Cisco has
redesigned their logo, dropped the ‘Systems’ from their name, and was welcoming me
to the "Human Network."

What’s behind the change? As Sue Bostrom, Cisco’s Chief Marketing Officer aptly puts it:   

"The potential of the Internet is being fulfilled by
more than the physical network alone; it is the human network where
people are connecting and collaborating, enabling ideas and
opportunities."

At the heart of  Bostrom’s statement lies what Cisco is
working towards: to change the way Cisco Systems is perceived in the
marketplace. Cisco is no
longer a physical network to be taken for granted, but the powerful facilitator
of human contact and connections.

Cisco’s homepage redesign and new
framework brings to life everything we associate with today’s Web 2.0. Through a
new intuitive information architecture, improved navigation, and rich features
such as blogs, viral video, pod casts and RSS feeds we can quickly learn how
Cisco is transforming itself.

Coming back to the interactive ad, by clicking through I
ended up not on Cisco’s Homepage, but to their ‘Human Network
Stories’ page. People are invited upload and share how the ‘Human Network’
helped them achieve something that once had seemed impossible.  I found
this a clever way to engage people in Cisco’s concept of the Human Network.

But in the end it comes down to this: organizations in order to survive must always find new ways to stay relevant. I am thrilled to see that Cisco has not only chosen the Human Network as its positioning stronghold, but that the leadership has chosen the web as its first means to communicate this new era.

To borrow a very familiar saying: You’ve come a long way baby!

Virginia M. Alber-Glanstaetten