Four and a half years ago, I came into Partner Performance with one primary goal – simplifying a complex environment. I know that goal resonates with many of our partners across the globe!

But to t… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Four and a half years ago, I came into Partner Performance with one primary goal – simplifying a complex environment. I know that goal resonates with many of our partners across the globe!

But to take on a massive transformation, we needed partners to be with us at each step along the way. We launched the Cisco Partner Experience Platform – or PXP – as the first stage in our simplification journey. But PXP has to be many things to drive impact for our partners! And while we have come a long way since its inception, the guiding principles still hold true:

We innovate together with our partners. Co-development and early trials are key!
We don’t just “lift and shift” processes and tools; we reinvent them to be better than ever before.

Today, 60% of the tools we evaluated have been eliminated, merged, or reworked into PXP. Together with our partners, we have not only continued to deliver on simplification, but we’ve also expanded the innovation and value that PXP provides to:

Support Partner Growth

New insights pinpoint whitespace, cross-sell, and up-sell opportunities
Drive recurring revenues with insights into customer lifecycle adoption, services upsell opportunities, and leveraging more automated processes
Understand co-sell and enable an ecosystem practice approach

Optimize Profitability

Use practice maturity and dynamic integrated planning to know where to focus efforts now and clearly understand future opportunities
360-degree insights into incentive utilization and, more importantly, missed opportunities
LCI telemetry innovation to achieve customer software adoption

Drive productivity

Provide Cisco Partner Journeys to enable agility, acceleration, and enablement of effective Cisco partner practices from incubation to revenue production
Innovative Disti Partner View (DPV) – that promotes business development support for two-tier partners in collaboration with their designated distributor for unprecedented access to new market opportunities
A holistic view of funds management directly from Cisco to reduce the need for third-party or internal administrative resource support

Cisco Partner Summit 2023

With Cisco Partner Summit 2023 a couple of weeks away, I wanted to underscore your importance to Cisco! We aspire to provide you with the industry-leading Partner Relationship Management (PRM) experience. And we (co-)developed PXP and continue to evolve with your success at the center of all we do!

While at Partner Summit, either in-person or watching the Live Digital Broadcast, l encourage you to learn even more about what’s new and next:

Refresh your knowledge with me and my team at the Partner Performance and Experience Auxiliary session on Monday, November 6th
Learn more across the event with:
Chuck Robbins, on the main stage during the Day 1 Global Insights Session
Jeff Sharritts, Oliver Tuszik, myself, and other leaders in the Day 2 Global Insights Session
Business Impact Session on Automation and Insights (BIS08)

Make sure you visit the Cisco Partner Launch Experience for even more news and content announced at Partner Summit

Our commitment is to you, our partners. I truly believe we have the greatest partner community in the industry, and I believe that we are at our best when we work as one to become Greater Together!

Register for the Cisco Partner Summit 2023 Live Digital Broadcast here!

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

  Today, 60% of the tools we evaluated have been eliminated, merged, or reworked into PXP. Together with our partners, we have not only continued to deliver on simplification, but we’ve also expanded the innovation and value that PXP provides.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Research from Cisco AppDynamics, The Age of Application Observability, tells us that teams have reached a tipping point as they look to tackle complexity and deal with fractured IT domains, tool… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Research from Cisco AppDynamics, The Age of Application Observability, tells us that teams have reached a tipping point as they look to tackle complexity and deal with fractured IT domains, tool sprawl, and ever-growing demands from customers and end users for flawless, performant, and secure digital experiences.

There is also an emerging consensus that observability is a mandatory component of the solution. The report reveals that 85% of IT leaders now see observability as a strategic priority. Observability allows teams to ask questions about the state of IT systems and to get insights into the applications and supporting systems that keep a business running, derived from the telemetry data they collectively produce.

As we look to a new era of insight, one in which teams are evolving from reactive to proactive by correlating that telemetry with business outcomes, Cisco Full-Stack Observability offers a transformative model. It helps teams identify the root cause of digital-experience disrupting scenarios even before they happen – with or without human intervention – and prioritize prescriptive actions in response.

The age of observability

Observability is the path to a more federated view among teams and processes. But do teams see it as worth the necessary investment in time and resources? The Cisco AppDynamics report tells us that they believe it is.

