This weblog is a part of our concentrate on Cisco workers who’re “Striving for Sustainability” by discovering alternatives to combine sustainability of their day-to-day work.
At Cisco, we now have been specializing in evolving from a linear financial system that extracts sources and ultimately wastes them, to a round one which finds new makes use of for merchandise and their inputs. By understanding the environmental impacts of our merchandise, we will make knowledgeable choices to cut back the sources used and decide learn how to prolong the lifetime of our merchandise.
That brings us to Sripriya Narayanan, a senior product supervisor based mostly in India who works for Cisco’s Industrial Web of Issues (IIoT) enterprise unit, which focuses on industrial routers, switches, and entry factors. She has collaborated with Cisco’s Round Design staff to develop a collection of commercial routers with Round Design Rules on the core. I lately sat down together with her to be taught extra about her story:
When did your curiosity in sustainability start?
Sripriya: My journey in the direction of sustainability started in my childhood in India, surrounded by my mother and father and grandparents, who lived what we now name a sustainable life-style. Their method was easy: shopping for solely what was crucial, avoiding plastic, minimizing waste, and embracing a holistic, minimalist life-style. This simplicity deeply influenced me. One other affect is my love for nature and spending time in pure settings. Being in nature taught me the significance of preserving its tranquility and sweetness for future generations.
Once I moved to the US after beginning my profession at Cisco, I started volunteering with an environmental nonprofit in San Jose known as Our Metropolis Forest. There, I educated as an arborist and earned a certification in tree planting. On weekends, I led group teams, together with youngsters and oldsters, in tree planting actions throughout Santa Clara County. This expertise sparked my ardour for environmental advocacy.
Are you able to inform us about your skilled and academic journey to this point?
Sripriya: My journey started as a software program engineer at Cisco, the place I progressed to a lead engineer and technical chief. Whereas I loved my work, I spotted that to drive change, I wanted to transition to the enterprise aspect the place choices impacting sustainability had been made. To facilitate this, I pursued an MBA. I selected Berkeley’s Haas College of Enterprise as a consequence of its concentrate on sustainability and the lively Internet Impression Membership. This membership allowed me to have interaction with business influencers and educate my friends, lots of whom had been CEOs or VPs attending night and weekend lessons. Collaborating with these key business figures was enriching, because it enabled us to collectively promote sustainable practices.
Throughout my second yr at Berkeley, I transitioned into product administration at Cisco, a pure development aligning with my targets. I joined the commercial IoT enterprise unit as a product supervisor, main the commercial routing portfolio. This function entails end-to-end administration, from defining the product to launching it and fascinating with prospects in addition to managing its end-of-life. The commercial IoT enterprise unit was essential to me, because it allowed direct interplay with business leaders in sectors like utilities, manufacturing, oil and gasoline, and transportation. The convergence of IT and OT is a spotlight for industries and significant infrastructure suppliers. Cisco leverages its direct interactions with enterprise leaders to discover the way it can allow finest practices, together with sustainability, throughout networks from enterprise to business areas, all whereas sustaining belief and addressing each inner product challenges and exterior elements. It was an opportunity to affect sustainability on a bigger scale, fulfilling my ambition to combine circularity practices into the enterprise realm.
How are you incorporating circularity in your function as a product supervisor?
Sripriya: Embracing modular design has develop into crucial, particularly in our industrial IoT enterprise unit, the place prospects count on long-lasting merchandise, in contrast to the enterprise sector with frequent refresh cycles. Modularizing parts permits for standardization throughout enterprise models, providing flexibility and lowering redesign prices. This method additionally aligns with sustainability targets by minimizing waste and useful resource utilization.
Whereas creating our next-generation merchandise, I prioritized Round Design Rules. Impressed by sustainability advocates and my very own ardour, I collaborated cross-functionally to combine modular parts and enhance vitality effectivity for utility shoppers involved with vitality consumption.
I additionally initiated extra packaging sustainability efforts, eliminating extreme foam and adopting supplies with a decrease environmental affect from manufacturing or finish of life. This was achieved by way of collaboration with Cisco’s packaging sustainability staff. At this level of my profession, I used to be promoted to a senior product supervisor place and was chosen as a pacesetter to drive sustainability initiatives for our complete Industrial IoT enterprise unit.
Seeking to the long run, I’ll proceed to drive sustainability initiatives for Cisco Industrial IoT in partnership with the Chief Sustainability Workplace (CSO) and Engineering Sustainability Workplace (ESO) groups.
What advantages have you ever noticed from implementing Round Design Rules?
Sripriya: Implementing Round Design Rules affords quite a few benefits, significantly in extending product lifetimes. Historically, companies centered on frequent product refreshes to attain their targets. Nonetheless, by adopting a round design mindset permits us to foster innovation with out the need to launch new merchandise each few years. This shift in perspective is just not solely useful for our firm but in addition resonates throughout varied industries, together with the enterprise B2B sector.
Round design can assist quicker innovation by constructing on current merchandise slightly than ranging from scratch. This method reduces operational prices and capital bills, in addition to greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions, by minimizing the usage of pure sources. Moreover, designing merchandise in a modular approach facilitates take-back and reuse, which might cut back monetary pressures on each our prospects and our provide chain administration.
From an environmental standpoint, round design reduces waste and enhance vitality effectivity. Throughout product use, vitality effectivity is essential. Our collaboration with the CSO staff on a complete product life cycle evaluation highlighted that almost all of GHG emissions happen throughout the use part. Due to this fact, integrating energy-efficient options in product design is crucial for lowering emissions.
How are Cisco’s Industrial IoT improvements serving to prospects transition to extra round fashions?
Sripriya: It’s important to deal with our prospects’ present enterprise challenges whereas offering them with simple methods to leverage new improvements with out fully changing their current merchandise. Cisco’s Industrial IoT options underscore vitality effectivity and assist round practices, enhancing sustainability in product administration.
With a round design method, we allow our prospects to avoid wasting the expense of shopping for fully new tools each time their necessities change, which additionally eliminates the sources and vitality required to create new tools throughout manufacturing, delivery, and logistics. By upgrading or repairing simply the person modules, prospects prolong the product’s lifetime, cut back supplies which are disposed of prematurely, and assist preserve sources.
Buyer tales that showcase how Cisco IoT options have helped them with their targets may be discovered right here.
Do you do something in your private life to advertise circularity? If that’s the case, what recommendation would you give others?
Sripriya: In my private life, I try to advertise circularity by adopting a minimalist life-style. This journey started throughout my time in the US, the place I centered on buying solely important objects and utilizing reusable baggage for grocery buying to keep away from plastic waste. Selecting an electrical or hybrid automobile over a conventional gas-powered car was one other important step that I took, in addition to taking public transportation.
Lately, I relocated to India to be nearer to my household and look after my growing older mother and father. Right here, I’ve seen important challenges relating to waste administration and environmental consciousness. Whereas there may be rising consciousness about plastic air pollution in some international locations, in India, this understanding is usually restricted to sure city areas.
Regardless of these challenges, I purpose to affect my group by advocating for easy life-style adjustments that cut back consumption and promote accountable residing. Encouraging folks to think about the need of their purchases and search higher, extra sustainable choices is essential. It’s about making acutely aware decisions and recognizing that there are all the time options which are higher for the surroundings.
I additionally consider in main by instance and sharing information with others to encourage them to develop into environmental advocates. By fostering discussions about sustainability, I hope to contribute to a extra accountable and environmentally acutely aware world. These small actions in my each day life mirror my dedication to selling circularity and inspiring others to do the identical.
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