Cisco Networking Academy partner NIIT Foundation creatively addresses inclusivity

While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts India’s economy will bounce back strongly from the pandemic — with GDP predicted to grow 12.5 percent in 2021, after an eight percent decline in 2020 — a big challenge is ensuring that the growth is inclusive.

India has achieved a great deal in inclusive growth, lifting as many as 133 million people out of poverty in the last two decades, but it is clear that more needs to be done. Upon the release of India’s Global Human Development Report, The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development, Syeda Hameed, a member of India’s Planning Commission, said “far too many people are being left out of India’s growth story.”

Overcoming the insurmountable

In an emerging market with nearly 1.4 billion people, that may sound like an insurmountable challenge. There are a few factors, especially in the area of education, that indicate a more inclusive future is possible.

As early as 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed, “I dream of a digital India where quality education reaches the most inaccessible corners driven by digital learning.” In the same year, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was established, with the aim of matching the supply of skilled candidates with the requirements of employers.

Unfortunately, around the world inequality widened throughout the pandemic. Disadvantaged communities and individuals with poor infrastructure and employment prospects felt the heaviest impact. In an increasingly digitized world, lack of access equates to lack of opportunity.

While technology drives overall economic expansion, it is more specifically digital connectivity that determines access to economic and social opportunity. At Cisco we believe that connectivity is critical to create a society and economy in which all citizens can participate and thrive. And we’re working to make that happen.

Cisco India innovates on inclusivity

Even before the pandemic, Cisco India started to bridge the education divide, with the creation of the Cisco Ideathon in 2019, which fundamentally changed our hiring practices to be more inclusive. The program was open to students from Cisco Networking Academy partner colleges and universities in rural and peri-urban areas, which are not part of the traditional talent supply chain. And top performers are often offered internships or jobs with Cisco.

Cisco Networking Academy equips educators with leading curriculum (licensed free to educational and non-profit institutions), Webex by Cisco, and resources for students that lead to industry-recognized skills and certifications. This is a true end-to-end skills-to-jobs program connecting learners with peers, mentors, and job opportunities through our job-matching engine, Talent Bridge.

Job offers to date have been equally distributed by gender, with a significant number of students hired from rural and peri-urban states, such as Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan, where practically no top-tier company traditionally sought top talent before. Through Cisco Networking Academy’s training and education partnership with the NIIT Foundation, these underserved communities can participate in growth opportunities.

Making inclusive magic with the NIIT Foundation

NIIT Foundation, an education NGO, has a mandate to reach the unreached, uncared for, and unattended, to ensure inclusive development. The NIIT Foundation’s mission is to positively impact the underprivileged of the country through educational initiatives and skill development programs.

For its extraordinary work on inclusive education, the NIIT Foundation recently received Cisco Networking Academy’s Be the Bridge Award.

Starting as an Academy Support Center in 2019 with 6,000 learners, the NIIT Foundation quickly grew to support as many as 56,300 student participants. Last year it registered 236 percent growth in student numbers, and a massive 885 percent growth in career student participants.

NIIT Foundation works hard to ensure all Indians have access to the education and skills that jobs of the future require, to ensure inclusive development for all Indians. The NIIT Foundation held its first Skill-a-Thon for Tier 2 and 3 colleges in urban and rural areas in Northern India, using a focused campaign to attract students to career and Cisco Certified Technician (CCT) courses. This event attracted more students to CCT courses than the number of students who participated last year.

Educating the underserved

The organization also launched a pilot program to train people with disabilities on IT Essentials, with plans to scale beyond the current two locations, as well as a program to include India’s LGBTQIA+ community. And we have recently started a program to provide skills training to prison staff and inmates in Indian prisons.

Many underserved institutions in rural parts of India that lack resources and trained instructors have been exposed to the untapped power of the NIIT Foundation’s resources. NIIT even developed ATM-like “Hole-in-the-Wall Learning Stations,” making computers and the internet available for children who would otherwise not have access.

In India, Cisco Networking Academy currently boasts 328,000 students, with 864 partner organizations. Organizations like the NIIT Foundation are helping Cisco achieve its purpose of Powering an Inclusive Future for All.

Source: cisco.com

Continue reading

Initiatives to enable progress: Taking action during a global pandemic

Cisco employees continue to seek ways to make an impact, especially during this difficult time. We made this easier by doubling the number of paid days off available for employees to volunteer from five to 10 in 2020. In addition, we increased the annual match for employee giving and volunteering from US$10,000 to US$25,000. Disaster response campaigns launched to address specific crises are matched at US$10,000 per employee per campaign and do not count against the annual match limit.

In addition, Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins challenged Cisco’s 77,000+ employees to make donations to global nonprofits supporting those most vulnerable to COVID-19, which were matched by the Cisco Foundation. Employees quickly achieved the initial goal of US$750,000 in giving and matching over a 72-hour period, raising US$3.2 million for more than 50 organizations by the end of the fiscal year.

In response to employee demand, Cisco also helped facilitate a menu of virtual volunteering options. Opportunities included translating texts for humanitarian organizations, volunteering for crisis help lines, providing résumé and job interview assistance, donating food and school supplies for children, and more.

Standing up for social justice

In fiscal 2020, Cisco pledged US$5 million in grants to social justice organizations, including nonprofits in our internal Fighting Racism and Discrimination Fund, which continues to provide employee donations and matching contributions to 16 nonprofits focused on social justice. A dynamic team, including Inclusive Communities members (Cisco’s version of EROs), is partnering with Cisco’s Community Impact team to determine how best to build long-term relationships with the nonprofits in the Fund.

Preventing homelessness and serving youth

Long-time Cisco nonprofit partner Destination: Home, a public-private partnership working to end and prevent homelessness year-round in Santa Clara County, California, proactively set up a relief fund designed to help families bridge the gap created by lost jobs during the pandemic. They received thousands of applications that all needed rapid review. Cisco volunteers helped accelerate the application review process and payment by receiving training and then reviewing the applications for funding.

Cisco also has a strong partnership with Covenant House International, an organization providing housing and supportive services to youth facing homelessness. In November 2019, hundreds of Cisco employees slept outside during the Covenant House “sleep out” in cities across the U.S. Sleep outs raise awareness about youth homelessness and funding to support Covenant House programs. During the event, Cisco employees generated over US$1.8 million in support for Covenant House through their donations and Cisco Foundation matching gifts.

