Martin Hardee

1 min read

I've often written about how we optimize to our Customers' and Partners' top journeys across our web sites and mobile apps. We've found that focusing relentlessly on the top things that...

1 min read

It’s fun seeing some of the quirky examples of home pages on web sites today, including Amazon’s retro “April 1, 1999” page. I can’t think of a time we’ve ever done anything like that on Cisco.com, mainly because we don’t want to distract customers from the jobs they’re coming to do with us.  But, if you […]

1 min read

This recent post in the Harvard Business Review, Your Digital Strategy Shouldn’t Be About Attention, is a good reminder that the best digital experiences come from listening to your visitors and then anticipating what they want. We’re tried to follow that philosophy on Cisco.com and in our mobile apps, through observing by listening, invisible change,  […]

1 min read

In case you missed it, Cisco now has a tablet version of our flagship app.  And it’s great. Some new features include: Products use a ‘touch’ visual navigation structure Quicker navigation through ‘bookmarking’  without the need to login Video Datasheets delivered via the tablet app Comprehensive Internet of Everything and social media coverage Partner content, […]

1 min read

My colleague Bill Skeet published an interesting blog a few weeks ago about “Invisible Change” — the improvement and innovation that happens quietly in digital experiences such as web sites and mobile apps. You may have noticed — or not noticed — this phenomenon on web sites you visit frequently. For instance, you may have […]

2 min read

There’s a pretty great, short post from Business Insider last year that’s been getting re-circulation recently. It’s one-sentence summaries of famous business books like The Innovator’s Dilemma, Good to Great, Outliers, Purple Cow and The Lean Startup. I particularly liked BI’s short summary Eric Ries’ book The Lean Startup, which is centered around the concept […]

5 min read

First impressions really matter. We know this intuitively, and you may also have seen the stats that say it takes web visitors less than two-tenths of a second to form...

2 min read

Recently at CiscoLive!, we spent a full week with customers and partners doing in-detail usability tests of Cisco.com and some of our mobile sites and apps. This is one of the main methods we use to make our web and mobile easier. What’s a usability test? Something different than you might think. While you’ve probably heard […]

1 min read

There’s a nice article by Web analysts SiteIQ this month about Cisco.com search, with the flattering headline “Cisco aces search again…” The post points out how we do little things like how we: 1. Link to Google for more search, in case you didn’t find what you were looking for, or if you want a […]

1 min read

Cisco.com circa 1996. (I will brace myself for the “bring it back!” comments. 🙂 )

1 min read

Did you notice the recent change to the menus on Cisco.com?  We call them “megamenus” — those convenient lists that fly down when you mouse over the masthead bar on any page on Cisco.com. We recently updated the “Products & Services” megamenu on the site to make it more readable and simplify navigation. Here’s the […]

3 min read

There’s an adage that “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it,” and all of us that are in the business of managing or running things pretty much live by that. But, how to do you measure something as squishy and ephemeral as an “experience”? And, what experiences are worth managing? At Cisco, we’ve […]

1 min read

Later this year, many URLs on Cisco.com are going to change. But don’t worry: We’re putting a mechanism in place that will take you to the right location even if you have bookmarks or are coming from external references. These redirects will be automatic, but if you’re curious, here’s how the URLs will change: Before: […]

1 min read

We’ve made some important updates to the search experience on Cisco.com: For some top product searches, we delivering a “product information box” of the most important information in one place. We’ve done some significant redesign of the user front-end to improve the user experience Searches using Product IDs Significant work to greatly reduce the number […]

1 min read

Cisco.com has been featured by industry research firm ByteLevel Research as “Best Global Enterprise Technology Website” in their latest ‘Global By Design” installment focusing on globalization web practices in tech B2B. ByteLevel Research is the author of the annual Globalization Digital Scorecard, where Cisco.com was ranked #4 worldwide in 2013 among such peers as Adobe, GE, […]

1 min read

The 2013 Cisco Product Quick Reference Guide is now shipping, and you can order it right now on Cisco.com. The 2013 guide provides an overview of the many Cisco products, services, and solutions for every part of your business. It’s all you need in one portable guide:  An easy-to-use reference that includes chapters on routing, […]

1 min read

I always enjoy Fast Company and Wired. But this month there’s something extra in both: You can make the Internet of Everything come alive using your smartphone or tablet, via a Cisco ad in the magazine, just like my colleague Jeanette is doing here with her phone: You can do it, too: 1. First, get […]

1 min read

Here is something fun you can do today with your smart phone or tablet. It’s an app that brings the Internet of Things alive from a newspaper or screen. How to get it: 1. First, go grab a copy of today’s global Wall Street Journal and find the Cisco TOMORROW Starts Here ad, which is […]