Cisco’s Sri Lanka push

On the sidelines of the Cisco India Summit 2017, Daily FT had a chat with Cisco India and SAARC Managing Director Commercial Sales Nal Gollagunta, on the technology conglomerate’s growing presence in Sri Lanka. Following are excerpts:

Himal Kotelawala, reporting 

from New Delhi, India

Q: When we were last here in December 2015, Cisco mentioned that the company’s presence in Sri Lanka has been growing steadily over the past seven to eight years. Where do things stand now?

A: I don’t know about the numbers in terms of people but I think currently we’re close to about 10 people in Sri Lanka, but I think it has increased in head count.

Q: And in terms of investments?

A: Primarily at this point in time it’s limited to putting people on the ground. One additional area we’re exploring is to bring capital financing into Sri Lanka. That is something we haven’t done before in Sri Lanka. I’m hopeful we get that going soon.

Q: If you could elaborate on that a little?

A: Capital financing is when we start funding customers directly. We’re currently going through the modalities of how that works and what that would do. What it does for us is that there is a whole section of the Sri Lankan economy which can take advantage of funding. Such as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Funding as in they essentially do lease financing from us. They don’t have to pay upfront for the product they’re buying. It’s like a loan given them to buy our product and essentially they pay back the loan over a previously agreed upon time frame.

That is a model we use quite aggressively in India and that has helped us expand a fair bit in the market, because there could be somebody who doesn’t have the capability to buy something that big but sees an ability to scale their business once they buy a product. That is something we’re exploring.

Thirdly, we’re spending a lot of time and effort on increasing the partner base there. That is definitely an area we’re focused on. Currently we operate out of Colombo. We manage the entire market from Colombo, but increasingly our belief is that we want to expand our business there are other cities we need our partners to scale up to as well. 

Q: Any specific cities you’ve been eyeing?

A: Of the cities we’ve been looking at, the obvious ones for growth to come from are Galle and Kandy. Primarily because of manufacturing happening in that region. I also believe tourism is going to be a big piece for us in Sri Lanka.

We see that kind of build starting to grow as well, and eventually the eastern seaboard which we haven’t touched so far. Once the investments go into reconstruction and a bunch of work starts there [we can get started]. I think Trincomalee could be a good place to go to as well.

Q: At the 2015 summit, it was mentioned that there were plans underway by John Keells in Sri Lanka to build smart cities similar to the one in Jaipur, Rajasthan, and Cisco was supposed to contribute in some way. Has there been any progress made in this regard?

A: The Cinnamon Life project: that is something we have actually been closely working with them on – just to conceptualise what it would look like. But it’s a very ambitious project. So it’s still going on. I would say it’s in the planning stage. But yeah, I think that project could be a game changer for Sri Lanka.

Q: Is Cisco actively involved?

A: We are actively in discussions with them, absolutely.

What we have brought to them is a bit of our expertise and experience of what we’ve done in other cities, like in Korea, Barcelona and a bunch of other places.

Q: Jaipur as well?

A: Yes, though Jaipur was slightly more – see, Jaipur is more this existing city and infrastructure, and how do you lay smart capabilities on top of that? In the case of Cinnamon Life it will be very much greenfield.

Barcelona or a similar opportunity would be much more appropriate to that situation, because now you can think end to end. Honestly, we think it’s a very exciting space, but the project will take the time it takes. Generally, these are very ambitious projects. They take time.

Q: The new Sri Lankan Government (in its third year now) is big on digitisation. Has it reached out to Cisco for assistance in developing infrastructure?

A: Absolutely. Even a few months our CTO was in Sri Lanka [for discussions]. We went and met with some of the ministries. We had some good discussions on what it would mean to be digital. Honestly, in our mind it is a framework – a digital country framework, which we have developed in a few other countries we have worked with.

It is a partnership – you have to think about what pieces you want to pick and run with. Different countries have different priorities. In part of the Digital France framework, the emphasis was on startups and entrepreneurship, for example.

You look at India, SMEs are a big piece. So is security. It depends on how you want to focus it. There are different elements to it.

We’re also working with some of the consultants who ultimately provide the right kind of framework for them. At the end of the day, the consultants can do a much better job in putting together the entire plan for the Government. And we’re working with a lot of these consultants across the globe in what our view what digital Sri Lanka should look like.

Q: What about Cisco’s involvement with SMEs in Sri Lanka?

A: It’s been an early start. We have done some work, but I think we have a lot more to go do there. In some ways the entirety of Sri Lanka has been primarily focused on the large customers, because the appetite was there. And we hadn’t covered that market so far, so that’s what our initial focus was.

