Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the end-to-end leader in networking and communications equipment. Many companies would love to unseat Cisco, and the news that John Chambers is retiring as chief executive may give some of Cisco’s competitors hope that they can nibble away at the company’s dominance. Chuck Robbins, who is replacing Chambers as CEO, has been quick to make his executive changes. He is also potentially locking in Cisco’s leadership out to beyond the year 2025.

By the views of 24/7 Wall St. Cisco will have no problem in the post-Chambers era remaining as the one technology leader in our recent 10 Companies to Own for the Next Decade.

What investors need to consider here is that the recent management changes may seem big. One benefit is that Chambers is staying on as non-executive chairman. That means that the new CEO designees by Robbins got at least a wink or a nod from Chambers, even if Chambers may not have had to green light every decision Robbins is making ahead of the formal change of power.

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If we had to guess, Chambers will stay on as non-executive chairman for a while, at least a year or two. Ultimately, assuming things go well under the reign of Robbins, then he will get to take over the chairman role as well.

So, what big changes are being made at Cisco?

Strategist and Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior is out, although she will remain an advisor until later this year. Edzard Overbeek managed the Cisco services business portfolio and will remain in an advisory role for a year. Wim Elfrink, head of Industry Solutions and chief globalization officer, is retiring from Cisco effective July 25.

As far as why Cisco’s new team is making it get a repeat in our stocks to own for the decade, it is multiple issues at once. The dividend and buybacks help handily. Then there is the status as the industry leader with the biggest end-to-end offering. Having the global reach helps as well. Another issue that helps is the pricing power and margins that Cisco has, because it can be one provider for most aspects of its pipes and data center, it can sometimes better protect margins than competitors.

Robbins, like Chambers, remains very sales and results oriented. The new top management structure at Cisco is obviously loaded with Robbins’s core favorites, and the move of shrinking the team is obviously aimed at being able to act more nimbly and react quicker.

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It is not uncommon at all for managers to quit after monumental CEO changes occur. After all, if there are three or four heirs apparent, only one can take the throne. The executives who do not win generally take their talent elsewhere and often go on to other high-level opportunities in other companies — and they generally reap the reward with huge signing bonuses.

With Robbins being only 49 years old, the ground has been set for him to lead Cisco for another 15 years or so. Robbins’ new executive team is a bit on the younger side for an established tech giant as well, which means that they will be able to direct and lead for years without much disruption — if everything works out fine.

So, what does the new executive team look like? 24/7 Wall St. has shortened up the description of each member to keep it simple. Most should be self-explanatory, as follows:

• Kelly Kramer, EVP and Chief Financial Officer: CFO role speaks for itself.
• Pankaj Patel, EVP, Chief Development Officer: Will lead Cisco’s 25,000 development engineers and the company’s $36 billion technology portfolio.
• Rebecca Jacoby, SVP, Operations: New CIO will report to her.
• Francine Katsoudas, SVP, Chief People Officer: Previously the HR leader and business partner to the Cisco engineering leadership team.
• Hilton Romanski, SVP, Chief Technology and Strategy Officer: His previous role was head of Cisco’s mergers and acquisitions strategy and Cisco’s $2 billion private investment portfolio.
• Karen Walker, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer: From her position overseeing Cisco’s go-to-market organization.
• Chris Dedicoat, SVP, Worldwide Sales: Sales leadership speaks for itself.
• Joe Cozzolino, SVP, Services: To lead Cisco’s services organization after spending the past two years leading Cisco’s service provider mobility and video infrastructure businesses.
• Mark Chandler, SVP and General Counsel
• Dr. Ruba Borno, VP, Growth Initiatives and Chief of Staff: Joins Cisco from her role as principal and leader in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications, and People & Organization practice groups at Boston Consulting Group.

All these changes were meant to front-run the Cisco Live event in the following week. While it is hard to know if any major splashes will be made, the reality is that it seems likely that Cisco will perhaps want to make more technology announcements and partnership deals.

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After losing two older presidents recently, and with a new handpicked and selected executive team, Robbins will have no excuses for the company being unable to act fast when opportunities or threats arise. With the rise of cloud and software-based services as current threats, Cisco is going to have to be nimble and will have to be able to act and react quickly.

One of the great drivers for Cisco, which will also help it protect its turf, is that Internet traffic is called on to triple by 2019 in a movement led by video. This all acts to help Cisco’s hardware and supporting software that come with high margins.

Bringing an outsider from Boston Consulting comes with risk, but it is bold. Having a person well-heeled in M&A over strategy may help Cisco focus on the myriad potential acquisition targets may help as well. How many acquisitions has Cisco made by now? Robbins is still looking for new blood from outside of the company to fill several key roles and to help in certain newer markets.

Chuck Robbins has been praised as the post-Chambers CEO of Cisco. He has a new team, and plans to bring in new blood. With his focus on sales and operations somewhat mirroring that of Chambers, it seems as though Cisco is being handed off in about as good of hands as it can be with the known information.

Cisco was recently named as one of UBS’s top six tech stocks to buy. Deutsche Bank also gave it a very favorable outlook. Even RBC gave it a favorable rating. Merrill Lynch said that there is room for Cisco to grow even with tough competition from Juniper Networks. Another issue helping Cisco out is that its focus on the carrier and enterprise side of the business keeps it from being in as large of a spot where a consumer change of preferences can scuttle the company for years.

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Cisco closed out the last week at $28.58, down almost $2.00 from its 52-week high and against a consensus analyst target price just north of $31.00. Cisco’s median analyst target is $32.50, and its highest target is $37.00. Quite simply, Cisco just cannot escape being the tech stock named in our 10 stocks to own for the next decade.

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