In March 2020, Cisco employees helped the Young Professionals Sleep Out event go virtual, allowing communities across the U.S. to connect through a livestreamed Webex event. During the broadcast, participants learned just how difficult the COVID-19 outbreak has been for homeless youth already facing extraordinary challenges.

Through Cisco’s Next Horizon Impact initiative, Cisco Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins brought together customers, partners, and suppliers to raise tens of thousands of dollars for people in the Bay Area experiencing homelessness as the COVID-19 crisis began. Robbins led a discussion featuring Jen Loving, CEO of Destination: Home, who shared the crisis facing the region’s most vulnerable.

Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer Francine Katsoudas led a second wave of outreach and discussion with partners and suppliers, along with CEO of Great Place to Work Michael Bush, Loving, and Covenant House California CEO Bill Bedrossian. Bush shared how companies who treat communities well differentiate themselves in the market and will lead as we build a path out of the crisis and back to a thriving economy. These conversations led to an increase in awareness and key relationships as a result of Next Horizon Impact, which will lead to more resources for the homeless community.

Global Citizen impact

Global Citizen is focused on ending extreme poverty by 2030. As Global Citizen’s technology partner, Cisco is foundational to the organization’s ability to engage millions of citizens around the world—our employees among them. In fiscal 2020, over 1200 employees took action on GlobalCitizen.org to advocate for changes in policy, legislation, and leadership behavior to address the root causes of poverty. Actions included signing a petition, sending an email, or participating in social media campaigns.

Staying Earth Aware, virtually

Cisco has observed Earth Day for many years—but we also do much more, organizing a two-month employee volunteerism and awareness campaign that we call Earth Aware. During a typical year, we invite employees to practice sustainable behaviors, like biking to work and properly sorting waste in cafeterias, and host events like on-campus farmers markets. In fiscal 2020, Earth Aware went fully online, featuring virtual presentations on living a zero-waste lifestyle, environmental justice, and cleaning local watersheds, as well as a sustainability trivia event. We even gave employees a virtual tour of the new beehives at our Research Triangle Park campus.

Earth Aware 2020 also included a virtual SustainX, our thought leadership forum on sustainability. During this annual event, we invite internal executives to share what their teams are doing to reduce their environmental impact and external speakers to discuss the innovative ways they are working to improve the environment. In fiscal 2020, leading environmentalist and author Paul Hawken shared existing strategies for drawing down carbon from the atmosphere in order to reduce global warming, and a Cisco Fellow explained how our new 8000 Series routers save significant amounts of power and materials.

Living sustainably year-round

Beyond Earth Aware, Cisco has ongoing opportunities for employees to connect with peers who share a passion for sustainability—and make changes in their lives and in the workplace. Cisco Green is a hub on our internal social media site that enables employees to learn about Cisco’s environmental sustainability activities. It provides links to programs, information, and other tools. For those looking to connect with others, Cisco GreenHouse is an interactive sustainability web platform that helps Cisco employees find likeminded peers worldwide who want to lead more sustainable lives. As a core program featured in Community Impact, Cisco GreenHouse was promoted on the companywide digital portal and more than doubled its active users.

Promoting circular business models

Another way Cisco contributes to sustainability is by helping advance the circular economy. To grow awareness and inspire employees to contribute to Cisco’s circular economy transformation, we publish a quarterly circular economy newsletter, manage a circular economy Webex Teams space, and provide other opportunities to engage throughout the year. In fiscal 2020, we hosted two employee webinars on topics related to circular operations and circular design and launched an internal website with case studies on the Cisco Circular Design Principles. We also regularly convene extended team members and other internal stakeholders through a variety of workgroups, including the Circular Design Working Group, the Circular Economy Regional Leader Network, and the Circular Economy Sales Champion Network.

Connecting employees to how products are made

Launched in fiscal 2020, the Cisco Responsible Sourcing campaign is raising internal awareness of our commitment to source products ethically and sustainably. One element of the campaign is our Champions of Sustainability, a recognition program that highlights the people behind responsible sourcing at Cisco across our Supply Chain Operations and Global Procurement Services. The champions demonstrate a shared commitment to sustainability and drive social and environmental responsibility in how we source goods and services.

We also developed a supply chain human rights training to raise awareness and educate employees on how they can help follow through on our human rights commitments. More than 2400 employees have taken the training, including employees in supply chain operations, customer experience, enterprise networking, and cloud.

Source: cisco.com

Continue reading

Energy efficiency of Cisco products

Improving product energy efficiency is more than just a regulatory requirement for Cisco. It’s an opportunity for us to help customers save on energy costs, lower GHG emissions, and reduce global energy demand. It also makes our products more competitive.1 Recent literature from 2015 has seen GHG emissions from the ICT industry leveling off, with the total energy footprint stabilizing at around 3.6 percent of global electricity consumption. 2 While it’s a good start that the ICT energy footprint is not growing, we believe success will ultimately be measured by a decreasing ICT energy footprint and decreasing global energy consumption. That’s why improving product energy efficiency and decreasing energy consumption are important factors in our product development.

We track how much total energy our products use as a Scope 3 Use of Sold Products GHG emission. To calculate this, we first created a manual database of our existing products and listed their typical power rate. When that was unknown, we identified the max power output on the products’ power supply and de-rated that value, providing an approximation of their power rate. We then calculated how many of each product we sold in the previous fiscal year and added that to our database. With those factors, we multiplied the typical power rate by the number of units shipped to determine the total energy consumed by our products sold in that fiscal year. To account for products sold in a previous year, we assumed an average life of five years. We scaled that number using past hardware revenue to determine total energy used by all of our products potentially in use. About 80 percent of emissions were calculated using primary data.

To better calculate this number, we’re exploring ways to create a database to track our products’ energy consumption. Our goal is to automate this process as much as possible to allow for easier energy calculations and more consistent data year over year. By the end of FY20, we plan to have our initial database ready to help calculate our GHG emissions from use of sold products.

