This weblog is a part of our deal with Cisco staff 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 assets 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 selections to cut back the assets used and decide how one can 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 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 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 crucial, 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 referred to as Our Metropolis Forest. There, I skilled as an arborist and earned a certification in tree planting. On weekends, I led neighborhood 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 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 noticed that to drive change, I wanted to transition to the enterprise aspect the place selections impacting sustainability have been made. To facilitate this, I pursued an MBA. I selected Berkeley’s Haas Faculty of Enterprise because of its deal with sustainability and the lively Internet Affect Membership. This membership allowed me to have interaction with business influencers and educate my friends, lots of whom have 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 objectives. 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 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 fuel, and transportation. The convergence of IT and OT is a spotlight for industries and important 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 inner 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 position as a product supervisor?
Sripriya: Embracing modular design has turn into crucial, particularly in our industrial IoT enterprise unit, the place prospects anticipate long-lasting merchandise, not like the enterprise sector with frequent refresh cycles. Modularizing elements permits for standardization throughout enterprise items, providing flexibility and decreasing redesign prices. This method additionally aligns with sustainability objectives 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 elements 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 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 Ideas?
Sripriya: Implementing Round Design Ideas gives quite a few benefits, significantly in extending product lifetimes. Historically, companies targeted on frequent product refreshes to realize their objectives. 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 numerous industries, together with the enterprise B2B sector.
Round design can help sooner 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 assets. Moreover, designing merchandise in a modular method facilitates take-back and reuse, which might scale back monetary pressures on each our prospects 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 group on a complete product life cycle evaluation highlighted that almost all of GHG emissions happen in the course of the use section. Subsequently, integrating energy-efficient options in product design is crucial for decreasing emissions.
How are Cisco’s Industrial IoT improvements serving to prospects transition to extra round fashions?
Sripriya: It’s important to handle 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 power effectivity and help 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 assets and power 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 objectives 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 objects and utilizing reusable luggage for grocery buying to keep away from plastic waste. Selecting an electrical or hybrid automotive 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 getting old mother and father. Right here, I’ve seen important challenges concerning 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 purpose to affect my neighborhood by advocating for easy way of life adjustments that scale back consumption and promote accountable residing. Encouraging individuals 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 options which are higher for the surroundings.
I additionally consider 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 acutely aware world. These small actions in my day by day life mirror my dedication to selling circularity and inspiring others to do the identical.
Share: