Chambers: Cisco has lost credibility

In a frank email to staff, Cisco boss promises to make tough decisions after admitting operational execution has been poor

John Chambers will make a series of changes at Cisco after admitting in a candid email to staff that the networking giant has lost its way.

In an extraordinary 1,473-word missive, Cisco's chief executive confessed the $40bn vendor had been slow to make decisions and had lost accountability.

"Bottom line, we have lost some of the credibility that is foundational to Cisco's success - and we must earn it back," he said.

Cisco's share price has bombed by a third over the last year and it has alienated investors by missing two sets of quarterly numbers.

Against this backdrop, Chambers said it is time to earn back the credibility Cisco has lost.

Although Chambers said that he thought Cisco's strategy is sound, he conceded that aspects of its operational execution need work.

"We have been slow to make decisions, we have had surprises where we should not, and we have lost the accountability that has been a hallmark of our ability to execute consistently for our customers and our shareholders," he said.

"That is unacceptable. And it is exactly what we will attack."

Chambers, who has headed up Cisco since 1995, said the firm will make "a number of targeted moves" in the coming weeks.

"We will take bold steps and we will make tough decisions," he continued. "With change comes disruption, and you will see this necessary and healthy disruption as we make meaningful decisions in a timely, targeted and measureable way. We will address with surgical precision what we need to fix in our portfolio and what we need to better enable."