Customers and regulators have rising expectations that our products minimize energy costs and GHG emissions. Every year, the number of inquiries related to environmental sustainability we receive from analysts, customers, shareholders, and nongovernmental organizations rises. We track applicable energy-use regulations and certification programs to review compliance needs as requested by our customers.

Improving product energy efficiency

Improving product energy efficiency addresses two key challenges for Cisco. First, to achieve the projected, and required, product performance specifications for the next five to 10 years, Cisco products need an architecture with “energy scalability.” This is one that can provide energy- efficient service for variable traffic types, traffic demands, customer usage, and installs. Second, product use is by far our largest GHG emissions source. To address these challenges, Cisco is investing in five primary product energy efficiency engineering initiatives. These initiatives were chosen as they allow us to have the largest impact on improving our products’ energy consumption.

◉ Power initiative. We are improving product efficiency of our products from plug to port and set a product power efficiency goal in early FY18. This goal is to improve large rack-mounted- equipment system power efficiency—as measured from the input power from the facility to the board-mounted ASICs, memory, and other chip devices—from 77 percent to 87 percent by FY22 (FY16 baseline). Read more about this goal in our goal announcement blog post. Such a goal drives Cisco to design new power systems that result in a net positive gain in overall product efficiency.

◉ Thermal initiative. We are exploring alternative methods of cooling (air flow, liquid, and refrigerant cooling) to reduce operating temperatures and facility cooling requirements. Forced air cooling systems in wide use today have limitations in cooling concentrated areas of high power from next-generation packet processing engines. To cool these higher-power components, we must deploy more efficient and effective systems. These advanced cooling systems, targeted towards 2023, will use multiphase cooling techniques to transfer expected thermal output of next- generation switches and routers.

◉ High-speed interconnects initiative. High- speed silicon-to-silicon or optics-to-silicon interconnects are an integral part of routing and switching systems. These interconnects consume a significant portion of the total system power. We are exploring ways to increase the interconnect speed, driving the gigabits per second per watt (Gbps/W) consumed metric as high as possible. This will increase performance and reduce energy use. By the end of 2020, increasing traffic bandwidth demand will require interconnect speed efficiency to be discussed in terms of Tbps/W of traffic transmitted or received. By 2022, ASIC packet processing technology will likely consume more than 1,000 watts in a 4-inch by 4-inch area, using hundreds of transmit and receive channels and thousands of power connections. This initiative drives optimization in the high-speed signaling interconnect to allow more physical space and effective methods of delivering power to the ASIC.

◉ Customer facilities initiative. We are working with customers to reduce the amount of energy required to operate IT facilities with power solutions that increase the efficiency of overhead power, avoid step-down transformers, and provide integrated cooling strategies. These end-to-end solutions reduce hardware requirements and energy consumption while providing a more integrated method for managing IT infrastructures. This initiative includes developing power supplies with wide-ranging AC and DC inputs, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) and Pulsed Power systems integrated into connected building applications that reduce the buildout of future electrical infrastructure.

◉ Power Supply Initiative. Power supplies play a critical role in managing product energy efficiencies, as they are the first step where energy is lost. To overcome this loss, we are working to offer more energy-efficient options for power supplies, giving customers the option of platinum or titanium 80+ rated power supplies whenever possible. This provides cost-sensitive customers the option of selecting lower-rated power supplies, such as gold or silver, while allowing customers concerned about reducing their total energy use to select the higher-rated supplies. For external power supplies, we ship products that are DOE6 compliant, aligning with the latest U.S. energy efficiency standards.

When we evaluate product energy efficiency, we consider the power performance of the entire system. We measure the percent efficiency as electricity passes through each component or function. This can include, for example, the external power supply units (PSU), intermediate bus converter (IBC), point of load (POL), and ASIC, memory, or other chips.

Reducing product energy consumption

Increasing energy efficiency is key to Cisco’s strategy for managing the total amount of energy used by our products, but it is only one part. Cisco produces a wide variety of products ranging in size from access points (APs) to LNE. This means we must take a multifaceted approach to managing energy consumption. Our products fall into three categories in which we report revenue: Infrastructure Platforms, Applications, and Security. Each product segment requires a different approach.

Infrastructure platforms make up the backbone of the network and consume the most energy. The total energy footprint of each of our products is determined mainly by which components we use. As components, such as the ASICs, CPUs, PHYs, and DIMMs, continue to consume more energy, our products will, too. To offset this energy increase, we continue to push the bps/W ratio of our products higher to get superior performance for the additional energy they use.

Our wireless portfolio, which includes APs, also falls under this segment. These products are primarily powered through PoE, making energy consumption a high priority. Each product must fit into the desired PoE standard, ranging from the 802.3af standard of max power at 15.4 W to the 802.3bt max power rating of 90 W. Due to the use case of these products, we design them to minimize their energy consumption during low use periods, such as overnight. Our latest products support the new Wi-Fi 6 standard power-saving feature called Target Wake Time (TWT). TWT allows the AP and client to schedule target wake-up times to exchange data.

Our collaboration portfolio is made up primarily of our IP Phones and telepresence products. Like APs, IP Phones can spend an even greater amount of their lifetime not in use. It’s critical for these products to be designed to efficiently power up for use, then switch into a standby mode to minimize their energy footprint. It is also a priority for our IP Phones to be designed to meet ENERGY STAR standards.

Telepresence products help customers reduce their GHG emissions from business air travel and commuting. When designing these products, we prioritize efficient switching between product use and standby modes. Whenever possible, we design our telepresence line of products to support three modes to minimize energy consumption: off, standby, and networked standby. Products can then be set to transition to either of the two standby modes if no input signals are detected for a predetermined time.

Continue reading

Essential workplace skills: where to begin

I was always keen on STEM subjects at school. I loved maths. It was my strongest subject and I was the kind of student who thought you can achieve anything in the world if you put the work in. School involved a very different style of learning. For example, maths lessons would consist of being shown a problem and being given exact steps to follow in order to get the answer. Regardless of what numbers came up in that problem, you follow the same step-by-step plan and you’d always get the right outcome. This worked great for me in school, but I quickly learned that while this technique was efficient for the short-term,  for passing exams, it was  not helpful for applying that knowledge anywhere else.

