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Cisco gets aggressive on SMB market

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CIOL Bureau
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Sandhya S






With a Nasscom report stating that nearly 50-60 per cent of IT spend in the
country is expected to come from the flourishing SMB segment by 2008, it is

clear that there is a huge market waiting out there to be tapped and companies

are focused on addressing it. Cisco, one of the leading global players in the

networking segment, is leading the pack, by aggressively targeting the market

with innovative strategies. CIOL Bureau catches up with Ranajoy Punja, vice

president — marketing, Cisco Systems-India & SAARC to understand their business

strategy and roadmap for SMBs segment in India.






Tell us about your strategies to tap the SMB market in India.







SMB is the fastest growing segment for Cisco in India. Our SMB market strategy
involves helping customers create a sustainable and competitive advantage,

improve their operational efficiencies, increase their employees' productivity,

and ultimately boost their revenues and profitability.






The strategy combines all crucial elements of Cisco solutions and services,
including intelligent services, growth technologies, strategic partner

assistance, and world-class service and support. These solutions and services

are developed specifically for the SMB market, making it easier for these

organizations to deploy and manage their networks to achieve maximum business

value. Some of the initiatives undertaken include, Network On Wheels, SMB Class

road show and special class products for the SMB space.






In the SMB space, which verticals or segments are you focused on? Why? What
will be the contribution of these sectors to your overall revenue?







Traditionally, the financial services, banking, insurance, and
telecommunications industries had been the early adopters of networking

technology, which could be attributed primarily to their unique regulatory

requirements and quality of service (QoS) needs. Today, the emerging industry

verticals are showing increasing rates of technology adoption-manufacturing,

retail, automotive, and IT-enabled services are key focus verticals for Cisco.








This growth is driven by changes in the competitive landscape for each of these
sectors; currently, these sectors are opening up to more and more competitors,

and the existing players need to emerge on par with their global counterparts on

all fronts. SMB is one of the fastest growing segment for Cisco India today.






Unlike the enterprise space, the SMB sector is far more heterogeneous. How do
you intend to overcome this challenge?







Though the SMB sector is heterogeneous in nature, one comes across certain
localities that specialize in a particular trade. Referred to as clusters, these

businesses are a group of companies and organizations in related industries that

have economic links, because they buy and sell from each other, or because they

use the same skills and infrastructure in a local area.






Favourable business conditions and an open economy have aided the emergence of a
significant number of clusters in India. Dotted across the country, the more

popular ones are auto ancillary units in Pune and Chennai, textiles and garments

in Tirupur and gems and jewelery in Surat.






What are your specific marketing plans?







Our go-to-Market strategy is through channel Partners, who have enabled us to
have a nation wide footprint as for our networking products and solutions are

concerned. Currently we have around 9 System Integrators (Cable & Wireless, CMC,

HP, Network Solutions, IBM, Wipro Infotech, Tata Infotech, Datacraft, NCR) — 8

are Gold Certified with a presence in over 100 cities through 1500 resellers. In

addition, we have Ingram Micro and Redington as our distributors









Also, since it is heterogeneous and spread across, what are the different
means being deployed by you to reach this audience?







We recently announced aggressive plans to address the needs of the burgeoning
Small and Medium Business (SMB) segment in India. The company unveiled 'Network

On Wheels' (NOW), a mobile showcase of customized CISCO networking Solutions

including advanced technologies such as Security, Wireless and Unified IP

Communications aimed at helping Indian SMBs leverage the power of networking

technology for business growth. There are various other ground level activities

that we have initiated directly and also jointly with our channel partners to

cater to the needs of SMBs









Have you downsized your product offering in order to get to the more price
sensitive SMB space? How?








While larger enterprises rely on technology to improve efficiency and ensure
future profitability, SMBs rely on IT as a matter of survival to stay

competitive. Cisco Systems has understood and addressed the networking

technology needs of SMBs and developed end-to-end networking solutions specific

to SMB. Integrated Services Router (ISR), Catalysts Express 500, and ASA -

Adaptive Security Appliance are typical examples of SMB class products-

combining the benefits of voice, data and video and security, it does away with

diverse sets of hardware and literally is a 'small office' out of a box.






© CIOL Bureau

























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