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"From Cisco's perspective, there
are several factors that attract it to India"
Wim Elfrink
Chief Globalisation Officer/ Cisco |
In
early January, Wim Elfrink, the 55-year-old chief globalisation
Officer at networking giant Cisco, made an unusual career move.
He packed his bags and moved his family from the relative comforts
of Silicon Valley (the real one) to the hustle and bustle of its
Indian clone. This is no short-term commitment for Elfrink; he
has got his two sons admitted to the tony Bangalore International
School and rented a plush apartment just off Airport Road. His
mandate: oversee Cisco's $1.16 billion (Rs 5,220 crore) investment
in this country. "Today, we see India as a big opportunity.
From Cisco's perspective, there are several factors that attract
it to India. The country has been able to create an environment
that's unlike anywhere else in the world," says Elfrink.
He isn't the only high-ranking Cisco employee to relocate here.
The company is moving 20 per cent of its top talent to Bangalore.
Elfrink will collaborate with senior company executives across
functions such as engineering services, R&D (Research &
Development) and hr (Human Resource) from his Bangalore base and
will also be responsible for Cisco's customer advocacy services
(comprising 7,000 employees worldwide).
Cisco's highly-publicised initiative follows those by a raft
of other large global tech giants that have also moved senior
managers with global responsibilities (albeit quietly) to India.
"We see the world as a global resource and these moves are
part of our strategy to tap the best talent and markets across
the globe," says an IBM spokesperson. IBM executives admitted
that the company has relocated senior executives (such as Jecy
Cherian, IBM India's Director for the Global Technology Services
Centre), though they remained curiously coy about going on the
record about these moves. "India is a very important market
and there are no arguments on this. IBM's strategy is based on
being globally integrated and India is an important strategic
piece in this strategy," says Amitabh Ray, Vice President
and Partner (Global Delivery, Consulting and Application Services),
IBM Global Business Services. Incidentally, IBM has moved its
global procurement office from New York to China.
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