The push on the team, the place where we are pushing now is, can we get a dedicated people to run the partner ecosystem in Sri Lanka? We have traditionally been running Sri Lanka as a regional model, but now we’re seeing that we should be looking at having a person managing channels independently sitting in Sri Lanka. Because, ultimately, for us to go after the SME market, it will have to be driven by partners, not driven by us. That’s how that model scales. For that to happen, we need to create that ecosystem of partners who will go try that and we need a dedicated person for that.

It’s early days to be honest, but it’s early days for the economy as well. I think the SME economy has been moving up.

Having said that, my experience in Sri Lanka has been in some form or shape, they have always punched above their weight. They honestly have. It’s very good.

Q: Is this a criticism?

A: Not at all. What I mean by that is that a similar sized SME in other markets will not buy the kind of cutting edge technology which I’ve seen Sri Lankans buy. The appetite for high quality value proposition is I see much more in the Sri Lankan economy, and I really mean it.

I was talking with our CTO. A lot of times, the first time somebody buys technology in the region, it typically ends up being a Sri Lankan company, because the pitch works much better for them. They’re willing to take a little bit of risk; they’re willing to do a bunch of things.

So I wouldn’t be surprised, once we get into that market, if the uptake for technology is much higher for SMEs in Sri Lanka than others.

Q: In other words, Sri Lankans are early adopters when it comes to certain technologies, hardware, etc.?

A: Absolutely. Whether it’s security, whether it’s some of our cutting edge DNA software defined networks, we see Sri Lankans are a lot more open and willing to do it.

It might be because a lot of their references and comparisons they do are global. Because there is nothing locally then can compare to. Therefore they look at that and go ‘we need to do that.’ In larger markets, they look at local use cases and decide ‘nobody else is doing it so why should I?’

So that could be that, but definitely we see a lot more reception that value proposition of better technologies, higher end technologies early adoption coming from Sri Lanka.

Q: In more general terms, what is your outlook for 2017? Any general observations or predictions?

A: I think in some form or shape, there are a few areas where Sri Lanka can really scale up on. I’m seeing some very early signs on that. We talked about manufacturing, I think in manufacturing in specific areas, there’s a lot of growth. I honestly think hospitality can be huge. We already have heard of a lot of talk by some globals coming in. Ultimately that’s a sign of a market maturing. And outside the big cities as well. Which is a good thing. 

Thirdly we’re seeing the Government truly try to upgrade their infrastructure from an IT perspective. These are three trends which we thought would happen and we’re starting to see some movement in Sri Lanka.

From a Cisco perspective, even the current market we have, we haven’t fully penetrated. So there is plenty of opportunity for us to go play in that market. While I want to stay highly relevant to the Government is doing – and we’ll go do that – I think our homework is cut out in doing what is already in place in the market today.

For [the Cisco Sri Lanka] team, basically my view is, “guys, open field right now. It’s a land grab for Cisco. Let’s invest, let’s go as many customers as possible converted to Cisco.”

While we do that let’s make sure our relevance to these large projects, these large infrastructure projects the Government is talking about – let’s keep our relevance, our conversations going. Let’s bring our expertise globally in there.

Q: Tell us about some Cisco events held in Sri Lanka?

A: We’ve done two events in Sri Lanka now, where we’ve got our global experts to come down. Our DNA launch, which is our core EN strategy, it was a roadshow we did across the region. We hit Colombo before we hit India. Then we went to Bangalore, Delhi, etc.

It’s one our top priorities. We will continue to invest, we will continue to have high expectations on what will come out of that economy.

Q: You talked about foreign investments and large-scale Government projects. Is there room for Indian companies like Cisco to play a role in Chinese-funded projects such as the Port City, for example?

A: Yes, absolutely. We’ve had those conversations as well. Because at the end of the day I think whether it’s an India funded project or a China funded project, whatever it is, the way I look at it is, Sri Lanka should be concerned with making sure the best of technology comes in there, wherever it comes from. Doesn’t really matter.

To that extent, we have gone and spoken to the Chinese partners. We have spoken to the Chinese infrastructure builders saying that here’s what I think I can bring to the table. At the end of the day, they have to make a decision in collaboration with Sri Lankan stakeholders. We’ve had some positive responses in some areas, because yes there is a bias to bring in some of the local companies into the mix, but that hasn’t stopped us from going and having the right conversation with the right stakeholders saying that we believe we can give you a better proposition in certain areas. I’m optimistic we’ll pick a few of those as well.

Q: Has the response been positive so far?

A: Yes. We’ve gone and done demos. Honestly I think the world has matured to a point where people say okay technology can come from anywhere. It doesn’t have to come from one place or the other. Let’s see what works for the priorities we have on the ground. I’m not too concerned about that.

Q: Would you say you’re optimistic, overall?