While almost half (44%) of report participants say new innovation initiatives are being delivered with cloud native technologies – and they expect this figure to climb to 58% over the next five years – the vast majority (83%) acknowledge that this is leading to increased complexity.

There is agreement among respondents that observability can help resolve this complexity. And there is almost universal consensus that the journey to observability is rooted in common challenges.

According to the report, 92% agree that hybrid environments are here to stay.
Nearly three-quarters (78%) say the volume of data makes manual
Cloud cost is creeping with 81% indicating heightened scrutiny on cloud investments

The recognition of these and other matters outlined in the report has brought with it an important shift in perspective. Business leaders strongly support observability plans and recognize that the journey to observability is well underway.

This is confirmed by the report, with 89% saying their organization’s expectations around observability are increasing. Even for organizations that are early in the observability journey, steps are being taken toward accelerating full stack observability as a foundation for future success.

Invest in the right tools (not more tools)

Monitoring is not observability, yet 64% of those surveyed admit they find it difficult to differentiate between observability and monitoring solutions. They say it is common to adopt more monitoring tools as more hybrid infrastructure is brought online and in support of expanded services and reach.

Many IT departments are deploying separate tools, for example, to monitor on-premises and cloud native applications, which means they don’t have a clear view of the entire application path.

The solution is not another tool, adding additional latency, complexity, and cost. The way forward is to invest in an observability solution that has the power to help consolidate, simplify, transform, and automate.

Essentially, by bridging the gap between business and technology worlds, this changes the conversation.

According to the report, 88% of respondents say observability with business context will enable them to become more strategic and spend more time on innovation. They understand that it’s a revenue-generating, organization-optimizing investment.

Adjust processes accordingly

While success requires the right tools, it also requires a change to the processes that underpin them. How departments are structured, staffed, and resourced. How teams communicate, and when. The fact is that processes and behaviors have always lagged the pace of technology.

According to the report, 36% of respondents believe this is contributing to the loss of IT talent. Nearly half say this trend will continue if leaders don’t find new ways to break down silos between IT and business domains.

Eight out of ten surveyed point to an increase in silos due to managing multi-cloud and hybrid environments, and less than one-third (31%) report ongoing collaboration between their IT operations and security teams. The majority agree that the biggest barrier to collaboration between IT teams is the use of technology and tools which reinforce these silos.

Cisco Full-Stack Observability provides a foundation for digital transformation – which respondents agree will continue to accelerate as the driving force behind every enterprise – in part by streamlining IT operations so teams can collaborate to optimize digital experiences.

The new strategic priority

Observability is now understood as a new way to foster cross-domain collaboration, supporting new ways of working together, and incentivizing better business outcomes. This means, for example, that teams can align digital experiences with profit, compliance, growth, and delivery time.

The Cisco report brings into focus the fast pace of hybrid adoption in the enterprise, and the technical challenges that follow. This is where Cisco Observability Platform really shines. It brings together the rich telemetry data generated by normal business operations, offering solutions that make it understandable and correlating it with business objectives in a usable way.

Teams are acutely aware that the road to digital transformation is paved with new challenges, but they also recognize that managing and mitigating these issues means getting on that path sooner. Cisco Full-Stack Observability is the answer.

  Fractured IT domains, tool sprawl, and ever-growing demands from customers and end users for flawless, performant, and secure digital experiences has created a tipping point for IT leaders. Cisco Full-Stack Observability is the solution.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Shrink in retail, and more specifically, theft & fraud components, have long been accepted as a cost of doing business. In the last few years, we have seen both consumer and associate theft & fraud… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Shrink in retail, and more specifically, theft & fraud components, have long been accepted as a cost of doing business. In the last few years, we have seen both consumer and associate theft & fraud explode. To the point where big-name retailers have closed higher risk stores that have been deemed unsustainable, due to the levels of loss. 

Some retailers, determined to stay in a particular market have taken the approach of placing nearly all products behind plexiglass, which results in a truly horrible shopping experience for consumers, which cannot help flagging revenue and requires additional staff to open and re-secure displays. In a time where labor is one of the largest issues in the industry, working in an environment like that cannot help to attract or retain associates.  

Speaking at a retail industry event recently, I quipped that I need to stop referring to Loss Prevention, because it really doesn’t prevent anything. Instead, we should refer to the traditional approach as Loss Recording, which evoked chuckles in the room.  