For those of you reading this, you may be wondering how any of this applies to you. I aim to share some life academic, professional and technical lessons that I carry with me, lessons that guide me when things get really tough.

At university, I remember going my first maths lecture (it was Analysis I) and there were no numbers, only letters, no standard substitution, no fool-proof method to get an answer. I remember the sheer confusion I felt throughout that course. People around me didn’t seem as confused; they were asking some brilliant questions, getting all the problem sheets correct and even finding time to party every night. Maths was the one thing I thought I was good at, but at university, I really wasn’t. And I’ll be honest, this was a huge knock for me.

Lesson #1: You CAN achieve anything in the world if you put the work in and if it’s through the right methods, as opposed to the most efficient.

I had to find a whole new approach to learning the material. I had to research independently, self-teach a lot of material and I had to do it in time for the assessments and exams. Okay, I didn’t end that that term knowing everything about Analysis. But what this taught me is that I was challenging myself more than I ever had before, and this meant I could grow more quickly than I ever had before. When it came to Analysis II the following term, I was able to use those research skills and I ended up passing with enough marks to pull up my final Analysis grade to a 1st.

Lesson #2: Try new things with an open mind. Whether you end up liking it or not, there’s always something to gain.

I hadn’t really considered Computer Science much at school since there was no course on it at the time. I studied it at university with the aim of converting to a full maths course in my second year, but I really, really enjoyed it! It was practical, it was hands on. It developed familiar skills, such as problem-solving, but in a completely new context. Within the first term, I learned how to program a robot that could figure out the way out of a maze. I created my own version of Twitter. I started supporting hackathons and developing a passion for technology. I didn’t realize Lesson #2 until quite far into my degree. Had I not tried Computer Science, I probably wouldn’t be at Cisco today.

Lesson #3: For technical skills that are relevant, stay up to date by reading articles, researching online and connecting with others.

If you know your stuff about the technology you’re passionate about, it won’t be long before people know to come to you for advice and guidance around it. You can start building this by simply reading an article a week about the area of tech that interests you. You’ll probably see things that don’t make any sense. Use the resources around you, for example, Networking Academy,  to educate yourself. Another idea is to connect with others who have a similar interest; LinkedIn is great for this. Within a month, you’ll be off to a good start with foundation knowledge. Within a year, you’ll be an expert.

Cybersecurity is my favourite area of technology. If you’re interested in this too, the top areas I’d recommend looking into are:

1. Programmability & DevSecOps culture shift: Today, applications form the foundation of our digital world. If you use the Netflix app and find it really slow, you’ll probably switch to Amazon Prime or Disney+ in a heartbeat. This is an application-first world and security needs to be a part of it. DevSecOps is a culture where developers, operations and cybersecurity specialists work together to create a secure app from the ground up, with the best possible user experience for their customers.

2. Quantum Technologies and Communication: Quantum is mind-bending, it’s like an alternate reality. It brings incredibly opportunities and also some serious threats. Whilst I don’t recommend studying the ins and outs of the workings behind quantum technology (unless you’re interested in quantum physics, then you should definitely give it a go!), I would say keep an eye out on articles. There are going to be some really cool applications of quantum technology!

Continue reading

Building character towards future success

Why does someone become a fashion designer? Or a scientist, an investor, or entrepreneur – or all of the above?

I don’t ever recall thinking I wanted to “be” this or that. I just wanted to do something. And then I looked up and discovered I had become something.

It is your skills and character that makes you who you are. You get to decide on which skills you have. But your character … how does that happen? Three character traits have helped me enormously in my life. I’ll share the secret to how you might be able to amplify these in yourself.

The first trait: Curiosity

My own curiosity meant I was taking risks. I hit bumps in the road, but also had great adventures. College was a huge transition for me; it allowed me to escape my old life. I went to my state’s college, the University of Maryland. It was like a sandbox to me. I was eager to try new things – which in the 1970’s was sometimes dangerous.

As a freshman, I took a job washing dishes in an algal biology lab. It wasn’t very interesting. But the lab tech next door, an older man, was using a crazy-sounding instrument called the Scanning Electron Microscope, or SEM, in the Engineering Dept. After a bit of my pestering, he took me to the SEM lab and let me watch as he looked at specimens. The microscope shot electrons onto the gold coated surface of the specimen, which allowed us to see the specimen in 3D, at a microscopic level.

Soon, I got to know the person who ran the microscope lab in that same Engineering Dept. In passing, he mentioned an upcoming three-day meeting in Chicago, with international scientists gathering to talk about Scanning Electron Microscopy!

I had to go. This was my calling. It was my curiosity talking to me.

I drove for two days, from Maryland to Chicago, and slept on the floor of a friend of a friend’s apartment to attend this meeting. I met scientists from Oxford, Cambridge, and the famed IBM Research Labs, who were involved in groundbreaking work in microscopy. I made friends with all of them, talking about the lectures, their research, and joining the group for meals.

The team from Oxford labs invited me to join them as an intern that summer, where I could work on one of three existing million-volt microscopes and help them build the first Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope, now known as a STEM instrument. I was so curious and fascinated by electron microscopy that I took all the available classes on campus in this area.

And so, by listening to my curiosity, I got the priceless experience of working with top scientists, learning about a groundbreaking new technology, and participating in its development, at one of the most respected universities in the world.

Now, my second life trait: Perseverance

Some years ago, I received a letter from a US Presidential Science Advisor thanking me for a job well done as a consultant. He said, the one thing I should be sure to pass on to my children is my perseverance. He thought it was a rare trait.

Later, as I thought back on it, my first memory with perseverance was in my first job after college. Soon after graduation, I took a job at Johnson & Johnson, establishing an electron microscope lab in one of their subsidiaries. Up to that point, my professional experiences was in government and academic environments.

Moving to a for-profit organization was confusing for me, and I didn’t feel that I fit-in. But then, I saw a notice, on the bulletin board in the lunchroom to participate in a graduate class “on the pharmaceutical industry.”

I took the GRE – which means I took the risk of applying, which led me to a degree. This laid the groundwork for what was to follow. Johnson & Johnson had a tuition reimbursement program for that MBA, but it did not extend to my job level. I was told to wait until I was in a higher position to take the program, when I could use the degree. I fought that suggestion. I talked with the head of HR to lobby for a change in policy. I ended up getting all of my tuition reimbursed. In my six years at Johnson & Johnson, I continued to persevere, and went from Research & Development, to Regulatory Affairs, and then on to finance where I did sales forecasting.

