According to Cisco, simplifying the cloud networking experience should be like playing modern slot machines — all digital, all the time and work in an instant. No more buckets of coins or the crumpled hard cash in your back pocket, because today’s slot machines involve a VIP card and an app. It’s apparently easier than ever before to watch your money go down the drain while gambling — but this is probably not the image Cisco’s Rebecca Stone, SVP, customer solutions marketing, meant to convey when she compared the advancements of today’s tech to digital slot machines during a keynote at Cisco Live, the vendor’s massive customer event in Las Vegas this week.
While I for one can’t reminisce about the days I carried a bucket into a Las Vegas casino to catch my slot machine earnings… that’s the point. You can't anymore. Technology has radically advanced to the point that even Las Vegas slot machine cash outs have completely modernized.
“That is the perfect example of how technology has changed the experience for customers universally,” Stone said. “If you think about all of the different connections that that technology then has to connect to to understand who your user profile is, to make sure that it goes into the [user’s] app, to make sure that that app can then be used... All of that is powered by the networking technology…and from a customer perspective that experience is actually incredibly easy.”
But, Stone pointed out that this reality is more complex for partners wanting a simpler, unified experience. In fact, 85% of IT professionals indicate they value simplicity in their IT systems, according to a recent State of Global Innovation report, Cisco found.
“There are multiple vendors that you have to work with,” Stone said. “There are multiple connections that you have to deal with across multiple different [user interfaces] UIs, API's, etc. and then, if you add on the complexity of all of the security threats that each of those connections take, it becomes infinitely harder to do.”
Wah! Simple is hard!
Even in the best of times, achieving a simplified IT infrastructure is a pain, especially with advancements in cloud, artificial intelligence (AI)/ machine learning (ML), security and such. As Stone noted, simple is challenging to achieve, nevermind delivering a unified experience on top of that.
Simplifying IT is so hard in fact, that 40% of CIOs believe they will not be able to deliver that infrastructure by next year, a figure from IDC. Here enters Cisco Networking Cloud, Cisco’s vision to create a network management platform experience as simple as cashing out at today’s casinos.
During Cisco Live, the vendor touted the Networking Cloud as an integrated management platform for both on-prem and operating models, designed to help customers easily access and manage all Cisco networking aids from one place.
“From a simplicity perspective, what you buy needs to be more simple to use. You need to have fewer things. They need to be more automated. They need to be more predictable in how you work with us in order to buy them,” Stone said of the Networking Cloud during her keynote.
In that vein of simplicity, the company also announced it is adding features to each existing Cisco networking product such as single sign-on (SSO) and API key exchange/repository to up operational simplicity. Plus, Cisco’s ThousandEyes will get a makeover with expanded visibility, automated Event Detection and workflow deployment with Cisco Secure Client.
Just last year, Cisco announced Cloud Monitoring for Catalyst for Catalyst switching — now fully managed within Cisco’s Meraki dashboard, according to Stone. The Cisco Catalyst stack is “more scalable” with simplified branding, licensing options and AI/ML data center network blueprint solution.
The journey to simplification is well underway, according to Cisco. While the IDC study shows that a majority of IT professionals crave “simple” (can IT truly be labeled simple?), the Networking Cloud could be a sign that times are a changin’ for those IT staff charged with delivering seamless user experiences to those in the office, working remotely, or even those “checking email” at a Vegas slot machine.