M&M inks strategic pact with Cisco

India’s largest utility vehicle maker, Mahindra & Mahindra, entered into a global strategic collaboration with US networking equipment major Cisco. The alliance will allow both to collaborate on go-to-market strategies in smart cities, virtual dealership, sports & entertainment and cloud services.

While Cisco will provide its products and services, M&M and its group companies will incorporate their expertise of diverse industries and market segments. It would also add capabilities to develop applications and solutions for the segments.

The alliance is targeting a global market opportunity worth $5 billion over the next five years. “Of this we think 10-15 per cent ($500 million-$750 million) will come from this partnership. We also think about 15 per cent of this will alone come from the Indian market,” said Naresh Wadhwa, president and country manager, Cisco System.

Both firms have invested Rs 10 crore in the global partnership. The collaboration will also give an impetus to Mahindra Satyam, that has Cisco as its second largest client. “The current relationship between Cisco and Mahindra & Mahindra is about $100 million. With a joint go-to-market initiative and 360-degree marketing, we are hoping to take this up to 10 times,” said C P Gurnani, chief executive officer, Mahindra Satyam. The collaboration will make use of the solutions capability of Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam.

“The collaboration with the Mahindra Group will be a game-changing one and I really look forward to working closely with M&M to transform cities and communities and to innovate new ways of offering services, using network as the platform,” said Wim Elfrink, executive vice president, emerging solutions & chief globalisation officer for Cisco.

The partnership will first develop a technology park — Mahindra Innovation Park. A virtual dealership for Mahindra & Mahindra, will also be functional in the next four to five months.