A fundamental enabler of sustainability. This, in short, is digital technology for Cisco Italy: and we are not just talking about environmental sustainability, but also social sustainability. Because technology, if properly addressed, becomes synonymous with opportunity, development and inclusion.
A vision, this, that Cisco Italia has been making available to the network of the Foundation for Digital Sustainability for the past six years, and that was punctually told to us in this interview by Cristian Perissinotto, Solutions Engineer EMEA Networking Team Leader Innovation Exchange of Cisco Italia and new member of the Steering Committee of the Foundation: graduated in Padua in Computer Engineering, in 1998 he obtained a Master’s degree in Information Technology at Cefriel – Milan Polytechnic. He worked in companies such as Telecom Italia and Tiscali before joining Cisco as a System Engineer in 2006: ten years later, in August 2016, he joined the company’s Innovation team as Technical Solution Architect, and since August 2024 he has been leading the team’s activities.
A multidimensional approach to sustainability
“Sustainability is one of the priorities guiding the company’s strategy according to an integrated holistic approach, which goes from the way we develop our products to the way we carry out operations, to the way we interact with our entire supply chain, and therefore our suppliers and partners,” Cristian Perissinotto explained. “In concrete terms, we are optimising the consumption of our equipment, which is one of the most critical aspects when it comes to sustainability in the IT world; we have also made the decision that in all countries where electric mobility is ata very high level of maturity, all company cars must be electric; and again, we have developed a circular economy programme for the return of our equipment at the end of its life: at no cost to customers, they can ask for the equipment to be picked up directly at their home, and after that, depending on whether or not it turns on, it is either used in other contexts, or disposed of in compliance with all international regulations, with critical materials being recovered. In short, these are just a few examples, but they show how important sustainability is for a company like Cisco‘.
When digital creates opportunities
Precisely in this context, as Perissinotto explained, is the company’s focus on digital sustainability, understood as ‘the use of digital technologies to achieve sustainability goals in the broadest sense of the term: not only environmental sustainability, but also social and economic sustainability‘.
Commitment that the company applies not only internally, but also – and especially – externally, with several active projects. “This is of great interest to us, because it concerns the direct use of our technologies,” he explained: “we have collaboration solutions that allow us to greatly reduce travel, and the impact this can have is easily quantifiable. But we also have smart building solutions , which allow us to optimise the use of resources within our offices.
Looking then at what we do in Italy and around the world, very important projects are about inclusion: that is, helping everyone to have a better future through digital technology. The main example is the investment programme, defined at corporate level, for the development of digital technologies in more than 50 countries: the Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) . It is a very important initiative, because fostering digital development actually means fostering the development of the country itself. The programme is also active in Italy, where there are various strands of investment: for example, we have implemented a project with the Asphi Foundation in Bologna, which works on the application of digital technologies to improve the lives of people with disabilities, aimed at applying AI to the voice recognition of people with dysarthria. While another line of investment concerns bringing our Networking Academy, and thus training programmes, into prisons. This year, for the first time, I attended these training events, and it was incredible to see what Cisco represented to those people: possibilities for a better future.
These examples clearly show that Cisco has always had a strong focus on the changes that its technologies enable.
And this underlines how digital sustainability is part of our corporate DNA‘.
The value of networking
These are the experience and vision that Cisco makes available to the Foundation for Digital Sustainability network, to achieve challenging sustainability goals together. A network full of organisations and companies committed in this field, from which Cisco, Perissinotto explained, wants at the same time to take important elements useful to make its commitment to digital sustainability even broader. “Considering our focus on the subject, I would say that joining the Foundation was an entirely natural decision,” he emphasised: “the Foundation for Digital Sustainability plays an important role as a catalyst for the different points of view of various companies, and that is why we want to be there: because we have a clear vision on the subject, but we recognise that there are also others that we want to know about. But that’s not all: being part of the Foundation is also a great opportunity to realise applications of our technology to sustainability issues, and this is of great interest to us.
