Connectivity in education is key for Bangladesh to step in to the digital era, says a top regional official of Cisco Systems, a leading global supplier of networking equipment and network management. In an exclusive interview with bdnews24.com, Amit Malik, vice president for Eastern India and the SAARC region, said the country needs an 'inclusive growth'-focused objective for going fully digital. It also needs to ensure that the rural areas have the same opportunity as their urban counterparts to access education, he added. Education will open up opportunities for growing in any and every aspect, according to the Cisco official.

On the bottlenecks for a growing IT industry, Malik cited poor bandwidth situation of Bangladesh as the major hurdle along with the slow speed of execution of policies. "Also, customs clearance takes long time...it's the highest in this region actually." He also highlighted the need for a rethink of the regulatory framework to open up more spectrums. "Till last year, IP telephony was a strict no-no, but now it's at least open for closed user groups."

Malik says that IP telephony is now in the centre of interest in the Bangladeshi market. "And the technology uses low bandwidth as well." Clients are asking for IP telephony with video facility to save time for the congested traffic situation of Dhaka, he added. "High-end video might not be possible for now, considering the bandwidth situation." The Bangladeshi market is, however, growing very fast, in fact "much faster than other parts of this region", according to Malik. He said that Cisco's business grew on an average 30 percent year-on-year over the last decade. And potential is huge as the current government is committed towards a building a 'digital Bangladesh' by 2021.

Cisco considers the financial sector of Bangladesh as their key focus. The banking industry has witnessed a drastic change in terms of automation in recent times, said Malik. "We have not only back-end facilities but also solutions for retail and customer experience." Citing an example of virtual adviser, he said that it would provide instant consultation to clients on queries through video conferencing. "The whole thing is now how you woo the customer with a customer experience." Moving on to the networking industry, Malik said that the company has now shifted solution-based approach from a hardware-based one. "People now-a-days are not asking to connect offices rather they are asking how it would improve productivity."

Malik sees video through IP as the future of the industry. There is a growing need of video over the internet and it has a lot of implications. Security is a big area where the industry can really contribute, according to him. Usually, CCTV footages are gone if there is any accidents like fire, earthquake or a terrorist attack. IP surveillance can help to track what happened as the footages would be available outside. "The technology also can send automatic alerts to law enforcers in case of emergency...the cameras even are capable to detect anything unusual; it can distinguish between a gunshot and scooter backfiring," said Malik. He added that different agencies use different frequencies to communicate, which create problems in times of emergency. "But with IP telephony all of the stakeholders could be brought into a common platform leading to faster responses."

-bdnews