This post was written by Hilal Chouman, social media strategist for Cisco Networking Academy
Since late 2009, Cisco Networking Academy (NetAcad), one of Cisco’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, has been present on various social media networks. The earliest presence was on the rising social network of that time: Facebook.
In late 2010, NetAcad’s Facebook page hit its first 100,000 likes. After this milestone, the Facebook page continued its growth, following the growth of the number of students in the NetAcad program.
Today, NetAcad’s Facebook page hit a half million likes (fans).
It is amazing how a social presence can accelerate in content and size, as soon as it grasps the right connection with the audience.
In November 2012, Cisco Bangalore-based employee Aravind Sitaraman (President – Inclusive Growth) received the prestigious Rajyotsava award for his leadership of Cisco’s Project Samudaya, which helped rebuild 5 villages in the Indian state of Karnataka after catastrophic flooding in 2009. This honor is the highest conferred to civilians by Karnataka’s state government. The award reflects Sitaraman’s deep personal commitment to the well-being of communities in India, as well as his strong alignment with Cisco’s unique method of sincere yet strategic social investment.
Cisco’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts are defined by a simple equation: you + networks = impact multiplied. When the right person meets the right technology, it’s easy to do the math. Indeed, many of Cisco’s CSR efforts begin with grassroots enthusiasm like Aravind’s, which, when combined with Cisco solutions and best practices, can yield an outcome like Project Samudaya: an employee’s authentic, locally attuned passion for change is exponentially multiplied by the company’s resources and expertise.
Aravind Sitaraman receives the prestigious Rajyotsava Award from India’s government.
On 8 March, thousands of International Women’s Day events have been planned throughout the world. The focus of the day generally expresses respect for ,and appreciation towards women who have achieved greatness on the public stage. More often than not it is to acknowledge their accomplishments in economics, political and social change.
I’d like to take a moment today to thank several remarkable women colleagues that I work with every day who move the ball forward, inch by inch, to make sure that the impact of our efforts to improve the world do not go unseen.
Since ” ’tis the season” for giving in many parts of the world, and as end of the calendar year approaches, I’ve decided to finish my working year reflecting upon the biggest “Giving Back” initiative I was personally part of in September of this year (2012) -- my two stages of the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, or RAB as we called it in Cisco UK & Ireland -- an event we aligned to Cisco’s overall involvement in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. Time has flown since I initially blogged about my nerves pre-ride. I reflected on our “Virtual RAB” -- designed to give everyone at Cisco an easier chance of participating -- also as part of our overall fundraising, and told you about the “Network on Wheels” or Cisco NOW Van that supported us with remote (very remote!) internet access as we cycled through all weathers from the bottom to the very top of the UK. The Cisco team raised around £20,000 (over $32,000 USD) -- while the event as a whole, with over 700 riders, raised over £1 Million in total -- all for paralympic athletes.
It was indeed an experience! While the second of my two days was a beautiful day for cycling -- as the video clip from Cisco UK & Ireland Senior VP Phil Smith (quite a cyclist btw!) shows -- the first day was a 12 hour test in truely horrendous stormy conditions! Let me tell you more about that day and show you some of the sights on the way.
“You mean you can Facetime us from your camp site”, my daughter said incredulously. “From the middle of nowhere?” she continued. ”You lot are mad!” OK she was more annoyed that I was taking our WiFi-only iPad away with me as I took some time out of my day job in Cisco Data Center Services, to participate in 2 stages of the Deloitte Ride Across Britain. Prior to the ride, I blogged about this challenge here, discussing the scale of the event and our target to raise money for Paralympic athletes. A nine day, 969 mile cycle over some of the most challenging terrain in Britain, the ‘Deloitte Ride Across Britain’ was an immense physical and mental challenge. From Saturday 8th September until Sunday 16th September (just passed), over 700 riders took part in this epic journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats. For the second year in a row, Cisco provided key technical support to the riders, so that they were able to focus fully on this enormous and exciting journey.
This post was written by Hilal Chouman, social media strategist for Cisco Networking Academy
