Tom Arbuthnot: Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. We are in person this time. I love recording an in-person podcast. Uh, we're at the London Cisco HQ, recently renovated, amazing, um, about to host the London user group here as well, which is really exciting. Um, we've got Pratik. Uh, do you wanna just, uh, give us a... For those that don't know you, I think most people in the community know you by now.

You've been on the show before. Yes. But give us an intro and your current role. 

Pratik Chanda: Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, Pratik Chanda, based in the US, but I look after our global channels devices business and go-to-market, specifically around our Micr- Microsoft partnership, um, and now with our broader sort of open platform discussions around Zoom and others, and it's really driving that AV ecosystem into understanding how Cisco works and how to sort of remove barriers as we go to market.

So, thanks for being here. Thanks for hosting the user group here and, um, hopefully everybody has a good time this evening. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Yeah, no, it's gonna be really good. I'm really looking forward to it. So, um, there's so many directions we can go in and, uh, I... You know, you're one of the people I go to quite often to get a perspective on not just what's going on at Cisco, but in the industry.

Pratik Chanda: Yes. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Um, maybe that's a good place to start. Like, what... You had a- amazing numbers recently. Like, it feels like a lot of growth, like very substantial growth in the Teams element of your devices business as well. Correct. Um, talk us through some of that. 

Pratik Chanda: Yeah, so I mean, uh, I'll share as much as I can, uh, without getting into too much detail.

So as we sort of look at from where we were what, three years ago now, when we sort of announced this partnership with Microsoft, um, we're sort of the fastest growing, if not one of the top two fastest growing OEMs now I think a few quarters in a row. When you look at the adoption, when you look at our analysts and where we're sort of being positioned, it's really encouraging to see that we're actually in the far top right corner, um, whether it's Frost or Omdia or IDC, right?

And that's sort of telling on where we've come as a partnership, right? That sort of better together story, and I think that's the piece where- When we look at our customers who sort of moved away because we didn't have a Teams Room solution, are rather openly coming back to us saying, "Hey, we always loved Cisco hardware," which still holds true.

Tom Arbuthnot: Mm-hmm. 

Pratik Chanda: And the good news is our partner ecosystem says the same thing, right? Everybody you talk to, they say, "Hey, you have the best devices on the market," right? No one's debating that. Um, so I'm really encouraged to see where we are. I still think we have room to grow in terms of the simplicity aspect and to removing some of the complexity on doing business with Cisco, and that as a commitment we're working on.

Um, but yeah, it's truly encouraged. I mean, the numbers are fantastic. We had the best year ever in the history of Cisco. Um, I think we're allowed to say we're sort of crossed almost a billion dollars in devices, uh, which is good. Um, we've got Webex One coming up next week, and you're gonna hear some amazing announcements that will hopefully get everybody who listens to this super excited- 

Tom Arbuthnot: Mm-hmm

Pratik Chanda: on the broader ecosystem. But, uh, yeah, as we s- look at the, the marketplace in the future, super bullish on the opportunity at hand, and I think we're positioned really well with the ecosystem 

Tom Arbuthnot: generally. It's interesting 'cause a ecosystem is an interesting way of talking about it 'cause you have so much in your portfolio.

You know, some, some Teams certified OEMs are mostly focused on Rooms, like platform is coming. There's a lot of conversation. You've obviously got network, Wi-Fi- Right ... like, like, like the, the whole machine. 

Pratik Chanda: Right. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Like, uh, what I always get asked is between all the OEMs kind of what are the USPs? What would you say if you're talking to a, a fresh customer about Cisco?

Like why Cisco Teams Rooms over A, another Teams Room? 

Pratik Chanda: That's a great question, right? So I know we've got about two hours to go through this, so perhaps, um- So I'll get the- Get the slides out. Right. So let me sort of... So last week in Singapore, we're at this event, multi-vendor event, and um, it was interesting that somebody...