Finally, my third life trait: Innovation

My innate curiosity and asking “what might appear to be dumb” questions to understand my environment would soon open up more opportunities for me.

While at a conference for another employer, I overheard a group of people in their late twenties chatting ahead of me in the registration line. They worked on Wall Street, and I was fascinated by their conversation on industries and markets. Soon, I became close friends with that group and learned a lot from them.

After that chance encounter, I was inspired and started to look for a job on Wall Street. I quickly realized that my varied experiences were an asset in this new fiscal world.

I had no idea what investment banking was, so I met with anyone who would talk with me. As luck would have it, I ran into the Chairman of the Board from my company at a Christmas party. It was awkward to answer the question, “Where do you work?” But taking hold of my courage, I told him I worked for him and was looking for a job.

Unknown to me, over the next few days, he made some calls. Soon I had an interview at a venture capital firm. At first, I was confused because I didn’t know what venture capital was. I decided to take a leap of faith and, after many interviews, got that job.

After four years of working in venture capital, I decided to move to the other side of the table, as I realized that I wanted to be on the creative side of the equation. Over the years, I’ve founded seven companies, all of them with great teams of people. Some succeeded, and some didn’t succeed.

In the middle of that, I went back to school to earn my MFA in fashion design and spent five years running a fashion label. I didn’t realize that, while it is hard for a consumer to shop e-commerce stores and find the right clothes that will look good on them, no-one teaches designers how to fix that problem. I spent several more years experimenting with my label and eventually changed direction again entirely.

You see, prior to earning my MFA, I had owned two successful predictive modeling start-ups, and I saw similarities with the kind of problems we were solving in my eCommerce fashion company and the issues we faced in those two companies. So four-and-a-half years ago, I started up Savitude, an AI technology company, to solve the “fit” and “flatter” problem we had in our eCommerce label.

Reflecting on traits for success

Now in a reflective time of my life, I have wondered, “what has kept me going in this direction?” What keeps me doing this now? The nature of my reflection has changed, and I started to see new patterns. Not long ago, I connected my attraction to early stage startups, inventions, and inventors to my early life. I started to think I could alter my own perception of my surroundings. How and when this started, I don’t know…but I do know why.

To survive my abusive childhood, I created alternate narratives. I searched for the rules on how it could be. I wanted a copy of the “rule book” that I thought everyone was born with.

Eventually, I realized I had to write my own rule book.

If you resonate with even a small part of my story, you too can transfer the energy you spend on questions like “why didn’t I do?” into creative exploration and innovative contemplation.

I am most grateful for the perseverance this exercise has given me. And, perhaps some of you have also found the inner strength to endure difficult times. You can repurpose that strength to navigate a rewarding path.

The traits of curiosity, perseverance, and innovation have helped me enormously. I have had experiences that have made me feel small, and those memories are enduring. But in those times, I have imagined brightness in the dark, interest where was none, and the will to wake up every day, which in turn has given me the power to invent, to patent, to hire, to sell, to deposit money.

Continue reading

How Cisco manages corporate social responsibility

Cisco pioneered the technology that connects everything. We believe that connections have the potential to create opportunity for everyone and to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Leveraging our expertise, technology, and a strong network of partners, we’re focused on building bridges to a more inclusive future.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is core to our purpose, our culture, and how we invest. We focus on People, Society, and Planet—issues that align with our business strategy and where we can have the greatest potential for impact. Our success is built on a Conscious Culture, where trustworthiness and ethical conduct are expected and supported among our employees, suppliers, and business partners.

How we manage CSR

Corporate Affairs, as part of the Human Resources organization, champions Cisco’s strategic approach to CSR, including social investment programs and environmental sustainability. The organization also stewards our commitments to CSR performance and transparency. The Corporate Affairs team is responsible for:

◉ Defining and managing our social investment strategy and programs

◉ Driving CSR governance processes

◉ Collaborating with a broad range of stakeholders

◉ Conducting socio-economic research and developing data driven insights

◉ Assessing and monitoring CSR priority issues

◉ Producing our annual CSR Report

◉ Coordinating and ensuring cross-functional ESG alignment

Business functions own CSR priorities. Teams integrate priorities into their business strategy by setting goals, implementing plans, and measuring performance. Some priorities touch multiple functions. In these cases, we establish cross-functional teams to align CSR business process and implement against our commitments. In some cases, CSR goals and objectives may be linked to performance factors and compensation for CSR owners. For example, Supplier Code of Conduct performance may be considered when assessing the performance of key supply chain leaders.

We believe that risk is inherent in innovation and the pursuit of long-term growth opportunities. Cisco’s management is responsible for day-to-day risk management activities. The Board of Directors, acting directly and through its committees, is responsible for the oversight of risk management.

Cisco’s management has implemented an enterprise risk management (ERM) program, managed by Cisco’s internal audit function, that is designed to work across the business to identify, assess, govern, and manage risks and Cisco’s response to those risks. Cisco’s internal audit function performs an annual risk assessment that is utilized by the ERM program.

The Audit Committee, which oversees our financial and risk management policies, including data protection (comprising both privacy and security), receives regular reports on ERM from the chair of the ERM operating committee, as well as regular reports on cybersecurity from Cisco’s Chief Security and Trust Officer. Other Board committees oversee certain categories of risk associated with their respective areas of responsibility.

The Nomination and Governance Committee of the Board reviews Cisco’s policies and programs concerning corporate social responsibility, including environmental, social, and governance matters. CSR and environmental sustainability are represented through Tae Yoo, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, and Francine Katsoudas, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer.

Engaging with stakeholders

Building bridges of understanding with key stakeholders helps us maximize impact and informs our materiality process. Through regular dialogue, we can better align our business to social and environmental needs.

