

Application disruption and downtime is on the rise

Given these high expectations, it’s alarming that 94% of consumers aged 18-34 report they have encountered at least one poorly performing application in the past year. While expectations for digital experiences are soaring, instances of application disruption and downtime are actually rising (up from 83% in 2021).  

Application owners need to act decisively to ensure their applications and digital services are operating at peak performance at all times—otherwise they risk seeing a whole generation of consumers walk away. 

Application observability is crucial for organizations to deliver always-on, seamless digital experiences. It brings IT teams together to identify and understand application availability, performance and security issues. By correlating application data with real-time business metrics, application observability allows them to prioritize actions based on customer and business impact. 

Cisco is uniquely positioned to help our customers to meet the needs of The Application Generation. As a leading provider of Application Observability and Application Performance Monitoring technology, Cisco AppDynamics helps customers observe what matters inside and beyond their IT environments. Combined with the power of Cisco Observabilty Platform, AppDynamics enables organizations to deliver exceptional user experiences by centralizing and correlating data into contextualized insights of key business metrics – providing them with the power to prioritize actions based on business needs. 

Read The App Attention Index 2023: Beware the Application Generation

  The Application Generations expectations are higher than ever and their tolerance for bad digital experiences is non-existent. Cisco Full-Stack Observability solutions enable organizations to deliver exceptional digital experiences.  Read More Cisco Blogs