So the MC sort of gets up and says, "Hey, XYZ manufacturer does really well with Microsoft Teams on the network." ABC manufactured does really well on the network. Cisco is the network, right? And that to me fundamentally is the differentiation that a lot of customers I think have forgotten, is when you look at Cisco and what we bring to the table, it's so much more than just the room.

So a lot of our conversations is around what do we do beyond the meeting room, beyond video? Mm-hmm. How do we look at what we're sort of calling intelligent workplace experience, right, which falls under our future-proof workspace category, um, which is a small sub-segment of the total ecosystem that allows us to then have the conversation on, yes, AV, how do you provide the best experience, but focus on what are the outcomes?

How do we talk to our customers on generating outcomes based on the data that our endpoints are capturing? How do you talk to HR? How do you talk to facilities? How do you talk about analytics and utilization and optimization, et cetera? But then you take that to the next level of simplicity around that physical data and inputs that you need around way finding and lobby and room bookings and things of that nature.

Yeah. Out of digital signage. And then potentially tying that with the sort of virtual aspects with places, right? Um, and pulling that together. And then you say, "Great, now everything's moving to AV over IP, so where does that put us? Well, hey, we need more switches." Guess what? Cisco's done switches for many, many years, right?

So now we get into switches and it says, "Great, where are all these things running? We need to ensure now that we have everything running on this AV over IP network, you need a solid network that's not only just solid, but secure." 

Tom Arbuthnot: Mm-hmm. 

Pratik Chanda: Again, Cisco gives you a solid secure network, and now we take the next level in terms of the AI capabilities that are built into it and how then we are able to give you that visibility, observability across the entire stack from the edge device in the room to now every AP endpoint, security network, switch, et cetera, that's driving the entire ecosystem.

Yeah. So that's truly where I would say differentiation for us. If you're a customer, if you're a partner, you're thinking, why Cisco and Teams? It's simplicity. Ease of management, ease of deployment, fully secure. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Well, you, you kept it in. That's good. So, uh it's hard when you've got so much to talk about. So what, like, the, the...

I- I'll focus on the management, 'cause that feels like one of the things that I hear a lot from enterprise customers is, is a ongoing important factor. Like, almost, you know, equal with the hardware. And like, like, yes, Cisco hardware has a great reputation, but like, everyone is like, "Yes, we've got great marg- Yes, we've got great cameras."

But management, especially as I'm seeing lots of teams reduce their operational team but increase the number of Rooms. 

Pratik Chanda: Right. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Talk to me about that, and talk to me about ProPortal, and then what you offer and how those work together. 

Pratik Chanda: That's a great question, right? So I think fundamentally, the key takeaway today is it's a better together story.

You need ProPortal to do your resource allocation, Rooms, firmware upgrades, et cetera. 100% that's your starting point. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Mm-hmm. 

Pratik Chanda: The better together story really shines is when you do dual registration with Control Hub, soon to be Cloud Control, which becomes that single pane of glass, not only into your video endpoints, but into all the stuff I just talked about in terms of all that workplace data that we're now capturing, all the analytics, all the sustainability insights, all the observability that our endpoints are capturing, not just from the video, but from the broader WiFi networks, Catalyst, Meraki, you name it, right?

Tom Arbuthnot: Yeah. 

Pratik Chanda: Um, and that to me is a criticality where now with Cloud Control, you'll have that single pane of glass into the entire ecosystem, allowing me not only to just view and manage, but leverage then Cisco AI that goes across the stack, and frankly, now integrating seamlessly into Copilot or Claude or other platforms where it'll pull the same information seamlessly, right?

And that's where you'll see Cisco really leaning in on that open platform concept. We wanna meet our customers where they are, and if you've committed to Copilot, great. You can now use Copilot to question Cisco AI- Yeah ... from a management perspective and report back to you in Copilot. 

Tom Arbuthnot: It's really interesting, like the open story is like, I, I used to work at Cisco prior to Pro- at Microsoft Partner.