Today, Loss teams may invest tens of hours reviewing video in an attempt to confirm a suspicion that something nefarious may have happened – it is costly and time consuming, and it has very little effect on the problem. Less than 1% of all video recordings are even reviewed, so retailers are paying to store all that content too. Loss teams are not immune to the labor challenges either – loss is tracking exponential growth and the staff to investigate is reducing, creating an ever-widening gap. 

Active loss & fraud detection

So how do we move from passive loss & fraud recording to active loss & fraud detection? While we will never eradicate loss, we can take a bite out of certain types of loss – Integrating SmartCameras running video analytics with the Point of Sale allows us to use AI to review higher risk transactions, such as returns, voids, refunds, and gift card activations, amongst others, and “look for” suspicious behaviors at the time and location of the transaction. For example, flagging these transactions if there is no customer present in front of the counter. Could there be cases where there may not be a customer right there at the time? Of course. However, if the system can identify the exact moment the suspicious transaction occurred and flag that for human review, this allows the loss teams to be more effective and targeted with the limited labor available. This approach can also be used to look for other actions, such as under-scan, by reconciling the number of items placed on the counter or belt with the number of on the POS T-log to look for discrepancies. 

While most retailers will not interfere when the theft is being perpetrated by a consumer, for obvious safety reasons, the intelligence it provides may allow the retailer to take mitigating actions, such as limiting self-check use during periods of the day or week, which have shown to have a higher loss rate, forcing consumers to use a staffed lane.  

While this will not prevent all theft and fraud, we can start to lessen the impact in some key areas and ensure staff is being effectively leveraged – any measurable reduction in what is a $100Bn problem, could significantly move the needle on this problem. 

Check out our use case on Portfolio Explorer for more information. 

  The current $100B problem today for retailers? Theft & fraud, see how Cisco can help.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

Jason Button leads the Cisco Security and Trust Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) organization. He was formerly the director of IT at Duo Security, a company Cisco acquired in 2018, making him uniquely… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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Jason Button leads the Cisco Security and Trust Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) organization. He was formerly the director of IT at Duo Security, a company Cisco acquired in 2018, making him uniquely positioned to lend his expertise to the M&A process. This blog is the continuation of a series focused on M&A cybersecurity listed at the end of this post.

This latest blog post will revisit the topic of Moving Left to Right: Cybersecurity Practices and Outcomes in M&A Due Diligence and lessons learned from implementing Cisco’s M&A Cybersecurity Framework last year.

Size Matters 

In this year alone, Cisco has made ten acquisition announcements, ranging from small, agile start-ups to well-established, publicly traded companies. The varying size and complexity of the companies we’re looking to acquire entail that we identify, assess, and adjust for risk differently.

Our M&A Cybersecurity Framework has allowed us to scale and streamline our discovery and risk assessment processes to better align with the level of security risk a deal poses. Using standard security guardrails, tooling, systems information, and other automated processes to screen and assess non-integrated risks, we can draft a Discovery Risk Assessment earlier, thereby freeing up teams to focus on assessing more complex acquisitions and potentially greater security risks.

Accelerating Integration 

Right-sizing your risk assessment approach has additional benefits, including the ability to identify areas of integration risk to accelerate integration after the deal closes. An example is the Valtix acquisition earlier this year, where we conducted an aggressive and thorough discovery investigation to close the deal before the end of April. The driving factor was the opportunity to debut an essential product integration demonstration in early June at Cisco Live, our flagship customer event.

To meet this timeline, we needed to ensure that the security risk was manageable and that we had stakeholder buy-in. We worked closely with cross-functional teams to identify and prioritize risk mitigation so that we could meet our commitment. By having a robust framework in place, we were able to accelerate the integration process while enabling the Valtix team to be more effective and productive in a short amount of time.

Another lesson we’ve learned is prioritizing visibility into the acquired infrastructure earlier in the process. Deploying tools like Wiz.io and JuniperOne helps educate us about new environments and allows us to identify risks sooner. This is significant when triaging and prioritizing efforts between the company being acquired and the business it will be absorbed into. For the Armorblox and SamKnows acquisitions, we were able to focus on high-priority risks and spend less time spreading efforts across multiple work streams. Having a framework that helps us prioritize risks is what’s most important and ultimately makes for better, more secure products.

Looking Back to Power Forward 

Another important lesson learned this year was how to apply the M&A framework to re-visit previous acquisitions to assess and understand risk. Going through this process without time constraints or diligence pressures allowed us to hone our investigative methods and refine our practices. For example, we worked with the Meraki team, a mature organization that was acquired over ten years ago and a significant contributor to Cisco’s portfolio. We combed through a decade’s worth of data to inform how we could simplify and streamline key areas of our integration framework and improve our overall security stance. 

Securely Enabling Business Growth 

One of the driving factors for Cisco to acquire companies is to identify and invest in new innovations that will improve the security and performance of our solution portfolio. The M&A Cybersecurity team works closely with Cisco’s Corporate Development Integration team to assess and manage risk throughout the discovery, diligence, and integration process.

The M&A Cybersecurity Framework has been a valuable tool to ensure that business, engineering, and operations leaders align and focus on integration well before the deal closes. Operational alignment with IT, Security, and other functions has helped surface important issues, such as addressing workflows and user and customer identities before the integration process. We’ve also found that by elevating security early in the M&A process, we’re helping the business remove obstacles that could get in the way of business goals and achieve its value drivers faster, which leads to accelerated business growth.

Earning and Maintaining Trust 

Leadership expert Simon Sinek has frequently stated, “A team is not a group of people who work together.  A team is a group of people who trust each other.”

Our M&A Cybersecurity Framework is a valuable tool to help securely enable the mergers and acquisition process. However, you can’t underestimate the personal factors needed to make it a success. Building trust across a team takes time and requires focusing on developing relationships, being empathetic, and demonstrating respect for a company’s culture.

The press release announcing Cisco’s intention to acquire Splunk cited one of the key value propositions: “Unites two “Great Places to Work” with similar values, strong cultures, and talented teams.” The M&A process is much more than the intellectual property and technology being acquired; the human capital and cultural strengths are often the most valuable assets.

Looking back this year, my colleague Mo Iqbal summed it up best, “We can’t understand the technologies until we understand the people and culture that enabled them to be so successful.”

If you are interested in learning more, please read More than an Asset: The People Side of Mergers & Acquisitions.

Additional Resources 

Mergers and Acquisitions Cyber Risk Management

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Related Blogs 

Managing Cybersecurity Risk in M&A

Demonstrating Trust and Transparency in Mergers and Acquisitions

When It Comes to M&A, Security Is a Journey

Making Merger and Acquisition Cybersecurity More Manageable

Ensuring Security in M&A: An Evolution, Not Revolution

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

Cisco Secure Social Channels

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  This M&A blog is a continuation of a blog series that was launched last year during Cybersec Month that are referenced in the blog copy. We will be posting a second blog as a look back since publishing the framework last year.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

More data does not mean better observability

If you’re familiar with observability, you know most teams have a “data problem.” That is, observability data has exploded as teams have modernized their a… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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More data does not mean better observability

If you’re familiar with observability, you know most teams have a “data problem.” That is, observability data has exploded as teams have modernized their application stacks and embraced microservices architectures.

If you had unlimited storage, it’d be feasible to ingest all your metrics, events, logs, and traces (MELT data) in a centralized observability platform . However, that is simply not the case. Instead, teams index large volumes of data – some portions being regularly used and others not. Then, teams have to decide whether datasets are worth keeping or should be discarded altogether.

For the past few months I’ve been playing with a tool called Edge Delta to see how it might help IT and DevOps teams to solve this problem by providing a new way to collect, transform, and route your data before it is indexed in a downstream platform, like AppDynamics or Cisco Full-Stack Observability.

What is Edge Delta?

You can use Edge Delta to create observability pipelines or analyze your data from their backend. Typically, observability starts by shipping all your raw data to central service before you begin analysis. In essence, Edge Delta helps you flip this model on its head. Said another way, Edge Delta analyzes your data as it’s created at the source. From there, you can create observability pipelines that route processed data and lightweight analytics to your observability platform.

Why might this approach be advantageous? Today, teams don’t have a ton of clarity into their data before it’s ingested in an observability platform. Nor do they have control over how that data is treated or flexibility over where the data lives.

By pushing data processing upstream, Edge Delta enables a new kind of architecture where teams can have…

Transparency into their data: “How valuable is this dataset, and how do we use it?”
Controls to drive usability: “What is the ideal shape of that data?”
Flexibility to route processed data anywhere: “Do we need this data in our observability platform for real-time analysis, or archive storage for compliance?”

