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 have now been specializing in evolving from a linear financial system that extracts sources and finally 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 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 workforce to develop a sequence of business routers with Round Design Ideas on the core. I lately 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 mother and father and grandparents, who lived what we now name a sustainable way of life. Their method was easy: shopping for solely what was needed, avoiding plastic, minimizing waste, and embracing a holistic, minimalist way of life. 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.
Once I moved to america after beginning my profession at Cisco, I started volunteering with an environmental nonprofit in San Jose known as Our Metropolis Forest. There, I skilled as an arborist and earned a certification in tree planting. On weekends, I led group teams, together with kids and fogeys, 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 date?
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 have 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, a lot of whom have 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 yr 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 function entails end-to-end administration, from defining the product to launching it and fascinating with clients in addition to managing its end-of-life. The economic 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 greatest practices, together with sustainability, throughout networks from enterprise to business areas, all whereas sustaining belief and addressing each inside product challenges and exterior components. 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 clients anticipate 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 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 affect from manufacturing or finish of life. This was achieved by way of collaboration with Cisco’s packaging sustainability workforce. 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 Ideas?
Sripriya: Implementing Round Design Ideas affords quite a few benefits, significantly in extending product lifetimes. Historically, companies targeted 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 isn’t solely helpful for our firm but in addition resonates throughout varied industries, together with the enterprise B2B sector.
Round design can assist sooner innovation by constructing on present merchandise quite 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 method facilitates take-back and reuse, which might 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 workforce on a complete product life cycle evaluation highlighted that almost all of GHG emissions happen throughout the use section. 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 clients transition to extra round fashions?
Sripriya: It’s important to deal with our clients’ 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 power effectivity and assist round practices, enhancing sustainability in product administration.
With a round design method, we allow our clients to avoid wasting the expense of shopping for fully 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? In that case, what recommendation would you give others?
Sripriya: In my private life, I attempt to advertise circularity by adopting a minimalist way of life. This journey started throughout my time in america, the place I targeted on buying solely important gadgets and utilizing reusable baggage for grocery purchasing to keep away from plastic waste. Selecting an electrical or hybrid automotive over a standard gas-powered automobile 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 getting 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 nations, in India, this understanding is commonly restricted to sure city areas.
Regardless of these challenges, I goal to affect my group by advocating for easy way of life modifications that scale back consumption and promote accountable residing. Encouraging folks to contemplate the need of their purchases and search higher, extra sustainable choices is essential. It’s about making acutely aware selections and recognizing that there are at all times alternate options which might be higher for the surroundings.
I additionally imagine in main by instance and sharing data 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 replicate my dedication to selling circularity and inspiring others to do the identical.
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