A few weeks ago, I got to arrange a meeting of the minds – between Cisco and one of our Master Security and UC Specialized partners, Nexus, to be exact. Given the new Security products and solutions we’ve announced around defending the data center, we thought it’d be a good time to sit down with Nexus and get a partner perspective on what they’re seeing in the market.
We chatted with Waheed Choudhry, President and COO, and Mike Zozaya, Practice Manager of Security, Mobility, and Infrastructure at Nexus to get some insights on what their customers are trying to achieve in the data center and how Cisco Security is helping them get there.
Success can come in many forms. Three very different success stories. Listen to the replay for details.
This week, Partner Velocity (Cisco’s program to help partners’ marketing efforts) held a one-hour webcast to help you get started with social media.
It’s a topic near and dear to my heart, so I led the webcast and provided some guidance for beginners and more advanced practitioners, tips, and tricks to help launch a social media presence.
If you couldn’t make it, don’t worry as there’s a replay available. Be sure to listen to this replay and attend the next two webinars in the series: you’ll be entered to win a US$2500 marketing consultation.
Head to the Partner Velocity site for details, and to register for the next two sessions (Social Media for Events and Creating an Integrated Campaign).
Here’s a quick recap of the topics covered in this week’s session “Building a Successful Social Media Program”:
How to develop a listening strategy
How to define and segment your audience (and create content for each persona)
Tips and tricks for engaging with your audience
Ways to design a measurement/metrics plan
And finally, some key takeaways and next steps
Keep reading for my seven questions to ask before launching your own social media program.
Every day, more partners are flocking to the Cisco Partner Communities. Why? Well, the communities are staffed with knowledgeable and friendly Cisco community managers who can help answer your most challenging technology questions, give you details on Cisco programs, and keep you informed.
Yep. The information you need is right there for the taking. If that’s not enough, you can visit the extensive documents library to download the information or presentation you need.
We’ve also cleaned up things a bit, too. If you haven’t visited the communities yet, or haven’t been by in awhile, we’ve made it easier to navigate, been straightening up and streamlining over the past few months, based on feedback from partner users.
Come take a quick look:
Check out some of the popular and informative topics. Read More »
It’s a fact that Cisco combined with our partners form the largest collection of networking experts in the world.
We value your relationship with us, and as we have demonstrated to you with our Cisco Partner Value Proposition, your profitability is very important to us. It’s our goal to support and reward your efforts and talents around key industry trends.
Cisco has invested more than $1 billion (US) in partners through VIP (Value Incentive Program), a popular program designed to increase your overall profitability, technology architecture growth, and operating profits.
VIP enables Cisco Specialized and Authorized Technology Partners (ATP) to earn even more margin and profit for investing in and focusing business practices on four key Cisco architectures or tracks: Collaboration, Borderless Networks, Data Center, and now, Express.
What’s new with VIP 20? Curious about how you can get rewarded for earning a profit?
The year 2013 marks the 10th anniversary and 20th consecutive period of VIP with VIP 20! We’ve just made some key program updates to VIP 20, too, all designed to streamline your path to profit, including:
Integrating Express as a track in the VIP 20 program. This will make it even easier for our SMB and Commercial segment focused partners to take advantage of Cisco’s flagship profitability program.
As in prior VIP periods, the Product SKU lists are updated to ensure we are rewarding partners for selling the most current solutions – please see the VIP Playbook for more details.
Plus, we have fine-tuned the rules around program enrollment, payment cycles, and order processing.
To take advantage, just enroll in our ever-popular Value Incentive Program (VIP 20)—from July 29 through September 7, 2012. All partners must enroll to take advantage of the program.
Ready to take advantage of VIP 20? Go to the Partner Program Enrollment (PPE) Tool to enroll anytime between July 29 and September 7, 2012. VIP 20 eligible SKUs will be available on August 3. Once you’re on the VIP 20 site, be sure to utilize the product matrixes in the VIP Partner Playbook to maximize your VIP payments. And don’t forget, all partners including Express, must enroll for VIP 20 to take advantage of the program.
Don’t miss our handy VIP 20 infographic for a quick snapshot of the program, key updates, and enrollment information. Read More »
Want to work globally—without setting up shop around the world? Today, you can do just that by joining the Cisco Global Partner Network (GPN). This forward-thinking program provides partners with access to global commerce capabilities. This means that you can more easily meet the global needs of your customers.
Here’s how it works. The GPN framework follows a five-step deal management process, which enables you, the “host” partner, to collaborate with “agent” local partners to deliver globally coordinated solutions to your customers.
To accomplish this, partners simply need to establish an agency relationship with other qualified Cisco partners and distributors (who are also enrolled in GPN) outside of your territory. You maintain ownership of the relationship with your customer and completely manage the global deal using Cisco Commerce Workspace. It’s a win-win situation for all parties, and here’s why you should get involved. Read More »
