Why People.ai?
with previous solution
With a pivotal role in shaping the internet, Cisco is renowned for its cutting-edge networking products. The technologies and solutions offered by Cisco are widely used to connect and manage computer networks, enabling seamless communication and collaboration across organizations around the world.
Sandeep Kumar, Senior Director of GTM Strategy and Revenue Operations, has the challenging job of managing Cisco’s global revenue operations of approximately 20,000 sellers across a highly federated and complex ecosystem. Cisco’s mission to remain at the forefront of providing its customers with the best and latest technology led to a massive business transformation that altered their core services and offerings. “The shift from being a legacy hardware vendor towards offering modern software-as-a-service solutions altered how we did business, and that meant our Go-To-Market (GTM) operating model had to change,” said Kumar. “The goal was to be a partner for our customers as their needs continued to evolve, but there was no one-size-fits-all approach to that partnership. We wanted to put the customer at the center of our business, and had to adopt a GTM strategy that ensured we had the right approach for every customer.”
Sandeep spearheaded Cisco’s GTM transformation, operationalizing it from start to finish. As he strategized to deepen customer intimacy, he focused on simplifying, optimizing, and elevating the sales experience. He soon realized he would need to find an AI-native data platform built for GTM, and capable of being custom-tailored to Cisco’s objectives. He looked for a solution with three key factors to help drive customer intimacy into their GTM strategy:
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Sandeep considered building an in-house solution, but due to the expensive and time-consuming nature of the build, he opted to purchase a solution. Unfortunately, the first solution they selected proved to be incompatible. It quickly became apparent that the vendor was unable to meet Cisco’s evolving needs for the future. Their solution was a decentralized platform that lacked the ability to unify Cisco’s many systems and allow them to accurately communicate. Without a shared source of truth and an inability to extract critical insights to drive deal cycles forward, the gaps and frustrations had become overwhelming. Kumar approached the search for a new vendor with a more critical eye. ”In our search for a new solution, People.ai was one we extensively evaluated among many, and frankly, not only did your capabilities fit our criteria, but it absolutely stood out from the beginning,” he explained.
What Sandeep sought most was a strategic partner with a comprehensive platform where he could build the foundation of his GTM strategy, centralize the platform within his tech stack, and continue to evolve with them. “With People.ai, we engaged in a truly unique conversation,” said Kumar. “The more we delved into the solution, the more I realized its relevance for us. People.ai provided us with revenue intelligence, engagement intelligence, conversation intelligence, and deal intelligence, all packaged into one comprehensive solution.”
During evaluations and pilot testing of People.ai in real-world scenarios, Sandeep saw an innovative AI-native data platform backed by a team proactively supporting both his current and future success. He had found the strategic partner he’d been looking for.
Sandeep was delighted to see People.ai’s deep partnerships and rich integrations effortlessly harmonize the rest of Cisco’s tech stack. “ZoomInfo and Microsoft are both valid, relevant, and strategic partners of ours.” Although People.ai’s partnerships with these solutions weren’t a requirement, they evolved into an unforeseen advantage, functioning collaboratively and contributing to the modernization of Cisco’s existing tech stack. This synergy resulted in immediate adoption and added value.
What started as a pilot of 400 users quickly turned into 20,000+ sellers leveraging People.ai globally to process up to 1.8 million sales activities hourly. Cisco's sales leaders were impressed by People.ai's ability to help improve their team's efficiency and success rates, despite the highly complex nature of their technical environment. "At its core, we gained the ability to assess team performance, understand our trending trajectory, identify white space within an account along with its revenue potential, and initiate data-based coaching and feedback for our teams,” said Kumar. “People.ai was also incredibly effective where our sales methodology came into play. It’s a complex and customized model of framework, capability, and experience that we had to deploy to our sellers to really drive the de-risking and hygiene of our pipeline.”
“For the first time in history, Cisco has adopted a true end-to-end sales methodology through our partnership with People.ai,” said Kumar. “The impact of not having People.ai would have resulted in a significant portion of our business not being delivered. It would have been a crucial piece missing from our end-to-end story that we continue to successfully deliver for our sales teams.” Cisco and People.ai continue to advance their partnership globally, and look forward to achieving continued success.
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