A: Very, very optimistic. These are mind-blocks, in my opinion I think we shouldn’t even think of it that way. We have worked – I mean, there is a reason we have a very large operation in China today. Much bigger operation. I don’t see that as a concern. At all.

Cisco India unveils latest efforts in digital transformation

‘Winning in the digital era’ was the theme of the 2017 Cisco India Summit – held in New Delhi – showcasing the latest in the US-based global networking hardware conglomerate’s efforts to make India a pioneer in digital transformation in the region.

This year’s summit saw a series of interactive keynotes and round table discussions where Cisco executives from India and elsewhere in the SAARC region shared their experiences and expertise in helping customers in both state and private sectors in unlocking new markets by going digital.

One of the key initiatives unveiled at the summit was the Cisco Cyber Range Lab in Gurgaon, India, which aims to provide specialised technical training workshops to help security staff build the skills and experience necessary to combat new-age threats.

The company noted that the demand for cybersecurity experts has grown three times faster than any other IT job role, and training a cybersecurity workforce is a priority for many organisations. Over one million unfulfilled security jobs exist worldwide currently, said Cisco quoting an internal report, and the lack of skills and training hinders organisations from deploying advanced security.

“Thirty-one percent of organisations in India (24% globally) believe that a high requirement of various certifications is a barrier, and 29% of organisations in India consider their workload too heavy to take on new responsibilities on cyber security (23% globally),” it went on to say.

The increasing complexity and ubiquity of cyber security threats call for proactiveproactive security operations run by well trained staff, and Cisco expects that the Cyber Range lab will “immerse people in simulated real-world cyber-attacks to train them on how to properly prepare for, respond to, and manage a broad variety of threats. This experience can be leveraged by companies, academicians, customers and government and their security teams.”

Cisco has announced that the lab will use 200-500 different types of malware, ransomware and 100 attack cases to deliver realistic cyber-attack experiences. The facility can has designed to accessible from virtually any part of the world and its developers claim will be a living lab of technical knowledge for network security and how to mitigate cyberattacks.

Cisco has also designed real-world scenarios to help clients experience, defend against and shut down cyber-attacks, with scenarios that will also help train organisations with the necessary steps required to respond quickly in the wake of an incident, right from addressing a basic threat to a highly sophisticated one, monitoring and analysing malware infections and providing actionable information and intelligence to customers.

Government of India National Cyber Security Coordinator Dr. Gulshan Rai speaking at the event said: “With the cybersecurity framework in place now, the need is for active implementation to better handle the ever-changing threat landscape. An effective implementation of cybersecurity requires IT infrastructure and technical expertise for which the industry should play a responsible role. I congratulate Cisco on the launch of its Cyber Range Lab in India. With this launch, Cisco has taken a leadership step to enhance the security of India’s digital infrastructure and speed up digitalisation of India.”

Cisco India and SAARC President Dinesh Malkani said: “With the launch of Cisco Cyber Range, we are helping our customers to be prepared to identify and mitigate a threat before it becomes a crisis. The Cisco Cyber Range Lab is now a reality for customers looking to find an advantage against the growing legions of cybercriminals and next generation threats. The Cyber Range Lab in India underlines our commitment to secure and partner with India in its digital transformation.”

Retail is another area in which Cisco India is looking to collaborate in with businesses. Shopper’s Stop, a leading fashion retailer, announced its partnership with Cisco India to implement wireless solutions across 80 of its stores in the country.

In select stores, according to a statement, Shoppers Stop is piloting the Cisco Connected Mobile Experience (CMX) capabilities integrated with Cisco Wireless Solution for enhanced, personalised experiences for shoppers. This alliance, the company said, is aimed to accelerate the digitisation of Shoppers Stop stores in-line with its omni-channel strategy through which the company aims to achieve 20 percent digitally-influenced sales by 2020.

Shoppers Stop Ltd. Customer Care Associate & Vice President – IT Anil Shankar said: “A pivotal element of our omni-channel strategy is to digitally transform our physical stores to provide a seamless and convenient shopping experience. We believe that digitisation is not about just using the latest technology but about enhancing the customer’s journey. Cisco Mobility Solution will help us enhance customer experience, gather insights into our customer preferences and optimise our resources to offer enhanced personalised experiences to customers who shop at our stores. We are excited to partner with Cisco to digitally transform our stores, improve our employee productivity and device strategies that put our customers at the heart of our business.”

Malkani added: “Retail is one of the top three industries most vulnerable to digital disruption. In retail, insight is currency and these insights help retailers provide a hyper-relevant customer experience and remain competitive in the digital age. We are excited to collaborate with Shoppers Stop as they digitally transform their business, deliver hyper-relevant customer experiences and enhance workforce efficiency to emerge as the retailers of the future by driving both revenue growth and operational efficiencies.”