This weblog is a part of our concentrate on Cisco staff 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 economic 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 selections to cut back the sources used and decide find out 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 sequence of commercial routers with Round Design Ideas on the core. I not too long ago sat down along 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 dad and mom and grandparents, who lived what we now name a sustainable life-style. Their method was easy: shopping for solely what was needed, 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 USA 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 spotted that to drive change, I wanted to transition to the enterprise facet the place selections impacting sustainability had been made. To facilitate this, I pursued an MBA. I selected Berkeley’s Haas College of Enterprise because of its concentrate on sustainability and the lively Web Affect Membership. This membership allowed me to interact with business influencers and educate my friends, lots of whom had been CEOs or VPs attending night and weekend courses. Collaborating with these key business 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 commercial IoT enterprise unit as a product supervisor, main the commercial routing portfolio. This position entails end-to-end administration, from defining the product to launching it and interesting with clients 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 fuel, 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 business areas, all whereas sustaining belief and addressing each inside 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 out to be crucial, particularly in our industrial IoT enterprise unit, the place clients 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 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 Ideas. Impressed by sustainability advocates and my very own ardour, I collaborated cross-functionally to combine modular parts and enhance power effectivity for utility purchasers involved with power consumption.
I additionally initiated extra packaging sustainability efforts, eliminating extreme foam and adopting supplies with a decrease environmental influence 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 frontrunner to drive sustainability initiatives for our complete 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 Ideas?
Sripriya: Implementing Round Design Ideas provides quite a few benefits, notably in extending product lifetimes. Historically, companies centered on frequent product refreshes to attain their targets. Nevertheless, 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 shouldn’t be solely helpful for our firm but in addition resonates throughout varied industries, together with the enterprise B2B sector.
Round design can help quicker innovation by constructing on present merchandise relatively than ranging from scratch. This method reduces operational prices and capital bills, in addition to greenhouse fuel (GHG) emissions, by minimizing using pure sources. Moreover, designing merchandise in a modular means facilitates take-back and reuse, which may scale back monetary pressures on each our clients and our provide chain administration.
From an environmental standpoint, round design reduces waste and enhance power effectivity. Throughout product use, power 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. Subsequently, integrating energy-efficient options in product design is crucial for decreasing emissions.
How are Cisco’s Industrial IoT improvements serving to clients transition to extra round fashions?
Sripriya: It’s important to handle our clients’ present enterprise challenges whereas offering them with simple methods to leverage new improvements with out utterly changing their present merchandise. Cisco’s Industrial IoT options underscore power effectivity and help round practices, enhancing sustainability in product administration.
With a round design method, we allow our clients to save lots of the expense of shopping for utterly new gear each time their necessities change, which additionally eliminates the sources and power required to create new gear throughout manufacturing, transport, and logistics. By upgrading or repairing simply the person modules, clients prolong the product’s lifetime, scale back supplies which might be 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 USA, the place I centered on buying solely important objects 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.
Just lately, I relocated to India to be nearer to my household and take care of my growing old dad and mom. Right here, I’ve seen important challenges concerning waste administration and environmental consciousness. Whereas there may be rising consciousness about plastic air pollution in some nations, 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 might be higher for the setting.
I additionally imagine in main by instance and sharing data with others to encourage them to turn out to be 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 mirror my dedication to selling circularity and inspiring others to do the identical.
Share: