Speaking to The Financial Express, Cisco Systems vice-president Prem Jain said that Cisco has been following an aggressive acquisition strategy worldwide as part of its growth plan.

He said that the company does not have a specific budget for acquisitions but can fork out from few million dollars to even $100 million, said Jain. "If a company fits our business strategy, we will go for it," Jain added. The companies should either be a hardcore technology company or have strengths in marketing. Cisco has already acquired over 40 companies.Earlier, delivering the key note address at India Internet World '99 on Thursday, Jain said that only adopters can derive the maximum advantage from the Net.

Chalking out the road for Indian businesses to Net-enable their business, Jain suggested a four-pronged strategy. First, businesses have to be more customer-focussed. Two, empower employees. Three, globalise business processes. Four, change should be an integral part of organisational culture and lastly, companies have to move fast.

Jain said that comprehensive customer care would become integral part of success for any business on the Net. Moreover, Indian companies also have to gear up for convergence of business practices.

Jain predicted that Web-based call centres would become a reality in India soon and offer great business opportunities. With a trend towards networks becoming more and more intelligent, the networking business is also undergoing a change. He said that time to market is one the key drivers of change for any business and India too would follow the same route. To keep up with times, it is important for Indian companies to change their mindset and be mentally prepared for change, he added.