Cisco Is Simplifying Its Portfolio

Berger said the recent integration of Cisco product lines reflect its move to create a simplified experience predicated on customer needs.

“They’re starting to build solutions looking at the business outcome or the technology challenge. So they’re not trying to sell them how Cisco is organized; they’re selling them what the customer’s challenge is,” he said. 

In other words, rather than approaching a Cisco partner for a security product, the customer might come to them asking them to enable a connected workforce.

“Those are three or four different areas of Cisco expertise. So now they’re building cross-domain solutions to solve for that. I think it’s the right approach,” he said.