'We will use India as a platform for globalization'

In an interview to Dataquest, Wim

Elfrink, the newly appointed chief globalization officer who will report

directly to John Chambers, CEO, Cisco, talks about why the company chose India

as a location for their globalization hub. Elfrink is also senior VP, Customer

Advocacy, which includes technical support services, remote operations services

and advance services. Elfrink joined Cisco in 1997 and has relocated to

Bangalore in January 2007.

Why has India been chosen as a globalization hub, why not any

other country in the world?



When most companies look at globalization, they primarily consider accessibility
and global reach possibilities. Accessibility is about access to talents,

capabilities, resources, and innovation of source. The other consideration is

global reach. Most companies now understand that GDP has fundamentally shifted,

and GDP of the emerging markets is bigger than mature markets. If we want to

reach high growth markets, we have to do integration and co-creation. If you

look at emerging markets, we expect lot of innovation to come out of these. So,

we have to be closer to innovation, and instead of trying to do everything out

of California, we have to be closer to growth, innovation and talent. That was

when we decided to look at this side of the world.

India has a combination of free market economy, free stock

market, and democracy. Also, it has a good education system and enormous talent

pool. So, we decided to set up the globalization hub main hub in India and use

it as a platform for the globalization. But we can still go to other countries.

We have decided to up the staff strength from the current 2,000 to 10,000 over

the next three years. The ICT industry is currently worth $38 bn and government

wants to push that to $100 bn. So, there is a master plan despite infrastructure

problems and India is very positive about its ICT industry.

In this globalization era, I have not only to develop shared

vision; it is also very important for me to have good relation with the Indian

government and Indian partners. I want to partner, not compete, with Infosys and

Wipro. Cisco has committed an investment of $1.2 bn into India.

What will be your role as chief globalization officer?



My job is to oversee all functions. We have Cisco West, which is our head
office, and now we have Cisco East here. So, from the globalization point of

view, all functions including HR, finance, R&D, service and support will

work out of here. From the time point of view, Cisco West and Cisco East are two

main hubs. We have a strong presence already in R&D with about 1,300 people,

and about 3,500 with partners.

We also have a strong presence in service and support, which I

will manage from here. Having a network will enable the way we learn, live,

play, and work and educate people remotely. We can communicate remotely and

perhaps fly less if we start using technologies to globalize, and over the time

the infrastructure constraints themselves could become a driver to adopt

technology faster.

Is access to cheap labor the main reason for making India a hub?



I think most companies have come to India initially for cost and labor
reasons, but we are looking for growth, innovation and talent. These are the

three main considerations to have a platform for globalization for this side of

the world.

We chose India as our hub; it is going to be what I would call

the hub of integration and co-creation. You can have access to talent, access to

capability but if you don't integrate them in your office, you don't get the

real benefit out of it. Let me give you an example of co-creation. I expect a

lot of innovations, for instance, out of the joint venture between Reliance and

Walmart. If it happens, I think retail will be redefined in India. So, I want to

co-create offers for the retail market, and if you are close to the innovation,

you can work with customers, and then globalize.

India is going to be the hub of integration and co-creation. You can have access to talent and capability, but you have to integrate them to get the real benefit

If globalization is really important, why can't the CEO assume

the role of CGO as well? Is your role interim?



Cisco CEO John Chambers wants someone specifically designated for the
purpose to take formard the globalization efforts on a day-to-day basis. It

could be interim. Once it's all done, it could go for the old function

automatically. But again to get it done, first you has to somebody take the

charge. We have also made a commitment that 20% of top talent will be based in

India. So you need somebody to attract that top talent, and it can't be John's

daily job. It's part of my job. Somebody has to drive that and get that

talent, and I have to build the brand. Cisco looks at this part of the world,

and India, as a platform for globalization.

What is the kind of relationship you will have with Cisco India

operations?



My job will be of a mentor. We have our general manager for India and SAARC,
who is not reporting to me but reporting in the region. I am his mentor and I

will strongly help him. It is building presence and to see if he can leverage

this commitment that we have made to India. We need to recruit 10,000 people

just in India. We are also creating our resources in countries like Saudi,

Dubai, the UAE, Russia and also in parts of Africa, which can be easily managed

from here. The future growth of Cisco is mainly from this side of the world, so

we have to build our organization and mentor it, and attract talents. That's

why we need some experienced people to get it done.

Which are the two centers where you do the R&D for

globalization?



The two R&D centers are located in Israel and Ireland. Actually, when we
go for acquisition, we acquire a company that has a base somewhere else in the

world. We have maintained this acquisition strategy all along, so that we will

be present in more parts of the world.

Sudesh Prasad



sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in