Cisco on Wednesday, May 23, unveiled a new initiative specifically designed to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) build their digital foundation and become globally competitive.
The initiative, titled Cisco START, aims to make it easy for SMBs and midmarket customers to embrace digitization by providing them with access to a suite of simple, secure and smart enterprise-class technologies, specifically tailored to their needs.
At the launching event, Cisco India & SAARC President Sameer Garde said: “Cisco’s association with Bangladesh is over two decades old, and over time it has become an important market for us. We are excited to be a part of Bangladesh’s digital journey and help further the government’s vision to fuel economic growth, world-class innovation, sustainable competitiveness, and prosperity. The launch of Cisco START demonstrates our commitment to accelerate digitization of SMEs in Bangladesh.”
Cisco START will provide SMEs with customized solutions, enhanced operations, services, and processes to reduce overhead and total ownership cost, as well as improving workforce productivity, according to a Cisco press release.
“This initiative is a demonstration of Cisco’s commitment to accelerate Bangladesh’s digital transformation and showcase how digitization can fuel economic growth, world-class innovation, sustainable competitiveness, and prosperity,” the press release read.
SMEs in Bangladesh account for more than 99% of private sector industrial establishments and employ 70%–80% of the nonagricultural labor force, contributing to over one-third of industrial value-added to gross domestic product (GDP), it added, saying that SMEs were an essential part of Bangladesh’s digital transformation.
However, access to the right technology, lack of training and high entry costs all posed challenges to SMEs and limited their ability to scale and seize opportunities provided by digitization.
High-speed broadband coverage, rising adoption of mobile devices, proliferation of data, improving quality of connectivity as well as the expansion of logistics services and networks are breaking the geographical market barriers for businesses in Bangladesh and opening up new opportunities, the press release said.
In addition to Cisco START, Cisco has established 12 Networking Academies in Bangladesh, training over 12,300 students till date in order to support the country’s agenda for digitization.
