The Chinese calendar calls 2016 the year of the monkey, but looking back on our industry these past 11 months, I would call it the year of the customer. Why? Because as digital disruption takes hold and transforms the way we do business, the most important reality we all need to accept is that the customer is in the driver's seat today.

Digitization and transition to a subscription-based business model is one that requires a shift in strategy -one that is focused on the customer journey and on driving loyalty after the initial point of sale. Evolving our business practices and knowing how to best engage with the customer, empower them, and of course, sell to them, is essential if we're to stand out from the pack. And that, in a nutshell, has been the focus of our Customer Success Talk webinar series, which was launched this year. If you missed it, you can catch highlights from episode 1 of the series below and see a business case for post-sale lifecycle management and Customer Success as a critically important strategy and revenue generator in today's IT industry.

Customer Success Talk Rewind: Get caught up on what you've missed. Watch highlights of all 2016 sessions.

We're On a Shared Journey

At Cisco, we're evolving and innovating across our entire organization, and because partners are so central to our business, we want to share what we've learned about the changing IT landscape with you. This past year at Cisco we've stood up a powerful combination of people, process, platforms, content and analytics - an entire movement focused on continuously delivering value to the customer throughout the relationship. We've set our sights on helping our partners do the same and evolve their customer success practices along with us.

As you put your 2017 business plans in motion, I invite you to check out the Customer Success Talk webinar series or visit our growing library of Customer Success resources within SuccessHub. The goal is to help you build your own customer success practice-because we're on a shared journey and Cisco is moving "full speed" to help you create customers for life!