Right. And it was, you know, very, we have everything, we are the story. Over the last few years, that open story, I mean more than a story, it's been like a real, feels like a real philosophy in terms of, you know, the support of multiple platforms, and obviously partnering with Microsoft on Teams, Zoom announcements recently.

Pratik Chanda: Uh, 100%. I mean, I couldn't, uh, agree more with you. So, and it's, it's, it's been a journey. And what's super telling in terms of culture and how I think we've embraced it, is the fact that... Just look at our branding, right? We've gone to Cisco devices, right? It's no longer Webex devices. Yeah. And there's a reason for it.

We still support Webex, we still support Teams, Rooms and Zoom natively, and we give you the best of Google experience as well. But it's that ability to really recognize that we wanna provide you with the best devices, the best experience, the best outcomes, leveraging a device regardless of platform, right?

So again, where your customers are at, where you're at, we want us to meet you there. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Yeah. 

Pratik Chanda: But give you that sort of confidence that the devices or the investments you're making from a platform perspective sort of really garners and sort of gives you that ROI and TC on the long term 

Tom Arbuthnot: And like how do you think about, like you've seen a lot of growth, like you mentioned some of that is they were a Cisco shop previously, and they went Teams, and they maybe went to another OEM, and then they came back.

Or they're a mix of Teams, you guys, and another OEM. There's a whole bunch of customers out there that might be a Cisco customer for Wi-Fi or for network, but aren't for Rooms. 

Pratik Chanda: Right. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Like where do they start if they want to understand the, the portfolio more? 

Pratik Chanda: So great question. So a couple things in simple terms.

If you've already got a Cisco account team, just say, "Hey, we understand you have a C program for video. We want you to set up a proof of concept for us in our space. We will ship you a device that'll help you set it up." Off to the races, right? That's step one. Step two, if you have an integrator or a partner that you're working with, same question.

"Hey, I wanna try Cisco. I walk through my space, I see Logi or Crestron to others." Great, they're all good devices, right? No one's questioning that, but how do you leverage the sort of investments you made as a broader platform based on our conversation just now? And that's where it makes sense to bring us in and have that workplace, workspace automation discussion.

Um, so yeah, so reach out to your disties, your partners, your Cisco team. Um, we have a website as well where you can get to that information. Frankly, he can reach out to you. Um, or me, for that matter, pratikc@cisco. Please use it sparingly. Um, but the point is- 

Tom Arbuthnot: It's only going out to a few thousand people.

Don't 

Pratik Chanda: worry I know. It's, uh... I mean, LinkedIn's a great way to do it as well. Yeah. Right? So we, we post a lot of content on LinkedIn. Um, we have a lot of folks at Cisco who are very passionate about ensuring our customers have the best experience when it comes to this new intelligent workplace experience conversation, and I think that's the piece we want to pivot on, where a lot of executives that are customers are taking a step back and saying, "Hey, there's an opportunity for us to ensure that we're not going out and having our facilities team go and spend a boatload of money on sensors.

We don't want, you know, the IT team going and investing in a platform that may be different from what we've invested in as a corporate strategy. How do you look at then our- Yeah ... multi-country scenarios and our global strategy?" And that's where Cisco plays really well, right? We have a truly integrated story.

So yes, if you're Cisco Security, Cisco Networking, please ask the question as to where is our Cisco video solution, right, regardless of platform. Because especially now with Teams and with Zoom, there's really sort of little left on the table, right, for us not to be able to help with. 

Tom Arbuthnot: Awesome. Well, Pratik, thanks for catching us up.

Pratik Chanda: My pleasure. 

Tom Arbuthnot: We'll look out for the, uh, the Webex One news. I know there's some stuff coming we can't 

Pratik Chanda: talk about just yet, so. Some exciting stuff coming back next week, and I think you'll be super excited. So hopefully we'll maybe do this again. Yeah, definitely. You guys will be able to share what we've done.

So appreciate it. Awesome, 

Tom Arbuthnot: man. Thanks, Tom. Yeah, no, appreciate all the support. 

Pratik Chanda: Thanks a lot. Appreciate the partnership. Cheers.