Follow the logic
Other companies could adopt the logic of this approach, although they may not want to copy Cisco’s specific technical stack, she said. The architecture, including dual model integration, hybrid multicloud orchestration, RAG-as-a-Service and microservices, reflects Cisco’s scale and technical capabilities, Loomis noted.
What is more important is the underlying strategy: companies should provide their employees with a centrally controlled internal AI environment at an early stage, before uncontrolled shadow AI becomes established. It is also important to bring together the large number of individual AI tools via a uniform, intelligent interface, to create clear access and responsibility rules and to position AI as an instrument that improves the quality and scope of human work.
Loomis sees the real innovation not in individual technologies, but in their interaction. Components such as RAG pipelines, access to GPT-4o, OneDrive integration or a microservices architecture are also available elsewhere. However, Cisco has merged them into an integrated enterprise platform.
“What is less common is to combine all of these components in a centrally managed, company-owned environment with clearly defined data controls, rather than forwarding employee requests to external AI services, where sensitive information could leak into public training data sets,” explains the Gartner analyst.
As an example, Loomis cites the “My Projects” function, which allows employees to save company-owned data sets in secured OneDrive folders and then specifically evaluate or survey them using AI. This gave them the functions they needed without having to resort to unauthorized external AI services.
She also finds praise for Cisco’s fundamental positioning of AI. The company does not see artificial intelligence as a replacement for employees, but rather as an amplifier of their skills.
“Providing each employee with a set of AI tools tailored to their role and work context is as much a matter of change management as it is of technology,” she explains. “Companies that present AI as a tool to augment human capabilities rather than as a replacement for human labor tend to achieve higher adoption because they reduce resistance to adopting new technologies.” (mb)
This article is based on a post from sister publication CIO.com.
