Don't stop believin'

That's the lyrics of my husband's favorite song. And it is on a sign hanging on our bedroom wall. Whether you love or hate Journey, it's corny, but true. This is a great message for us ... with all the upheaval in the SP industry, we need to keep believing. Whether you are the CEO, the engineer, business analyst, sales leader, or marketing manager like me, you feel the changes coming. How will my company transform, how do I personally transform?

You can do it -there are many ways to get there in life and in business. For SPs, it is possible to transform by making good choices in partners, technology and org structure that makes sense. Some may want to go it alone, others, like Telstra find a partner.

Be inspired, see how Telstra did it

I was inspired by this video from Guy Lupo, a self-described disrupter, talk about the future he sees for Telstra. It is interesting to hear how he leveraged Cisco's technology to create a secure Cloud VPN service for medium-sized businesses... best part is they can leverage business internet to upsell services like security. Smart, right? These smaller companies struggle with the high cost of a secure WAN and need an alternative. Typically, SPs couldn't even consider reaching these businesses -it was just not possible to make money. Now with automation, virtualization, cloud and advancements in networking, just about anything you can dream up is possible.

Watch the Video

If you're still not convinced, consider this number -$350 Billion* - the market opportunity over the next few years for those who offer cloud network services. SPs -you are perfectly primed to grab your share. The harsh reality is customers will work with you or switch to someone else if you cannot deliver new, economical cloud services.

Take the first step...

Guy is convinced believing in new technology is the key.

"To continue our growth we need to focus on automating our networks, cloud and service creation to create virtual products that can run anywhere," said Lupo when interviewed at Cisco Live recently.

Lupo's group is transforming Telstra's enterprise and small business services and network automation through a worldwide partnership with Cisco.

"We partner with Cisco because we can co-create together. We saw the opportunity to get into a relationship where we design together, create together and go to market together, leveraging each other's capabilities and strengths," added Lupo.

Technology keeps shifting -that won't change. People like Guy Lupo won't stop innovating, they won't stop believing, and they won't stop moving all of us forward.

To learn more about our service provider solutions, visit us at cisco.com/go/serviceprovider.

*(Early estimates from the Cisco MOI Study, 2016, to be released next month. The study includes ITaaS, IaaS, SaaS, PaaS and includes 2016-2020.)