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CISCO sees major opportunities in India, shakes-up top posts
NEW DELHI: In a major shake-up, three new presidents have been appointed in Cisco by splitting up responsibilities in the enterprise IT vendor.
This follows the exit of, Cisco president of India & SAARC, Jeff White, after a dismal performance in some of the recent quarters.
Cisco India posted 1 per cent decrease in revenue in Q3 fiscal quarter and 18 percent dip in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Cisco recently said it is expecting a decline in its global revenue in the current quarter.
The new leadership team includes India & SAARC sales president Dinesh Malkani; India Site leader and Engineering president Amit Phadnis; and India and CIO, Asia Pacific and Japan and Greater China strategy planning & operations president VC Gopalratnam..
Earlier, White was responsible for Cisco’s sales and operations in the region. White had the role of leader of a new India Board, which comprises executives from Cisco headquarters as well as India. Earlier, White was reporting to Cisco in Asia Pacific, Japan and Greater China (APJC) president Jaime Valles.
White was supposed to partner with Industry Solutions and India Site leader and industry solutions senior VP Faiyaz Shahpurwala, to drive innovation and talent in alignment with the national agenda to transform the economy through technology.
The mandate for White was to support the growth by strengthening local innovation, and continuing to forge strong relationships with customers, partners and the government.
The new team will accelerate Cisco’s momentum by strengthening its focus on innovation to lead market transitions.
Dinesh Malkani, who takes over from White, will report to Cisco president Asia Pacific & Japan Irving Tan
Malkani’s main responsibility will be to lead the company’s efforts to help transform the country’s economy through technology. He will drive Cisco’s senior level external engagement, including those with government and industry associations, to drive growth and market leadership in India and SAARC, according to Cisco sources which also said the IT vendor was expecting more work with Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasizing on new technologies.
As the new India Site leader, Phadnis will lead Cisco’s focus on innovation, ecosystem and talent development in the country. He will focus on strengthening the interlock between Cisco’s teams, including engineering and sales, and customers and partners and employee engagement.
Phadnis will continue to report into the organisation led by Enterprise Networking Group isenior VP and GM Rob Soderbery in the US.
In the newly created role of president of strategy, planning and operations for Cisco India, Gopalratnam will help create synergies between Cisco’s internal IT organization and the company’s technology roadmap as well as drive infrastructure development and operations to facilitate growth and productivity.
He will continue to report to Cisco’s global CIO Rebecca Jacoby.
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