Cisco to acquire Splunk

Waking up to and considering the news that networking behemoth and wanna-be software company 思科 has acquired data, management, visualization, observability, and aspirational security company Splunk .

The attached graphic from a recent ADAPT survey of Data Leaders representing one-quarter of Australia's GDP highlights top success metrics for tracking data initiatives, Data Quality, Customer satisfaction (AKA experience) data governance, and accuracy all stand out to me as Splunk value proposition areas as I delve into some thoughts on what this acquisition means.

Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to work with Splunk in the local market across numerous round tables, advisory sessions, and ADAPT #edge events as they accelerated growth on the back of a significant awareness campaign across various levels of the C-Suite.

The Splunk story has hit a chord when considering key areas related to a constant business priority of becoming data-driven businesses.

Part of that journey has been to help organizations rethink the role of data in driving the business forward, who ultimately owns the data, who can access it and how is it effectively secured.

Splunk has had a strong focus, sometime before today's incredible AI hype, on the importance of technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Analytics, Machine Learning, etc.

In fact in a roundtable with Splunk back in 2020, a good friend of ADAPT and #CIO Mithran Naiker commented on how Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Analytics, Machine Learning etc. will only become more instrumental in making becoming data-driven a reality compared to “old world” tech and thinking.

There are a number of areas Cisco needs to focus on as this Acquisition traverses the various regulatory hurdles:

• Clearly articulate what this means for Splunk customers, particularly that many have chosen Splunk for its unique capabilities and ease of doing business as a nimble, innovative, and flexible organisation
• Be very clear about what the sum of the parts is, with all acquisitions we hear, "Well we have made this acquisition for the benefits and capabilities of the company we have bought". Of course, over time Splunk will be fully consumed and customers know this
• As with most fast-growing “start-up” style companies, the people are what made the company what it is. Clear employee communication and retention of key staff, particularly those in product development, business development, and client relationship roles is critical. As is clear, direct and consistent messaging internally and externally.

As for customers, now is the time to ask the questions that impact your existing and prospective dealings with Splunk/Cisco:

• Existing customers need to take a close look at existing contracts to see what protection and recourse they have in the face of an acquisition and/or merger
• Prospective Splunk customers should insert clauses into their contracts to ensure SLAs, terms, and conditions will remain intact as the deal closes – read the small print.
• Seek clear communication about what this means to your organisation specifically and how the next few months are likely to affect mid to long-term plans and seek assurances.
• In the face of a likely, we cannot discuss these plans until the deal closes, offer to sign non-disclosure agreements to get that visibility - large customers will likely get that offered by default.

Bottom line I do see this as a positive for the Cisco ecosystem and customer base in general, communication as to how this can differentiate Cisco at the data, observability, and security level is of course important.

The challenge for Cisco is to make sure the Splunk ecosystem, internally and externally sees this as a positive.

This also serves to reinforce Cisco's strategy to become more of a Software-driven as opposed to Hardware-driven, as I heard from Cisco perhaps 7-10 years ago now at a Cisco Live event in Melbourne, these things are always a long journey.

?Look forward to discussing in more detail with ADAPT research and advisory clients on the Analyst Inquiries that will no doubt come.