Forget the Money

Against our advice the AR team at Cisco has succeeded in neatly removing all discussion of business from the Industry Analysts meeting. Cisco used to speak to both financial and industry analysts in one meeting which I personally loved because it meant they had to be careful about both business and technical statements. Apparently most industry analysts disagreed with this position and didn't want to wade through the boring stuff about how Cisco actually makes money. Perhaps if you're an industry analyst that prepares reports only for end users that's a reasonable perspective. Why should a buyer care how Cisco actually makes money if the product and price are right? But why any vendor should listen to the advice of someone who isn't interested in the money part is frankly a mystery to me although it must simplify the process of making Magic Quadrants enormously. So don't ask us for advice if you don't care about the money stuff either.