Partner Summit 2010 was a week of non-stop action, from live video chats to keynotes from Chairman and CEO John Chambers and CTO Padmasree Warrior, as well as a surprise guest speaker who shared secrets for success. As we continue our post-event coverage, one of the most important highlights is the Global Awards Celebration, where the top global and theater channel partners are feted. This year’s honorees formed a diverse group that included ECCOM, the Collaboration Partner of the Year, and D&H Distributing, the Global Distribution Partner of the Year.
In between bites of hors d’oeuvres, we caught up with some of the winners. We asked them to reflect on what it means to win the award and how they are integrating some of the themes of Partner Summit: collaboration, virtualization, and Borderless Networks.
What’s the secret for success? Speaker and best-selling author Jason Jennings has studied more than 120,000 companies from around the globe that have successfully reinvented and transformed themselves. He spoke at this year’s Partner Summit, sharing ways that these top companies think, do business, and truly own the game.
Jason identified the six most successful and productive companies in the world: IKEA, Smuckers, Staples, Koch Industries, Nucor Steel, and H&M. These companies, in his eyes, have the best growth track records and have created the greatest amount of economic value. Using their stories as a backdrop, Jason pinpointed the five rules that successful companies follow to own the game:
Our minds were buzzing with all of the ideas we took home from Partner Summit 2010 last week, and one of the key themes we kept returning to was this year’s theme: “Write the Rules, Own the Game.” As Keith Goodwin, SVP of WW Partners explained, partners can write the rules for new market transitions, and own the game by competing using these new rules, rather than being controlled by rules of the market.
One of the other big points that kept coming up during both keynote sessions and networking events was the importance of video: From CEO John Chambers to CTO Padmasree Warrior, partners heard about how video is a “killer app” that will transform the way we do business.
Now you have a chance put those ideas together: Create a short video that looks at what “Write the Rules, Own the Game” means to you, and head over to the Channels Buzz community enter it in our video contest, which is open to all Cisco Registered partners. Every contest has a winner, and this one’s no different: The top prize is a US$1000 gift card.
All entries are due by May 14, so get those cameras rolling. More details…
Cisco Partner Summit 2010 came to a close last Thursday with Chairman and CEO John Chambers taking a retrospective look — what a difference a year makes! The landscape in June for Cisco Partner Summit 2009 was drastically different.
John kicked off the keynote by offering encouragement to partners, thanking them for their continued support, and for helping Cisco deliver innovative solutions to customers. From borderless networks, to new business models, to the push into 30-plus market adjacencies, it was clear that partners are integral to Cisco’s strategy
Video and networked collaboration are key and growth for both is based on the network as the platform. What will the enterprise of the future look like? The enterprise of the future will have a culture of change, driven by market transitions, and will have the network as the foundation.
To demonstrate the importance of video and the role is will play with networked devices, John walked through a retail collaboration example with Jim Grubb, Cisco’s Chief Demonstration Officer, using Cisco Quad collaboration software (the social networking platform), TelePresence, WebEx and a host of approximately 10 other solutions designed to change the way we collaborate and communicate.
Video, the network, and the next generation of the Internet: Those were the themes speakers covered at Wednesday’s Partner Summit general session. Padmasree Warrior, Cisco’s CTO, started things off by talking about how video will be central to business deals, communication, and interactions.
She also remarked that the Internet is expanding from a superhighway to a platform that is transforming industries, and noted that the network will play a significant role in enabling business transformation globally. In Padma’s view, IT will also help drive economic growth and new business models.
Padma then cued up a demo of TelePresence and showed how, in the future, you can visit the DMV from your living room. Padma concluded by telling partners that the “combination of innovation and operational excellence is how we will reach new heights.
Next up, Tony Bates--SVP and GM of Enterprise, Commercial and Small Business--echoed three themes:
Goodwin, SVP of WW Partners explained, partners can write the rules for new market transitions, and own the game by competing using these new rules, rather than being controlled by rules of the market.