We partner with a wide range of global and local organizations to shape and extend the reach of our CSR programs, including governments, nonprofits, multilateral organizations, and peers. We have been a strategic partner of the World Economic Forum (WEF) since 2002. Our engagement with the WEF provides us with world leader insights, influences our CSR strategy, and enables us to learn from others and share best practices. Other partnerships and memberships include: Business for Social Responsibility (BSR); the Conference Board’s Sustainability Council II on Innovation and Growth; the CEF (formerly the Corporate Eco Forum); and the Responsible Business Alliance (formerly the EICC or Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition).

In addition to the formal materiality assessment, Cisco’s environment team independently gathers feedback on emerging issues, the quality of our reporting, and our sustainability performance from sources including stakeholder inquiries and key rankings and ratings. “Stakeholder inquiries” is the umbrella term we use for questions we receive from a variety of sources, including:

◉ Customers and partners. The visibility of environmental sustainability continues to increase in customer and partner requests for proposal (RFP), supplier qualification, and contract processes.

◉ Employees

◉ Financial and industry analysts

◉ Shareholders and investors

◉ Sustainability data aggregators, which includes companies like Ecovadis that collect sustainability information for our customers and partners. It also includes a range of organizations that collect and package sustainability information for resale or for their own analysis.

◉ Environmental advocacy groups

◉ Academia, including researchers and students

◉ Media

Environment-related topics form the vast majority of stakeholder inquiries that Cisco receives. These inquiries provide continuous, real-time insight into the environmental issues of interest to different categories of stakeholders. In FY19, we continued to see increasing customer and investor interest in environmental sustainability, as reflected in customer requests for proposals, customer and environmental advocacy surveys, and other inquiries.

Continue reading

No shame, no stigma: Ending the mental health taboo

We want everyone to know that it’s okay to not be okay. Cisco is changing the conversation about mental health issues within our company.

Over the past year, Cisco has made it a priority to not only end the taboo against talking about mental health, but encourage people to ask for help. It all started with an email. In 2018, in the face of growing concerns about mental health in society, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins sent an email to all Cisco employees. In it, he expressed Cisco’s concern for those who are struggling, sharing that no one needs to go it alone. The response was overwhelming. Robbins received more than 100 replies from employees saying thanks and sharing stories of themselves and their loved ones. Since then, even more people have courageously spoken about personal struggles in company blog posts and the Cisco Beat. This response has awakened us to an issue that wasn’t being addressed.

Consider the statistics: about one in five U.S. adults lives with a mental health condition. Yet many people are still uncomfortable talking about these issues. Cisco is breaking the silence. We want everyone to know that it’s okay to not be okay. By decreasing the stigma and broadening the resources we offer, we hope to encourage people to get the help they need. And change the conversation about mental health across our industry.

Here are some ways we’re increasing awareness:

• The Safe to Talk community on Cisco’s intranet includes videos, links to internal and external resources, and employee stories

• On Leader Day, we trained leaders across Cisco on how to recognize signs of mental illness and support their teams

• Our CEO has written, spoken, and tweeted publicly about the importance of this issue

• In the U.K., mental health “first aiders” help fellow employees access resources

Mental health initiatives:

• Improving access to care in our largest U.S. medical plans. Employees will now pay the same coinsurance, whether they go in or out of network for mental health treatment

• Offering confidential 24/7 visits with counselors as part of our global Employee Assistance Program, and in-person visits in our LifeConnections health centers. We increased the number of free visits to 10 in the U.S. to align with what we offer globally

• Continuing our support as founder of Connected North, which uses Cisco collaboration technology to deliver mental wellness programming to remote, underserved communities in Canada

Plans for every family

Cisco’s global benefits are designed to support employees and their loved ones through all stages of life. Our comprehensive benefits package includes medical, dental, and vision plans; disability coverage; and life insurance to help employees stay healthy and secure their families’ well-being.

Caring for one’s health can also mean having someone to talk to who can offer advice and support. Our global Expert Medical Opinion program offers peace of mind in the face of a major medical diagnosis or treatment decision, including those related to mental health. A simple phone call connects employees and eligible family members, including parents and in-laws, to a leading physician in the specialty they need for an expert second opinion at no cost to them.

Similarly, our global Employee Assistance Program helps employees and families better manage family issues, relationship struggles, financial issues, anxiety, stress, and more. Visits are free and confidential. As of October 2019, we increased the number of covered visits in the U.S. from eight to 10 sessions per concern, in alignment with what is available globally. Employees pay the same coinsurance for in- or out-of-network mental health treatment, should they need additional care, through our largest medical plans.

Mental health is health and Cisco aims to treat it that way.

Continue reading

The Digital Readiness Index: transforming economies through technology

Advances in data and technology have the potential to create a new kind of economic divide, one separating those with digital capabilities from those without. Cisco wants to help more countries and states get ahead. We’re doing so with our Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program, which acts upon research insights from our Digital Readiness Index. Through CDA, we partner with governments, industry, and academia to create jobs and innovate with technology. To date, we have 370 projects active or completed in the areas of transportation, smart cities, healthcare, cybersecurity, and education. We begin a partnership by meeting with a country or state leader and finding where Cisco’s capabilities and a population’s needs align. Then, we provide technology, and just as important, knowledge. We help communities educate the next generation of tech professionals through:

◉ Cisco Networking Academy. Equipping students with real-world skills and career connections in fast-growing IT fields.

◉ Innovation Centers. Spaces where local innovation ecosystems can flourish and innovators can exchange ideas.

◉ University Investments. Sponsorships that allow Cisco to not only foster innovation, but also get access to new ideas.

How the program promotes environmental sustainability

As countries grow and develop, they generally pollute more. By applying digitization and IoT solutions to cities, Cisco, along with partners, can begin to break this cycle. For example:

◉ Smart parking solutions in Paris have reduced congestion by 30 percent

◉ Las Vegas is exploring the use of sensors to route autonomous shuttles to public transit stops based on demand

◉ Bucharest, Romania, achieved 75 percent energy savings with smart lighting, including LEDs and motion sensors

Socioeconomic research

A key input to our social investment strategy is Cisco’s original research. This is conducted in partnership with leading research and advisory companies and world-renowned academic institutions. We believe that our research can contribute to the dialogue about technology’s future impact. We want to understand: what will the digital revolution bring? And how can Cisco make strategic investments to help individuals thrive?

Our research also ensures the relevance of our investment focus areas, such as Cisco Networking Academy, critical human needs, educational opportunity, and economic empowerment. Our research helps heads of state, universities, educators, and nonprofit leaders set the direction for social investments and program development. For example, our research is designed to help states and nations:

◉ Predict the digital skills needed and the most effective ways to address skills gaps and job displacement

◉ Pinpoint the supply and demand of skilled labor in specific regions

◉ Assess their digital readiness and understand key interventions needed to improve

◉ Rethink education systems and partnerships to deliver graduates with the skills necessary for the jobs of the future

◉ Realize the benefits of digitization for all socioeconomic groups

We have presented our findings at the World Economic Forum (WEF), International Society for Technology in Education, Cisco Live, Networking Academy partner conference, and other venues.

Recent research

Our current research examines what it means to be digitally ready and how best to help individuals and countries thrive in the digital world. To uncover key insights and build our understanding of what it means for a country to be digitally ready, we created a holistic framework and measurement model. In 2019, we refreshed and expanded this model – first developed in 2017 — to include additional countries.

The model measures digital readiness on the basis of seven components: technology infrastructure, technology adoption, human capital, basic needs, ease of doing business, business and government investment and environment for startups.

Understanding a country’s digital readiness helps give insight to what specific investments or interventions could help a country move up in their digital journey. Overall, the 2019 findings remain consistent with the 2017 results, with digital readiness scores broadly mirroring developed and emerging economies. Three stages of digital readiness emerged based on the findings. “Activate” is the lowest stage of digital readiness, “Accelerate” is the middle stage, and “Amplify” is the highest. To better understand country needs, the Accelerate stage was further divided into two sub-stages. Here’s the map of countries identified by digital readiness:

Countries with higher digital readiness have higher levels of GDP per capita and tend to be more productive and prosperous, as measured against the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index. Countries with higher digital readiness also tend to have a healthier natural environment and vital ecosystem as measured against Yale’s Environmental Performance Index.

Cisco Global Digital Readiness Index Digital Readiness scores reveal which countries are most digitally ready and which are less so, presenting opportunities for local government, industry, educational institutions, and community organizations to work together to help create an inclusive digital economy. The framework to measure digital readiness can also be applied to examine the level of digital readiness of states, territories, regions, and/or provinces within a country. In February 2018, the framework was applied to Australian states and territories. Key government and policymakers used the results to inform investment across the states. The findings were shared to help maximize digital inclusion and show how Australia can move further toward becoming a more digitally inclusive society.

We also made progress in FY19 on research to better understand the landscape of job opportunities resulting from digitization. In 2014, in partnership with Gartner, we studied job digitization and sought to understand the skills and competencies needed. The most recent study takes a broader view by expanding to roles driving digital transformation.

As a larger proportion of businesses transform digitally, the number of roles driving digital transformation will become a larger proportion of total workers. Technologies such as AI, cloud, and IoT are enabling digital change and impacting the future of business, which in turn is transitioning all organizations into digital and technology companies. The research identified 28 digital-related job roles, which align to five general job functions that are critical for driving digital business. The skills and competencies necessary to be successful in these 28 job roles were also identified. They include broad skills such as networking, security and privacy, business orientation, and analytical skills. Specialized skills in the areas of networking, software development, analytics/IoT, and security will also be crucial. The research found that a combination of critical workforce competencies, broad skills, and technical skills are needed to build a well-rounded employee in the age of digital transformation.

Continue reading

Corporate Knights and CDP Announce Global Sustainability Leaders

Earlier this week, both CDP and Corporate Knights announced the results of their 2020 assessment of thousands of global companies in the areas of climate change (CDP) and the broader topic of sustainability (Corporate Knights). At the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland Corporate Knights released their 2020 Global 100 ranking. This same week CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) announced its 2019 A-List companies.

CDP A-List

Cisco’s most material environmental sustainability issue is energy and greenhouse gas emissions. As such, we’ve invested in energy efficiency and low-carbon electricity to reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We use CDP’s annual carbon questionnaire as a litmus test to gauge the effectiveness of our strategy, initiatives, and performance.

For 2019, Cisco again made CDP’s “A-List,” along with 179 other global companies out of more than 8,400 that reported climate change related carbon data. Cisco has reported to CDP every year of its existence, receiving more awards from CDP for our climate change submissions than any other North American company. We’ve included a table in our 2019 CSR Report (p. 33) summarizing our results.

Growth in companies disclosing to CDP since 2003

To drive emissions reduction, we’ve established a series of energy- and GHG-related goals that address various aspects of our business:

◉ 2019, was the second year of our third, 5-year Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions reduction goal, reducing our worldwide GHG emissions from operations by 60 percent absolute by FY22 (FY07 baseline).

◉ We continue to invest in low-carbon electricity with a goal of 85 percent renewables by FY22. In FY19 83% of our electricity use was from renewable sources. It is a significant challenge for us to get this percentage much higher because renewables aren’t yet available everywhere in the world that Cisco has owned or leased operations. Since FY16, 100 percent of our electricity use in the United States has been from renewable sources.

◉ 2019 was the second year of our 5-year product-efficiency goal to improve large rack-mounted-equipment system power efficiency—as measured from the input power from the facility to the board-mounted ASICs, memory, and other chip devices—from 77 to 87 percent by FY22 (FY16 baseline). In FY19, our average system power efficiency for large rack-mounted-equipment was 85 percent (Table 17 of our 2019 CSR Report).

◉ In 2019 we announced a new goal to reduce Cisco-related supply chain GHG emissions by 30 percent absolute by FY30 (FY19 base year).

Corporate Knights Global 100

Corporate Knights gathers environment, employee, innovation, supply chain, and financial data for their ranking. This year, Cisco was ranked #4 by Corporate Knights, the fourth year in a row Cisco has ranked in the Top 15 out of about 7,500 companies evaluated by Corporate Knights.

The Global 100 methodology now puts a greater emphasis on a “clean revenue” metric. Based on feedback from Corporate Knights, Cisco improved how we classified our revenue from all product, software and service offerings.

In the Communications Equipment industry classification, the “clean revenue” metric counts for 50 percent of the overall score, reflecting the environmental benefit companies can contribute through the products and services they sell. Our products and solutions can help our customers be more sustainable and reduce operations expenses through building energy management, remote collaboration to reduce business travel, teleworking to reduce employee commuting (and increase office consolidation), data center equipment that enables energy-efficient cloud services, and IoT and low-power network technologies for improved asset tracking and management.

About rankings and ratings

Cisco relies on the following rankings/ratings to measure our progress on sustainability:

1. S&P Global Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (World and North America), formerly RobecoSAM0

2. CDP Climate

3. Corporate Knights Global 100

4. Barron’s Most Sustainable U.S. Companies

5. WSJ Management Top 250

6. FTSE4Good

These rankings are a valuable resource to confirm our strengths and identify areas for improvement in performance and transparent report

Continue reading

Digital Green: Providing for those who provide for others

Smallholder farmers produce more than 80 percent of the world’s food. But they also make up 80 percent of the world’s poorest people, which means they often lack the resources to grow their businesses. Digital Green, a Cisco social investment partner, is using technology to change this equation.

The nonprofit began in 2008 with a vision of helping smallholder farmers improve agricultural practices and boost their incomes. They began by sharing information with farmers on how to increase their yields, producing thousands of locally relevant videos in more than 50 languages. But they realized that more needed to be done to boost farmer incomes. Just as important as growing food is having a place to sell it. That’s why Digital Green built the Loop app, which helps farmers aggregate their produce and get it to markets. It uses a learning algorithm to optimize vehicle routing so farmers get the best prices for their produce. With Loop, farmers can:

Investment from Cisco makes this possible. Cisco was the first donor to provide dedicated funding to support Loop. Farmers saw a gross increase in income of 17 percent as a result of using Loop. Our latest grant will help Loop spin off into a separate social enterprise. Through the collective power of technology and grassroots-level partnerships, Digital Green and Cisco are helping farmers lift themselves out of poverty.

Digital Green is a Cisco partner in our social investment focus area of critical human needs and disaster relief, along with Destination: Home, Mercy Corps and many others. Our Critical Human Needs and Disaster Relief portfolio focuses on increasing access to essentials like water, food, and housing. We also invest in technologies that help people in crisis, from delivering humanitarian aid to providing relief after natural disasters.

Cisco’s research helps guide our grantmaking and related investments to make a meaningful impact. These investments in nonprofit partners enable them to use technology-based solutions to improve how they operate and reach underserved communities. And they support conditions for the communities they live in to thrive. Our approach is to invest in early-stage solutions. This is the stage where funding is most needed and where we can make the biggest difference. Funding from Cisco and the Cisco Foundation helps nonprofits apply technology to:

◉ Create innovative solutions targeting individual and community needs

◉ Implement proof-of-concept pilots to validate viability of solutions

◉ Improve the delivery, quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of their products and services

◉ Scale to reach more people

◉ Replicate to multiple geographies globally

◉ Validate social impact

◉ Make progress toward financial sustainability

◉ Use data for better decision-making

We also provide our nonprofit partners with ongoing consulting services, advisory support, and technical expertise in areas including:

◉ Governance and operational structure

◉ Organizational leadership capacity

◉ Business planning and strategy development

◉ Impact evaluation

◉ Financial sustainability planning

It is important to confirm that the solutions we invest in are making a difference. We work closely with the nonprofits we fund to measure their effectiveness and impact. This measurement also provides partners with insights on how to improve. We measure both breadth (number of people reached) and depth (the impact their programs are making). Depth is measured with a standard set of metrics for each of our three investment focus areas, as well as custom metrics specific to our partners’ social objectives. We also ensure that solutions serve communities that need it most. Grantees must validate that at least 65 percent of their programs’ participants are from underrepresented and vulnerable population groups. They also provide quarterly reports to share progress against targets that we agree upon, such as client satisfaction.

Continue reading

How we take our culture to the next level with Conscious Culture

A company’s culture can be its greatest asset. Unfortunately, you don’t have to look far to find companies where culture isn’t working. Places with problems like unethical behavior, discrimination, and harassment. And employees who are afraid to speak their mind.

Cisco aims to help set a new standard, reinforcing the values and behaviors that make this a great place to work. In FY19, we built upon our solid foundation and started defining culture using a new framework. We call it “Conscious Culture.” It has three components:

◉ An inclusive, diverse environment that positively impacts people, society, and the planet.

◉ The typical traits of our culture, such as our unique beliefs, behaviors, and principles.

◉ The everyday interactions people have with their leaders and colleagues.

Many companies focus on only one of these three aspects of culture. Bringing all three pieces together is what sets Cisco apart. And this culture is “conscious”—aware and accountable for what’s working, what’s not, and how we can improve. When we see or experience something, like harassment by a manager or a violation of our Code of Conduct, we say something. Employees can protect our culture by sharing concerns with our Ethics Office. As part of Conscious Culture’s debut, we shared metrics internally regarding concerns our employees reported—issues like bullying and other negative behavior. We’ll continue to do so every six months, as well as sharing how concerns are handled. But Conscious Culture is more than addressing concerns. It affects every aspect of how our people work and interact. Now, business functions across Cisco are determining how to apply Conscious Culture to their practices. As this journey progresses, the result will be better employee engagement. And in turn, better experiences for our customers and communities.

One example of the implementation of Conscious Culture at Cisco is our no shame, no stigma campaign around mental health.

Over the past year, Cisco has made it a priority to not only end the taboo against talking about mental health but encourage people to ask for help. It all started with an email. In 2018, in the face of growing concerns about mental health in society, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins sent an email to all Cisco employees. In it, he expressed Cisco’s concern for those who are struggling, sharing that no one needs to go it alone.

The response was overwhelming. Robbins received more than 100 replies from employees saying thanks and sharing stories of themselves and their loved ones. Since then, even more people have courageously spoken about personal struggles in company blog posts and the Cisco Beat.

This response has awakened us to an issue that wasn’t being addressed. Consider the statistics: about one in five U.S. adults lives with a mental health condition. Yet many people are still uncomfortable talking about these issues. Cisco is breaking the silence. We want everyone to know that it’s okay to not be okay. By decreasing the stigma and broadening the resources we offer, we hope to encourage people to get the help they need.  And change the conversation about mental health across our industry.

Continue reading