If strategy sets direction, learning is what makes it last. Learning is one of the clearest places where Cisco’s Purpose and business intersect. Ensuring that people are prepared to take part in a digital and AI-enabled economy is essential to sustainable growth, long-term trust, and shared success. When people have the skills to adapt, organizations move faster — with greater resilience and stronger outcomes.
Within Cisco, we’ve been intentional about investing in our own capabilities. In fiscal 2025, more than 37,000 employees completed AI-focused learning — a 76% year-over-year increase — strengthening our ability to innovate, redesign work, and deliver value to our customers. As work continues to evolve, learning has become one of the most powerful ways leaders enable the future and drive momentum. For example, at Cisco, employees are twice as likely to use AI when their manager does, and consistent users are more productive and more engaged.
At the same time, our commitment to learning has never stopped at our own walls. Through Cisco Networking Academy, we’ve helped more than 28 million learners build the skills needed to participate in the digital economy. And, through Learn with Cisco, we’re supporting the White House’s Pledge to America’s Youth: Investing in AI Education with a commitment to train one million people across the United States.
In December, IDC MarketScape recognized Cisco as a Leader in IT Training Services in both Europe1 and North America2. We see that recognition not as a finish line, but as encouragement to move faster — extending the confidence and capability we’re building inside Cisco to our partners, customers, and communities around the world.
Learn more about our progress and goals in our FY25 Purpose Report.
Millions of Stories: The Impact of Learning
A recent conversation powerfully highlighted the importance and impact of education. During a discussion with Equity Bank in Kenya about their learning programs for underserved youth, we realized that one of our Cisco colleagues in the meeting was a graduate of this program. She shared how this bank-sponsored education profoundly changed her life. This personal testimony underscored the real-world impact of Equity Bank’s efforts. As I shared how Cisco Networking Academy builds digital skills at scale, a senior leader from the bank spoke up. He shared that he earned his Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) through Cisco Networking Academy — an experience that launched his career and led him to the executive role he holds today.
In a company as far-reaching as Cisco, we don’t always get to hear the individual stories behind our work — but when we do, they bring our impact to life. In the last fiscal year alone, more than five million learners engaged with Cisco Networking Academy, which means millions of stories like these are unfolding around the world. Each one is a reminder that what we do matters — creating pathways for people to participate more fully in the future.
Learning in Partnership
One important way that we continue to learn as an organization and stay connected to our industry is through our leadership of the AI Workforce Consortium. This collaboration brings together Cisco, Accenture, Cornerstone, Eightfold AI, Google, IBM, Indeed, Intel, Microsoft, and SAP. Together, we’re mapping how AI is reshaping more than 50 critical technology and supporting roles across G7 countries — and, just as importantly, building practical pathways so people can prepare for what’s next.
The Consortium’s 2025 research shows that 78% of jobs already require AI skills. But it also makes clear that human skills — leadership, problem-solving, innovation, collaboration, and communication — will determine how impactful AI ultimately becomes.
That same research reinforces the need for continuous learning to unlock the full potential of the workforce. It’s telling that Learning & Development Specialist is now the most in-demand technology support role in the U.S. and Canada, underscoring how strongly organizations are prioritizing learning agility in an AI-driven economy. That signal is hard to ignore. At Cisco, we’re acting on it by investing in new learning roles and enterprise-wide efforts that help our people build the skills to leap ahead in an AI-driven future.
Permission to Rethink Everything
Moments like the one I experienced in Kenya stay with me because they clarify what’s truly at stake. They remind me that we are living in a rare time — one that gives us permission to rethink everything. How do we spend our resources? What breakthroughs do we pursue? And what kind of human experience do we want to enable?
At Cisco, we’re fortunate to be navigating this moment from a position of strength, grounded in leading technology, hard-earned trust, our people, and our Purpose.
But with that strength comes the responsibility to pause and ask the right questions about how we move forward together.
- As industry leaders, how will we help shape markets that expand opportunity and set the standard for secure, trusted, and inclusive innovation?
- As people leaders, how will we model learning in real time, using AI ourselves and building cultures where curiosity, courage, and compassion drive progress?
- And as individuals, how will we adapt, unlearn, and retool, knowing that our collective success ultimately depends on our personal willingness to grow?
Those questions aren’t just theoretical for us. In fiscal 2025, we answered each with a real and measurable commitment:
- 573,000 employee volunteer hours and the sixth consecutive year exceeding our 80% community impact target
- 31 crisis response efforts and over 900 employee volunteers supporting communities in crisis
- 100% renewable energy to match global annual electricity needs at Cisco owned and leased facilities3
- 154 million lives positively impacted through the Cisco Foundation and Social Impact Investments
Behind each of these metrics are human stories of resilience and expanded possibility. Our responsibility is to ensure this progress continues — human, inclusive, and grounded in trust. That is how we will meet this moment: by learning, by leading, and by helping others do the same.
Learn more:
Purpose at Cisco
FY25 Purpose Report
Purpose Reporting Hub
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1. Source: “IDC MarketScape: European IT Training Services 2025 Vendor Assessment”, 1 December 2025, IDC # EUR153005625.
2. Source: “IDC MarketScape: North America IT Training Services 2025-2026 Vendor Assessment”, 4 December 2025, IDC # US52991625.
3. Cisco achieved this milestone using a variety of methods, including on-site renewables, contractual arrangements such as power purchase agreements, and energy attribute certificates. See the Purpose Reporting Hub for our renewable energy strategy
