Vijayendra Dhanakshirur

About Vijayendra Dhanakshirur

I bring close to 25 years of experience across Product Management, Pre-Sales, Business Development, and Technical Consulting, with a strong track record of driving business outcomes and contributing significantly to sales growth. My background combines hands-on sales and techno-commercial expertise with a clear understanding of customer needs and commercial dynamics, enabling me to deliver solutions that are both innovative and impactful.Over the years, I’ve partnered with a wide spectrum of customers — from Service Providers, Smart Cities, and Enterprises to SMBs — across Banking, Public Sector, Commercial, and Telecom sectors. I have held both global and regional roles covering APJC and the Middle East, and my extensive travel has provided valuable insight into diverse customer needs, cultural nuances, and shifting market landscapes.In my current role as Lead Product Manager at Cisco, I focus on delivering AI-powered, user-centric experiences for a flagship product. I operate at the intersection of product strategy, innovation, customer success, and go-to-market execution, collaborating across functions to build next-generation capabilities.Committed to continuous growth, I’ve enhanced my professional foundation with certifications in Data Science Business Management (Cornell Executive Learning), Design Thinking, IoT (Microsoft), Cloud Platforms (GCP & Azure), and AI.Outside of work, I stay energized through hiking, high-altitude trekking, and sports — activities that keep me focused and disciplined, qualities I bring into my professional life to consistently deliver results and drive progress.

Experience

1. Product Manager Contact Center

   Cisco

   Jul 2020 — Present · Bengaluru, IN

   Senior Product Manager for Cisco Contact Center Enterprise, product strategy and roadmap, AI-powered innovation, product strategy, and roadmap execution. I lead cross-functional efforts to deliver scalable CCAI features, enable global sales, and align customer insights with business goals—ensuring competitive positioning and impactful product delivery.Responsibilities include:• Shaping Product Strategy: Lead strategic planning for product roadmap by aligning market trends, customer insights, and competitive analysis with business goals.• AI-Driven Innovation: Define and evaluate CCAI features to enhance agent productivity, streamline workflows, and improve SLA adherence.• Product Delivery & Roadmap: Collaborate with release engineering, UX, and partner teams to deliver scalable product releases and roadmap visibility.• Business & Sales Enablement: Partner with sales and business units to generate pipeline, support customer engagements, and enable global sales teams through training programs, assets, and workshops.• Customer & Market Engagement: Actively engage with customers—from global service providers to enterprises—to understand needs, validate features, and shape roadmap direction.• Voice of the Customer: Translate customer feedback and use cases into Product Requirements Documents (PRDs) and actionable development priorities.• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with marketing, engineering, support, and GTM teams to ensure cohesive product delivery and positioning.• Thought Leadership: Contribute to competitive marketing campaigns, launch content, presentations, and digital assets (e.g, videos, podcasts, blogs).

Education

• Kendriya Vidyalaya

  High School

• Karnataka University, Dharwad

  Bachelor's degree, Physica, Mathematics, Statistics

  1996 — 1999

• International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore

  Post Graduate Certificate in Data Science, Data Science and Analytics

Skills

• Cloud Computing
• Management
• Pre-Sales
• Cisco Technologies
• Software Installation
• Unified Communications
• Solution Architecture
• Data Center