All's Well at Cisco, and Yet...

In almost every company, one will always hear about a particular seat, or a
cabin, even a designation or a location that is thought to be accursed or lucky,
depending upon which end of the table you are looking from. If the company is
doing well, employees would be vary to take that seat and in a reverse scenario
will be vying for it. For Cisco India, the president's seat seems to be quite
discomforting. How else can you explain the fact that in the past few years as
many as three heads of India operations have put down their papers. The latest
high-profile exit has been that of Jangoo Dalal.

Those Who Said Adios

In the past five years, three Indian heads have put in their papers and
these have not been just mere heads but industry veterans whose names carry a
lot of weight. The first big jolt for the networking giant was Manoj Chugh, who,
after three years at the helm, quit in 2003.

Chugh had succeeded Anil Batra, head of India operations, who had been at the
helm from 1995 onwards-the longest term so to speak. It was during Chugh's
tenure that India emerged as a major market for Cisco (not surprisingly, he is
regarded as a marketing genius).

In 2003, Rangnath (fondly known as Rangu) Salgame took over as president of
India operations. Salgame was especially flown from in from the US to watch over
the Indian market. Under Salgame's astute leadership, Cisco strengthened its
dominance in the Indian market and experienced unprecedented growth. This was
also the time when the telecom industry in India underwent a boom of sorts,
thanks to the government's decision to deregulate the market with actions like
unified license for mobile operators and the robust growth of GDP in general.
Salgame has been credited for strengthening the channel infrastructure for
Cisco, thereby turning into a market leader in the switching and router segment.

In fact, Cisco's competitors rue the fact that Cisco had already signed up
all the A-list channel partners in exclusive deals, leaving no real chance of
growth for them. He also realigned the business into three specific verticals;
enterprise and commercial, government and service provider and IT/ITeS, with
each having its own business head.

What Went Wrong?

According to estimates, during Salgame's tenure Cisco's business grew by a
healthy percentage of around 40% y-o-y. Impressed by the growth potential, John
Chambers, CEO, Cisco, on his visit to India announced $1.1 bn in new investment
in India. All seemed rosy and perfect, when out of the blue came the
announcement that Salgame was calling it quits last year (2006). Suddenly, there
were whispers of something wrong at Cisco India's office.

Cisco quickly moved in and anointed Jangoo Dalal as the successor to Salgame.
Dalal had been with the company since 1997 and was based in Singapore overseeing
Cisco's channel operations for the Asia Pacific region. Dalal was heading one of
the verticals created by Salgame.

Sudhir Narang and B Ashok were heads of the other two verticals. In the past
year, all of them have left Cisco, starting with Narang, who joined Tulip IT
Services as CEO, then it was B Ashok and now with Dalal. Effectively, the
leadership team set up by Salgame has quit after he left.

So far no reasons have been attributed to Dalal's sudden exit. At the time of
leaving all heads cited personal reasons and yet over a period of time had taken
up positions offered by other companies. Chugh is heading EMC India, while Batra
has been taken on by Juniper. Salgame has not really announced any decision, as
yet.

But this is not all. If rumors are to be believed, there will be a few more
high profile exits in the coming days, R Devarajan, Cisco India's R&D head, and
Pramod Menon, vice president, channels, Cisco (India and SAARC) is also likely
to quit.

Tough Job Ahead

All this comes at a time when Cisco is giving lot of attention to India
operations and plans to turn it into a globalization center. Cisco has begun to
move its top global executives into the country over the last year. The idea is
to convert India into Cisco's second corporate headquarters after the US, and
drive strategy for dominance in Asia. The company announced that it would move
one fifth of its top management in India. The first big shift was that of Wim
Elfrink, regarded as number three to John Chambers. Elfrink shifted to Bangalore
in January this year and assumed the role of chief globalization officer.

It is a strange irony that while it is moving its top management to India,
Cisco is unable to retain its top management in India. According to reports,
Cisco is planning to bring someone in to head the Indian operations, Currently,
Naresh Wadhwa, VP (India and SAARC), Cisco, is entrusted with the additional
responsibility of country manager till a replacement is found. Hopefully, Cisco
will be changing the seat or the cabin. On a lighter note, probably they need to
get a Vaastu or Feng-shui expert.

Shashwat Chaturvedi


maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in