CIOs Welcome Malkani as Cisco India Head

Dinesh Malkani, VP-Sales, Cisco India & SAARC will be heading Cisco India. Reporting to Irving Tan, President for Asia Pacific and Japan, he replaces Jeff White who is returning to the US to be close to his family.

Nataraj N, Global CIO, Hexaware thinks Malkani will bring the local experience which will help Cisco in strengthening not only its focus on private enterprises but Government too as the expected Government

Nataraj says, “He has been in the industry for a while and he understands the market requirements from the local perspectives. He will definitely have the pulse of the market. With the technology trends touching the lives not only in the urban India as it is now extended to rural as well, networking will play a vast role in getting the Government initiatives of e-Governance. In this context, I feel one heading networking company in India should understand the local dynamics and be aligned with the plans of Government as well.”

Predicting the BJP Government coming into rule, Nataraj adds, “Modi emphasized on eGovernance in a recent Nasscom forum which gives opportunities for a company like Cisco to partner with the Government to carry out initiatives to inter-connect rural India.”

Dinesh joined Cisco in August 2010 and has led the Asia-Pacific Japan and Korea (APJC) collaboration team to become a market leader in every major category of this business in APJC. He has over 20 years of experience in the IT and communications industry in APJC, having lived and worked in India, China, Korea and Singapore. Over this period he has held diverse roles such as R&D engineer, SE manager, sales director, general manager, and has gained financial skills in running substantial P&L for large operations.

Welcoming the move, T G Dhandapani, CIO, TVS Motors says, “As Indian is taking over, he will be in a better position to appreciate the culture and process in the country and accordingly, reframe the process which will help the Indian customers and CIOs to get much more aligned with Cisco in enterprise technology deals.”

Dhandapani also points out that be it Government or Private enterprise, there is a culture which impacts the investment decisions. “Every vertical has different and unique set of processes which are very deeply connected with the culture of the organisations. Malkani, having been there in the India market for a while, he will be well equipped with the understanding of not only requirements but the culture as well.”

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