Chris White, Vice President, Chief of Staff for Cisco Globalization Center East

We wanted to ensure that this meeting solution does not diminish the

real-life experience in any way......We ensured that the alignment of cameras,

speakers and display was spot on for best possible experience.

Chris White is VP, Chief of Staff for Cisco Globalization Center East,

Cisco's second global head quarters. He is responsible for expanding,

coordinating and evolving all the commercial priorities for this new center. Its

objectives are to accelerate the growth of the emerging countries with a closer

new support model, implementing Cisco's globalization strategy partnering with

India and creating new innovative go to market strategies. An 11 year veteran,

before this role Chris was Cisco's top VP/GM in the US, his exceptional track

record exemplified aggressive adoption of new go to market strategies ,

leveraging a diverse team, partners and services for high growth success. We

talked to Chris about Cisco's new initiatives in India.

Chris White, Vice President, Chief of Staff for Cisco Globalization Center East

These days we see a shift in communications from e-mail, SMSes and chat

to video conferencing, telepresence solutions and unified  communications.

What were the challenges that you faced during the deployment of a TelePresence

solution?



Getting the right experience was the biggest challenge. We've all seen how

legacy video conferencing solutions work. They don't provide the look or the

feel of a real-life meeting experience. So, we took great care to ensure that

very high-end equipment was used in this TelePresence solution. We ensured that

the alignment of cameras, speakers and the display was spot on for the best

possible user experience. We didn't want to cut any corners by compromising on

space or the interior décor.

How do you think such a solution can help large enterprises?



Cisco has a large number of branches spread all across the globe. A lot of

productive time is wasted by its employees during travel. This meeting solution

was conceptualized keeping this concern in mind. At the same time, we wanted to

ensure that it does not diminish the real-life experience in any way and the

users should feel the same as they would when meeting face-to-face. Using this

solution, we have been able to cut down our travel budgets by 20%. Another

benefit would be that an employee can stay in touch with his family when on

tour.

What's your aim behind the globalization strategy initiative in India?



We are looking at maturing markets in India and South-east Asia to fuel

growth and innovation. For that, we need to put in a significant resource base

here to utilize the enormous talent available. The Indian Govt. has been very

helpful in helping us drive this initiative.