The net benefit here is that you’re allocating your resources towards the right data in its optimal shape and location based on your use case.

How I used Edge Delta

Over the past few weeks, I’ve explored a couple different use cases with Edge Delta.

Analyzing NGINX log data from the Edge Delta interface

First, I wanted to use the Edge Delta console to analyze my log data. To do so, deployed the Edge Delta agent on a Kubernetes cluster running NGINX. From here, I sent both valid and invalid http requests to generate log data and observed the output via Edge Delta’s pre-built dashboards.

Among the most useful screens was “Patterns.” This feature clusters together repetitive loglines, so I can easily interpret each unique log message, understand how frequently it occurs, and whether I should investigate it further.

Edge Delta’s Patterns feature makes it easy to interpret data by clustering
together repetitive log messages and provides analytics around each event.

Creating pipelines with Syslog data

Second, I wanted to manipulate data in flight using Edge Delta observability pipelines. Here, I installed the Edge Delta agent on my Mac OS. Then I exported Syslog data from my Cisco ISR1100 to my Mac.

From within the Edge Delta interface, I configured the agent to listen on the appropriate TCP and UDP ports. Now, I can apply processor nodes to transform (and otherwise manipulate) my data before it hits my downstream analytics platform.

Specifically, I applied the following processors:

Mask node to obfuscate sensitive data. Here, I replaced social security numbers in my log data with the string ‘REDACTED’.
Regex filter node which passes along or discards data based on the regex pattern. For this example, I wanted to exclude DEBUG level logs from downstream storage.
Log to metric node for extracting metrics from my log data. The metrics can be ingested downstream in lieu of raw data to support real-time monitoring use cases. I captured metrics to track the rate of errors, exceptions, and negative sentiment logs.
Log to pattern node which I alluded to in the section above. This creates “patterns” from my data by grouping together similar loglines for easier interpretation and less noise.

Through Edge Delta’s Pipelines interface, you can apply processors
to your data and route it to different destinations.

For now all of this is being routed to the Edge Delta backend. However, Edge Delta is vendor-agnostic and I can route processed data to different destinations – like AppDynamics or Cisco Full-Stack Observability – in a matter of clicks.

Conclusion

If you’re interested in learning more about Edge Delta, you can visit their website (edgedelta.com). From here, you can deploy your own agent and ingest up to 10GB per day for free. Also, check out our video on the YouTube DevNet channel to see the steps above in action. Feel free to post your questions about my configuration below.

Related resources

Learn more about Cisco Full-Stack Observability
Learn more about AppDynamics

  Observable data has exploded as teams modernize their application stacks and embraced microservices architectures. Learn how Edge Delta helps IT and DevOps teams with a new way to collect, transform, and route your data before it is indexed in a downstream platform.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

NetWitness and Cisco released the fourth annual Findings Report from the RSA ConferenceTM 2023 Security Operations Center (SOC).

The RSA Conference­ SOC analyzes the Moscone Center wireless traffic, w… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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NetWitness and Cisco released the fourth annual Findings Report from the RSA ConferenceTM 2023 Security Operations Center (SOC).

The RSA Conference™­ SOC analyzes the Moscone Center wireless traffic, which is an open network during the week of the Conference.

The role of the SOC at RSA Conference is an educational exhibit sponsored by NetWitness and Cisco. It has elements of a SOC like you would create to protect an organization. The RSAC SOC coordinated with the Moscone Center Network Operation Center for a SPAN (Switched Port Analyzer is a dedicated port on a switch that takes a mirrored copy of network traffic from within the switch to be sent to a destination) of the network traffic from the Moscone Center wireless network.

In the SOC, NetWitness had real time visibility of the traffic traversing the wireless network. Cisco provided automated malware analysis, Talos threat intelligence, DNS visibility and Intrusion Detection; brought together with Cisco XDR. Our thanks to community and corporate partners threat intelligence partners, including alphaMountain.ai, IBM X-Force Exchange, Pulsedive and Recorded Future.

Check out this video inside the SOC

The goal of the RSAC SOC is to use technology to educate conference attendees about what happens on a typical wireless network. The education comes in the form of daily SOC tours and an RSA ConferenceTM session. You can watch the replay of the ‘EXPOSURE: The 4th Annual RSAC SOC Report’ session.

