CASE STUDY
A bold vision to free up the most important resource—time
Cisco Systems wanted to move away from traditional HR approaches to create a better workplace. The goal? Leverage technology to give back precious time.
10-MINUTE READ
Call for change
Unleashing people’s potential with a new vision for HR
To create a better and more innovative workplace, Cisco Systems wanted to move away from traditional HR approaches and build a new, seamless, and fit-for-purpose approach to talent management. The goal? To create an environment in which Cisco’s People and Communities could not only do their best work, but also assume more strategic and advisory roles in the business. As part of this transformation, Cisco opted to replace its aging and cumbersome Human Capital Management (HCM) system. In its place, Cisco wanted to deploy a scalable, cloud-based Workday solution that would enable simpler processes and collaboration on a global scale.
A big part of our focus is eliminating tedious work, helping teams be their absolute best, and leveraging our technology to free up one of our most important resources.
Fran Katsoudas / Executive VP and Chief People Officer, Cisco
When tech meets human ingenuity
A complete cultural shift, enabled by Workday
In Cisco’s reimagined view of HR, Workday serves as the critical enabler for new ways of working across HR. With Accenture, Cisco designed the suite of Workday cloud solutions—including core HR, compensation planning, Workday Prism Analytics and more—to serve as the digital heart of HR and enable the agility and insights needed in a work anywhere/anytime economy.
Through a series of collaborative workshops, the team also defined a new vision for HR. The vision was supported by new governance and accountability models, as well as comprehensive change management and communications programs aimed at building trust, rewiring mindsets around the new HR mandate, and ensuring that Cisco’s spirit of inclusivity and “Conscious Culture” was woven into all the organization does.
Rounding out the transformation was a redesign of the organizational structure and roles to support a broader people ecosystem and ensure the voice of the customer was embedded in all solutions.
Accenture brought the deep technical and change management expertise to orchestrate the complex change required to bring our new vision to life. And together, we brought a shared commitment to work as a single team…
Jason Phillips / Senior VP People Experiences, Cisco
A valuable difference
Optimizing people experiences to optimize business results
Cisco’s new People and Communities, Policy and Purpose organization is taking full advantage of the Workday solution to drive operational efficiencies, meet regulatory compliance requirements, generate valuable organizational insights, and boost the workforce’s productivity, collaboration and agility. New roles, structures and processes have accelerated innovation, changing the way HR delivers services and value to Cisco’s people. New, simplified processes and technologies make it possible for Cisco teams to activate new programs and capabilities in as little as three months—60% faster than under its old ways of working.
In all these ways, Cisco is ushering in a new era of people-first services and inclusive growth for all.
21
Within just 21 months Cisco successfully created an entirely new approach to HR services.
3
In as little as three months Cisco can activate new programs and capabilities with Workday’s simplified processes and technologies.
60%
Cisco can activate new programs and capabilities 60% faster than under its old ways of working.