We will use GenAI across our portfolio to simplify experiences: Cisco Prez

Chittilapilly talks about the progress of the Chennai plant, small and medium businesses (SMBs), and trends in tech spending

Networking major Cisco is targeting $1 billion in revenue from its new manufacturing plant in Chennai. It is also deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) to unlock more value for its customers. Daisy Chittilapilly, president, Cisco India and SAARC, talks about the progress of the Chennai plant, small and medium businesses (SMBs), and trends in tech spending, in an interview with Ayushman Baruah in Bengaluru. Edited excerpts: 

Any update on Cisco’s manufacturing plant in Chennai. What products are you manufactured there?

We expect the first product to roll out soon. With this latest investment, Cisco will cater to the growing demand from customers in India and aim to drive more than $1 billion in combined domestic production and exports in the coming years. To cater to the rapidly evolving technology needs of organisations, in India and globally, Cisco's manufacturing facility will build a range of best-in-class routing and switching products. These products are designed to provide cost-effective delivery of next-generation services and applications. They can meet the dynamic technology demands of enterprises as they fast track their digitisation.

How are you looking to tap into the SMB segment in India?

In the rapidly evolving business landscape, SMB customers are seeking digital capabilities more than ever before. A report by IDC forecasts a 20 per cent increase in IT investment and connectivity service budgets for Indian SMBs by 2027. This shift underscores how SMBs across India are actively adopting technologies to future-proof their businesses against market disruptions. At Cisco, we recognise that “Small is the new Big.” We have developed an enterprise-grade portfolio tailored to the unique and dynamic needs of SMBs. We offer a range of intelligent solutions that are easy to deploy, manage, and scale. Some of those products are Cisco Meraki, a Cloud-managed IT solution that allows businesses to strengthen their high-density network quickly and easily, and it can be monitored using a centralised dashboard. Second is Cisco’s Secure Collaboration Solutions, which helps create a secure network to enable seamless hybrid work. Third, the Cisco Small Business Security Solutions helps deliver on the Cisco Predictive Networks vision, starting with SD-WAN, Cloud Security, End-point Security, and Network Security. Lastly, we also have data centre networking and hyper-convergence solutions. We have also recently unveiled a range of new networking and security products aimed at SMBs in the Asia-Pacific region. They include Cisco Catalyst 1200 and 1300 Series switches and the Cisco Meraki MX. These innovations aim to simplify network establishment and security management and help SMBs quicken their digital transformation.

Recently, you launched new AI-enhanced office devices. What’s Cisco’s focus on AI/GenAI?

At Cisco, we have deployed AI at scale for over a decade throughout our portfolio for automation, anomaly detection, recommendation capabilities, and near real-time improvement and enhancement of audio and video. Guided by our Responsible AI principles and framework, we are building technology solutions with privacy, security, trust, and respect for human rights embedded by design so that everyone can benefit from an AI-connected world. Across our portfolio, we will be using Gen AI to simplify experiences and unlock more value for our customers. Cisco AI Assistant will be everywhere — in security, networking, observability, and collaboration. Prompt Interfaces are in development to help customers engage with our products in a much more intuitive way using natural language. They will soon be able to interact with multiple products through a single, simple interface.

What is your outlook on tech spend for the rest of 2024?

We are witnessing a significant surge in the demand for technology, and it's clear that the sector is on a trajectory of prominent growth in India, with projected tech spending growth exceeding 11 per cent, according to Gartner. Key priorities for our customers revolve around securing the enterprise, transforming infrastructure, reimagining applications, power hybrid work, and sustainability. As the digital world becomes a reality, the demand for software services is escalating. India's tech boom, driven by an increasing appetite for software-as-a-service (SaaS) and amplified by secure access service edge (SASE) adoption, is propelling software and IT services growth.

Moreover, AI has become a central focus for many to unlock new efficiencies and drive innovation. According to our recent AI Readiness Index, 43 per cent respondents in India say AI deployment has been given the highest priority for budget allocation and additional budget. Then, there is a growing emphasis on cybersecurity investments and 99 per cent of organisations expect to increase their cybersecurity budgets in the next 12 months, according to the Cisco Cybersecurity Readiness Index survey. Lastly, investments around sustainable technology will take centre stage in 2024 as enterprises continue to work on meeting net-zero commitments.