I'm trying to come back down to Earth after this year's Impact. I've been going to Impact (formerly known as GSX!) for more than twenty years and can honestly say that this was the biggest, brightest and most inspiring of them all. The atmosphere throughout the week was phenomenal, and the energy unbelievable.

As I walked around the incredible space that the team had put together for Impact and spent time listening to friends and colleagues along the way, I couldn't help but feel hugely excited and energized by our transformation and the potential it's unlocking for our customers and Cisco. We are innovating all the time, in so many areas. And we are on the brink of momentous change, at an unprecedented scale, that will make a huge difference to people and communities.

Never have our service provider customers faced bigger challenges. In a world where end-users demand faster, better, cheaper, new technologies are coming in thick and fast; the cloud and 5G to name just two, squeezing margins and profitability. Our customers are struggling to keep up and they're looking to Cisco to empower them to deliver services more quickly, via an agile network, so that they can lower both their capex and opex spend. We know their appetite continues to grow for our products. We also know that we need to take it to a new level; freeing Service Providers up to focus on future strategies, without having to worry about infrastructure.

Sales Plays are going to be critical to our future success because reaching a CEO from a value proposition standpoint is no mean feat. As Michael Glickman put it so brilliantly; "We need a little bit of Sales Muscle, Baby!" (by the way, I want one of those Sales Play T-Shirts.) To win, we have to translate our products into a holistic, connected business strategy. EMEAR SP is bringing this philosophy to life and blazing a trail for Service Provider at Cisco.

The world is changing, our customers are changing, we are changing. Now is the time to dive into this new world's heart and soul. Cisco has a long and proud heritage of integrating software and hardware platforms. It's time to speed it up, get competitive, and show our customers how our portfolio can drive business value. I loved Gerri's comment; "We have to shift from being product sellers to being problem solvers." It's not going to be easy, but we are in a fantastic place and I have total confidence we have the right strategy to take full advantage of the opportunities we have ahead of us.

There is no question in my mind that we have the best people in the business; the people who are going to play a pivotal role in driving our transformation. Not a day goes by that I don't feel proud and grateful to work with such a talented team. It is this phenomenal talent that enables us to thrive in an environment with a scale and complexity that could make your eyes water. Not EMEAR SP -we embrace our challenges and drive the successful outcomes our customers have come to expect from us.

Service Provider is a unique place to be; we work together, help each other, share our experiences, learn from one another, collaborate, strive to be better -but most of all we have a laugh together! To lead this incredible team is such a privilege, and I can't wait to get stuck into FY20.