This weblog is a part of our give attention to Cisco workers who’re “Striving for Sustainability” by discovering alternatives to combine sustainability of their day-to-day work.
At Cisco, we’ve got been specializing in evolving from a linear financial system that extracts assets 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 assets used and decide find out how to lengthen 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 group to develop a collection of business routers with Round Design Rules on the core. I just lately sat down together with her to study extra about her story:
When did your curiosity in sustainability start?
Sripriya: My journey in direction of sustainability started in my childhood in India, surrounded by my dad and mom and grandparents, who lived what we now name a sustainable life-style. Their method was easy: shopping for solely what was essential, 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 wonder for future generations.
After I moved to america after beginning my profession at Cisco, I started volunteering with an environmental nonprofit in San Jose referred to 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 up to now?
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 noticed that to drive change, I wanted to transition to the enterprise aspect the place choices impacting sustainability have been made. To facilitate this, I pursued an MBA. I selected Berkeley’s Haas Faculty of Enterprise because of its give attention to sustainability and the lively Internet Affect Membership. This membership allowed me to interact with trade influencers and educate my friends, a lot of whom have been CEOs or VPs attending night and weekend courses. Collaborating with these key trade figures was enriching, because it enabled us to collectively promote sustainable practices.
Throughout my second 12 months at Berkeley, I transitioned into product administration at Cisco, a pure development aligning with my targets. I joined the economic IoT enterprise unit as a product supervisor, main the economic routing portfolio. This position includes end-to-end administration, from defining the product to launching it and interesting with prospects in addition to managing its end-of-life. The economic IoT enterprise unit was essential to me, because it allowed direct interplay with trade 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 greatest practices, together with sustainability, throughout networks from enterprise to trade 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 position as a product supervisor?
Sripriya: Embracing modular design has turn into crucial, particularly in our industrial IoT enterprise unit, the place prospects count on long-lasting merchandise, not like the enterprise sector with frequent refresh cycles. Modularizing parts permits for standardization throughout enterprise models, providing flexibility and decreasing redesign prices. This method additionally aligns with sustainability targets by minimizing waste and useful resource utilization.
Whereas growing 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 purchasers 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 means of collaboration with Cisco’s packaging sustainability group. At this level of my profession, I used to be promoted to a senior product supervisor place and was chosen as a frontrunner to drive sustainability initiatives for our whole Industrial IoT enterprise unit.
Seeking to the longer term, 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 presents quite a few benefits, notably in extending product lifetimes. Historically, companies centered on frequent product refreshes to realize 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 will not be solely helpful 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 present merchandise reasonably than ranging from scratch. This method reduces operational prices and capital bills, in addition to greenhouse gasoline (GHG) emissions, by minimizing using pure assets. Moreover, designing merchandise in a modular means facilitates take-back and reuse, which may scale 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 group on a complete product life cycle evaluation highlighted that almost all of GHG emissions happen through the use section. Subsequently, integrating energy-efficient options in product design is important for decreasing 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 present 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 save lots of the expense of shopping for fully new tools each time their necessities change, which additionally eliminates the assets and vitality required to create new tools throughout manufacturing, delivery, and logistics. By upgrading or repairing simply the person modules, prospects lengthen the product’s lifetime, scale back supplies which are disposed of prematurely, and assist preserve assets.
Buyer tales that showcase how Cisco IoT options have helped them with their targets might be discovered right here.
Do you do something in your private life to advertise circularity? In that case, what recommendation would you give others?
Sripriya: In my private life, I attempt to advertise circularity by adopting a minimalist life-style. This journey started throughout my time in america, the place I centered on buying solely important gadgets and utilizing reusable luggage for grocery procuring to keep away from plastic waste. Selecting an electrical or hybrid automobile over a conventional gas-powered automobile was one other important step that I took, in addition to taking public transportation.
Not too long ago, I relocated to India to be nearer to my household and look after my growing older dad and mom. Right here, I’ve observed important challenges relating to waste administration and environmental consciousness. Whereas there’s 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 goal to affect my group by advocating for easy life-style modifications that scale back consumption and promote accountable dwelling. Encouraging individuals to contemplate the need of their purchases and search higher, extra sustainable choices is vital. It’s about making aware selections and recognizing that there are at all times alternate options which are higher for the setting.
I additionally imagine in main by instance and sharing data with others to encourage them to turn into environmental advocates. By fostering discussions about sustainability, I hope to contribute to a extra accountable and environmentally aware world. These small actions in my every day life replicate my dedication to selling circularity and inspiring others to do the identical.
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