Cisco Systems Terminates 14,000 employees - Seeks Workers with New Skills

Cisco Systems is terminating about 14,000 employees which represents 20 percent of its 70,000 strong global workforce according to insiders interviewed by tech news site CRN.

Cisco defends action

Cisco defends it actions stating that to keep ahead in the hypercompetitive tech industry, the company needs new employees with skills and knowledge relevant to its increasing investments in big data analytics and cloud-based services.

A traditionally hardware based company Cisco is trying to remake itself into a purveyor of software based solutions.

Cloud and the Internet of Things

Cisco's core business is providing network and router solutions to telecom companies and corporate clients. With the rise of the internet of things and mobile technology more and more of its clients are relying on the internet and the cloud to facilitate their telecom needs. Cisco is eager to have a big slice of this growing market.

Cisco has not entirely abandoned their employees offering thousands with an early retirement package plan.

Mass Layoffs in the Tech Industry

Reuters reported that Cisco's dramatic pivot from hardware to software is a rising and inexorable trend in the tech industry.

Tech titans like Microsoft, Hewlett Packard and Intel have also conducted mass layoffs as the PC industry steeply declined due to the rise of smartphone technology and the internet of things.

Last July 2014 Microsoft let go an unprecedented number of 18,000 workers -the largest mass layoff in tech history for a single year.

Hewlett Packard announced in September 2015 that plans are in play to fire 33,300 employees in a three year period.

Intel told media in April this year that it plans to terminate at least 12,000 employees across the globe.

Although smartphone and internet technology have massively benefited consumers, these technologies have also upended entire industries and companies forcing workers to unlearn old skills and learn new ones.