Jonathan Davidson is Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Networking
This article was originally published on Cisco.com.

It’s a warm summer night. The stadium glows from the phones poised to capture the coin toss. The fans are ready. The players are in position. Game time! 

It’s a picture-perfect image of convenience, safety, and punctuality, all working together as one. But peek behind the picture, and it’s a chaotic orchestration of not just players but a dizzying array of IT platforms, networks, and technologies conducted by dispersed people, teams, and organizations. The fans in the bleachers might not be worried about weather conditions affecting the field or game-time communications, but IT staff and operators are tackling a lot.

The IT Reality Today

Complexity constricts IT across so many industries, like sports. Silos and inefficiencies separate dashboards, teams, and technologies, leaving them vulnerable. Progress in one area, like connectivity, increases the threat surface in another. While IT teams are enabling the audacious—hybrid work, modernizing industries, and building greener economies—they often do it blindfolded and handcuffed.  

 Is it working? Not very well. It’s been costly and risky. Is it scalable? Not very … it’s been frustrating and time-consuming. For those who have succeeded, it’s like winning a championship game—heroic, but lots of sweat, stamina, and swearing.

What if we could collapse everything into a simple press of a button? No more navigating dozens of systems and platforms to enable one outcome. No need to switch from one tool to provision, another to manage policy, and yet another to monitor alerts. If technologies, apps, and networks acted as one, it would simplify IT and help you create more unified customer experiences.  

The Power of Unified Experiences 

Today, we’re making the easy button better with Cisco Networking Cloud. It was born from the feedback we heard from you alongside countless other customers. You shared about your unique journeys. Some of you manage networks from the cloud, while others stay on premises. Some of you are first movers and fully digitalized, and others are catching up quickly. You all expressed a need for simple-to-use and predictable platforms with fewer interfaces and simplified licensing. You also echoed each other with the need to prioritize solutions, not products. 

We are grateful for your openness and partnership. And we are delivering. 

Cisco Networking Cloud is our vision—commitment—to simplify IT, everywhere, at every scale. Until now, there has never been a consistent way to automate operations, analyze and diagnose issues, or assure the user experience across networking domains. Cisco Networking Cloud will change that.  

With Cisco Networking Cloud, you will have a unified management experience platform for on-premises and cloud operating models. We are still dedicated to building the best on-premises solutions. However, we believe most of you could benefit from a cloud-first automation strategy in at least some parts of your business. The Cisco Networking Cloud allows you to explore management with both models.   

We are bringing together campus and branch, data center, compute, IoT, SD-WAN, and more. Cisco Networking Cloud binds the applications under Cisco Networking, including Meraki, ThousandEyes, and Cisco Catalyst to act as one. We are fighting rising complexity with radical simplification. 

The Cisco Networking Cloud converges and connects fragmented platforms that exchange data through automation. It replaces isolated pockets of data with telemetry, assurance, and proactive analytics across the network. Together, we will make everyday life more connected, protected, and convenient. 

From Vision to Value 

Let’s go back to our game. Imagine cameras and sensors speaking across the network, guided by AI analytics. Instead of scouring dashboards, you’re alerted to the wayward fan inside the game field, the temperature fluctuations inside the locker room, and the Wi-Fi strength in the stadium. You’ll even receive notifications if the soda machines overheat. Cisco Networking Cloud just took you from troubleshooting in hours—to seconds. It gives you time to easily avoid potential hazards and the space to ensure the game is on time with fans enjoying their favorite drink. Unified experiences delight customers and fuel business.

Every facet of our world today is being reimagined, whether it is winning championships, transforming transportation, eradicating disease, or fighting climate change. IT will be at the heart of this reinvention for years to come—so will unified experiences.

The world is changing fast. It’s time to simplify IT with
Unified Experiences

To learn more:

• Discover how simplifying the platform experience is a core tenet of our vision for the Cisco Networking Cloud.
• Read why the power of the network is about to take a significant leap forward with predictive automations and other features.