Cisco Transforms Businesses with AI

Cisco and AI: An Ambitious Strategy to Transform Businesses

As a global technology leader, Cisco is at the heart of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution that is reshaping the world of work. Jacques-Philippe Roederer, CEO of Cisco France, and Armand Leblois, Europe Lead for Learn with Cisco, share their vision on these changes and Cisco's initiatives to address them.

AI presents a major challenge for businesses, regardless of their size. Cisco, as a significant player in the technology field, is at the forefront of this transformation. To better understand how companies are preparing to integrate AI, Cisco launched the AI Readiness Index. This tool helps identify the gaps that need to be filled so that employees and leaders can fully leverage this technological advancement. Jacques-Philippe Roederer explains that we are at a turning point between generative AI, which has paved the way for content creation, and agentic AI, which promises to revolutionize complex processes. This transition marks a significant systemic challenge.

“What is true today for an employee will not be true tomorrow”

In this context, where do businesses stand? According to Cisco's data, only 14% of companies are ready to deploy AI at scale. In France, although the country has a pool of technical talent and a strong willingness to innovate, two major obstacles remain: the complexity of integration due to still overly siloed structures and the need for agile governance to adapt to AI requirements.

To promote widespread adoption of AI, Cisco relies on its Cisco Networking Academy, an integral part of the Learn with Cisco initiative. The goal is to democratize access to technical skills, particularly in AI, through educational content that can lead to professional certifications. Armand Leblois emphasizes that the required skills are evolving rapidly, and young entrants into the job market must now prove their ability to make decisions and communicate effectively, beyond traditional degrees.

AI: Moving from Tool to Reflex

Cisco is also intensifying its commitment to the French entrepreneurial ecosystem by establishing itself at Station F with the Cisco Scale Hub. This six-month acceleration program is aimed at startups specializing in AI, particularly those developing agentic AI systems and multi-agent architectures.

Internally, Cisco is reinventing its products to integrate AI, thereby enhancing user experience and anticipating failures. However, Jacques-Philippe Roederer notes that human adoption of AI is more complex. The goal is to shift from using AI as a mere tool to adopting it as a reflex. To achieve this, Cisco has implemented internal training programs so that every employee becomes an informed user of AI.

Despite the rapid pace of innovation in AI, which can seem overwhelming, the director of Cisco France stresses the importance of not succumbing to panic. He advocates for a pragmatic approach, avoiding the treatment of AI projects as mere IT initiatives and highlighting the importance of the human factor in this endeavor.

Armand Leblois complements this vision by stating that the success of leaders will depend on their ability to transform this period of technological transformation into a collective adventure. It is crucial to value the innovation initiatives of employees, encouraging experimentation and industrialization to strengthen the skills of leaders and employees in the face of this unprecedented technological revolution.