The findings report addresses several security topics, as Cybersecurity Awareness Month is a good time to review your best practices, including:

Technology Used in The RSAC SOC
The Data and examples of Insecurity
Integration And Threat Hunting
Malware Analysis
Domain Name Server (DNS)
Intrusion Detection with the Firewall

Download the RSA ConferenceTM 2023 Security Operations Center Findings Report. You can also view the 2022 report.

Look forward to seeing you in May 2024!

Acknowledgements: Our appreciation to those who made the RSAC SOC possible.

NetWitness Staff

Steve Fink

Dave Glover

Iain Davison

Alessandro Zatti

Coody Spooner

Bart Stump

BJ Deonarain

Joseph Murphy

Theodore Hanibal

Kalyan Ramkumar

Cisco Staff

Jessica Bair Oppenheimer                    Cisco SOC Manager

Ian Redden                                          Team Lead & Integrations

Aditya Sankar / Ben Greenbaum           Cisco XDR, Secure Cloud Analytics & Malware Analytics

Alejo Calaoagan / Christian Clasen       Cisco Umbrella

Dinkar Sharma / Adam Kilgore              Cisco Secure Firewall

Brian McMahon                                    Threat Wall

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

Cisco Secure Social Channels

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  Learn how to better protect your privacy and your organization's sensitive data with the RSAC 2023 SOC Findings report.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

What does it mean to be your whole self at work? Is it showcasing your allyship button or favorite tattoo? Is it wearing your natural curly hair or dressing more casually? For most, being their… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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What does it mean to be your whole self at work? Is it showcasing your allyship button or favorite tattoo? Is it wearing your natural curly hair or dressing more casually? For most, being their authentic self is an expression of their culture, identity, language, experience with power dynamics, and more. Employees feel included, seen, heard, and valued when they are empowered to show up as their authentic selves.

During Global Diversity Awareness Month, it’s important to highlight how authenticity and belonging in the workplace affect employee engagement and well-being. I recently spoke with Dr. Ángel Vélez (He/Him/His), DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Consultant at Cisco. For him, authenticity and belonging are critical to achieving Cisco’s collective purpose of Powering an Inclusive Future for All. With over 12 years of DEI experience, Dr. Vélez intentionally shows up as his full self to serve as a blueprint for others who may not feel empowered to do the same.

Tell us about yourself.

Dr. Ángel Vélez

My name is Dr. Ángel Vélez (pronounced: Ah-n-hell Veh-lez). I’m a cisgender Afro-Puerto Rican man born and raised in Yauco, Puerto Rico, but currently living in Chicago, Illinois. I take pride in being a first-generation college graduate, which fuels my drive to address the many disparities that prohibit equitable access to quality education. I’ve taught courses in African/African American Studies, Latin/Latin American Studies, and Asian/Asian American Studies and led support programs for first generation underrepresented students of color.

October is Global Diversity Awareness Month. What does Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion mean to you, and what inspired you to work in this field?

DEI concepts represent the cornerstone of a just and fair society where everyone is valued, respected, and empowered to thrive. My firsthand experiences of growing up low-income, Black, and Puerto Rican have ignited my passion for working in DEI. Having witnessed the profound impact of discrimination and exclusion on myself and others, I am committed to creating a more equitable and inclusive world.

Diversity involves recognizing and celebrating individual differences, such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic background, disability, and more.
Equity goes beyond equality and acknowledges that everyone has unique needs and challenges to overcome. It aims to create fair and just systems that provide equal opportunities for everyone to succeed. By dismantling the structural and systemic barriers that hinder specific individuals or communities, equity ensures everyone can access resources, support, and representation.
Inclusion creates spaces where everyone feels a sense of belonging, regardless of their backgrounds or identities. It fosters a culture of respect, openness, and acceptance, where diverse voices are heard, actively sought out, and valued.

How do you show up authentically?

Dr. Ángel Vélez and his family.

My tagline on LinkedIn is “Skilled at Being Authentic” because I believe I’ve mastered being comfortable in my skin. Although I am here now, that wasn’t always the case. For years, I over-emphasized my appearance to look “less threatening” in professional spaces. Showing up authentically means showing my tattoos, wearing Jordans, speaking in Spanglish, and using urban culture and expression everywhere I go.

