CISCO MAIL COMES TO A THOUGHTFUL CLOSE

Today, Debra Chrapaty, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco’s Collaboration Software Group, announced that they are stopping investment in their Cisco Mail service.

In the thirteen months since [its introduction], we’ve been market testing Cisco Mail via a controlled release. The product has been well received, but we’ve since learned that customers have come to view their email as a mature and commoditized tool versus a long-term differentiated element of their collaboration strategy. We’ve also heard that customers are eager to embrace emerging collaboration tools such as social software and video.... The talented Cisco employees who built and supported the Cisco Mail product will be reassigned to other collaboration products and services that customers view as more strategic.

Two thoughts:

• Companies that thoughtfully reapply or rework their resources should be commended.  Pixar also comes to mind as a company willing to make tough choices to maintain quality (see this nice description from The Atlantic).
• I look forward to what Debra Chrapaty and her group come up with next. Is video the new voice as John Chambers, Cisco’s CEO, has suggested? (pdf) Will we see new ways to integrate video and work via collaboration tools?