Over the past few years, Cisco started transitioning from an infrastructure-focussed company to a software, services, solutions and subscriptions focussed-company. The company said it is now focussed on exploring and acquiring capabilities in four key categories including cyber security, feedback management, applications development and 5G networking technologies.

Speaking to BusinesssLine about Cisco’s acquisition strategy, Daisy Chittilapilly, President, Cisco India & SAARC said, “The deep tech brains at Cisco are constantly evaluating companies and that is a full-time job of our corporate development team which is present in the country. As a company, we have always been good at looking at transitions and adjacent markets and bulk of our acquisitions tend to happen there. These are the four primary pillars in which we are operating, where we see customers want to partner with us and think Cisco can make an impact for them.”

Even from an infrastructure point of view, Chittilapilly thinks Cisco has been a networking company which is known for providing infrastructure to connect the internet, and that makes anything to do with networking technologies especially Wi-Fi 6 and 5G of interest to her.

Leveraging existing capabilities

The company has been actively working on developing solutions around 5G network, IoT, cybersecurity, and data centres.

“All of our technology is moving to software defined, across all of the pillars of products that we do and architecture that we do,” she said.

Consequently, the company wants to leverage its existing capabilities in building great data centres and cloud infrastructure to expand into developing ways to build applications on top of it.

“Building an app is now looking easier than figuring out what is going on with the app on a daily basis. At the other end of an app is the user and the user’s experience is really what companies are after. If you have to guarantee quality user experience of an app, you need to have control across aspects. Sure, the app is yours but you have posted it in a cloud environment that is not yours or a data center that is not yours. It rides across a telecom network over which there is very little control. It ultimately shows up in an end user’s device and the experience can break at any of these spaces,” Chittilapilly said.

She added, “So, observability is becoming a very big conversation. We already have a formidable portfolio in that space. And perhaps the most comprehensive one across infrastructure apps and network, but that is another place where we are looking to acquire.”

Cybersecurity capabilities

Chittilapilly believes that if Cisco was a standalone cyber company, it would easily be the largest cybersecurity company in the world.

“All the way from edge to cloud, our advice to customers is that we must look at security not as a bolt on, but integrated into every footprint of the enterprise. Whether it is edge or a network device, whether it is cloud or application, we are constantly building the portfolio and constantly acquiring in that space as well,” she said.

Customer communication

In October 2019, Cisco had acquired CloudCherry to enhance its contact centre capabilities and feedback management system. Cisco is currently actively looking at the entire whole feedback management and customer communication space, which is on top of customer experience, contact center, and customer service space.

Within this translation and vernacular is going to be the next big talk and also an area where the company will acquire more capabilities, Chittilapilly said.

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