Cisco’s current and future projects are related to the development of smart cities which can be characterised by the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) in virtually every system of the urban area. According to the company’s plans, parking, lighting, waste management, wireless Internet connection and other parts of the surrounding environment of every smart city would be supported with advanced technology provided by Cisco (Cisco 2017). A number of cities already have some of the described equipment installed and supported by Cisco as the conglomerate recently announced its initiative to fund this path to innovation (Preimesberger 2017). PESTEL   * Political: Some countries encourage modernization and support the use of technology on the governmental level which allows companies such as Cisco to promote their products (Mehmood et al. 2017). For instance, the government of Busan is one of the major partners of Cisco in the process of the IoT implementation. Thus the industry’s growth is favoured by administrations which act as its key stakeholders.   * Economic: A small number of countries can maintain the use of the IoT technology. Countries with developing economies, on the other hand, do not have enough stability to consider this option. The examples of cities with successful implementation of similar technology include Busan, Chicago, Santander and Milton Keynes (Mehmood et al. 2017). Two of those areas are partnered with Cisco. The introduction of innovative technology may lead to a decrease in government spending, which can positively affect the economy of smart cities. However, the beginning of the process should be supported by a stable financial basis.   * Socio-cultural: People that operate the city’s infrastructure should get a specific education in order to work with new equipment. Furthermore, the community of smart cities should also have the social responsibility and a general understanding of the system’s concepts. Albino, Berardi and Dangelico (2015) note that such changes should be supported by an appropriate level of expertise and experience. The implementation and competitiveness of the IoT systems are possible in urban areas with skilled individuals who possess enough knowledge about technology.   * Technological: The development of wireless communication is the primary driver of the smart cities’ initiative as it enables more ways to change the urban environment. The innovation in the field of the IoT may become the key competitive point in this industry. Moreover, urban areas need to have a good base for the new equipment in order to become a part of the program. As Cisco (2017) notes, traditional city networks may not work well with the latest technology.   * Environmental: The industry of smart technology is based on the belief that the IoT can make cities clean and people – healthy (Boulos & Al-Shorbaji 2014). The issue of materials used by older technology may be eliminated with the implementation of new equipment. Companies should remember that even with their latest hardware they should account for their gas emissions and electricity generation to stay sustainable. Nevertheless, a part of the initiative is devoted to data collection, which can help monitor the state of the environment in the ci