I began to flourish once I acknowledged there was nothing inherently wrong with growing up poor and urban. Like Tupac’s poem once said, “I am the rose that grew from concrete.” It serves as a metaphor for individuals who rise above challenging circumstances and succeed against all odds.

Why do you believe there is resistance that prevents folks from showing up authentically in the workplace–especially for historically excluded and underrepresented communities?

Fear of change is one of the primary reasons for resistance to DEI solutions. It can be uncomfortable and threatening for those who benefit from existing systems of privilege and control. Additionally, many people fail to recognize the benefits of diverse perspectives, such as better business outcomes and higher performing teams.

In addition, unconscious biases, deep-seated stereotypes, and prejudices can create obstacles for individuals to express themselves authentically without fear of judgment or discrimination. This includes things like microaggressions, which are subtle yet damaging discriminatory comments or actions that undermine the sense of belonging and authenticity of people with varied identities.

Lastly, the fear of retaliation or reprisal for speaking up about DEI issues can prevent individuals from showing up authentically. This fear may arise due to concerns about job security, professional reputation, or adverse consequences within the workplace.

What advice do you have for people not feeling empowered or welcome to show up as themselves?

Identify communities where you can find support and connect with individuals who share similar experiences, which can provide a sense of belonging and empowerment. Cisco’s Inclusive Communities space is a great place where I am comfortable being myself. As an Afro-Latinx man, I enjoy spending my time with the Connected Black Professionals (CBP) and Conexión.
Find allies, mentors, and sponsors who can guide, advise, and advocate for you in the workplace. Having leaders who can use their social capital to help amplify your voice and your career is critical. At Cisco, our sponsorship solution, The Multiplier Effect (TME), holds leaders accountable for sponsoring diverse Cisconians who are different from themselves.
Focus on your strengths, accomplishments, and the value you bring to the workplace. Confidence in your values can help you overcome barriers and show up authentically. I am my greatest advocate because I know what I bring to the business.

Be You, With Us

Don’t wait to unlock your full potential. Join over 2,500 Cisconians who have used DEI Events & Programs and accumulated an estimated 34,000 hours of structured DEI learning. Cisco’s Commitment to DEI is designed to help you embrace your authentic voice and be your best self.

  Cisco DE&I consultant, Dr. Ángel Vélez, shares his throughs on fostering diverse corporate spaces.  Read More Cisco Blogs 

What does it take to be greater together? Find out at this year’s highly anticipated Cisco Partner Summit 2023, November 6-9th!

Join us at our premier event with the very appropriate theme of &… Read more on Cisco Blogs

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What does it take to be greater together? Find out at this year’s highly anticipated Cisco Partner Summit 2023, November 6-9th!

Join us at our premier event with the very appropriate theme of “Greater Together,” held in-person in Miami Beach, Florida, and online. Prepare for an immersive experience that promises executive insights, enriching content, and invaluable networking opportunities. Rest assured that all registered Cisco partners will have the opportunity to participate in and appreciate these hallmark features, making this event truly exceptional.

These are important moments to show you, our valued partners, how we are Greater Together, how we are setting the pace of innovation, helping our joint customers achieve their desired business outcomes, and how this translates into your growth and profitability.

For a comprehensive overview of CX at Partner Summit, we have developed the CX@PS23 eBook for you. Don’t miss out on the following:

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  What does it take to be greater together? Find out at this year’s highly anticipated Cisco Partner Summit 2023, November 6-9th!  Read More Cisco Blogs " aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">CX Keynote on Day 2, Wednesday, November 8, from 9–10:30 a.m.
BIS01: Partnering For Your CX Success: Unleashing Innovation and Accelerating Transformation – Wednesday, November 8 from 11–11:45 a.m.
BIS15: Put The Wind in Your Sales: Charting a Course To Recurring Revenue Growth – Tuesday, November 7, from 3:45 – 4:30 p.m.

Additionally, we encourage you to prepare for the event by immersing yourself in our CX Partner Perspectives Podcast and exploring the plethora of resources available on SuccessHub.

This is the moment we have been eagerly waiting for – an unparalleled opportunity to unite and share how we are Greater Together – CX and Partners!

Register for the Cisco Partner Summit 2023 Live Digital Broadcast

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