Making Cisco easier to do business with. That is one of the committments the company outlined this year as part of its refinements and evolution. The results in doing so continues, we hope you see it and feel it. That promise shows up in many places across the company including our Services business. Services is one area of any business that is multifaceted, no doubt. At Cisco it’s a differentiated strategy that we bring to the market because of our partner-centric approach. Services provides a huge opporutnity for our partners,we recognize that and it now represents 40-50% of Cisco channel partners business, up from 20 percent just five years ago.
Partners participate in the Services opportunity at every level, from the largest global customers to the local small business. Our partners are the extension our Services arm. And that’s not just “lip Service” --to back it up Cisco is taking the next step forward to further clarify our sales engagement model and drive consistency in the field to continue momentum with absolute clarity. We just published our Services Rules of Engagement to provide our partners with a definitive road map for how to engage with Cisco Services and maximize their Cisco Services investment. Specifically the document does the following:
Defines the partners role in the selling and delivery of Cisco services
Helps partners build a collaborative and predictable field sales and delivery model
Gives partners easy steps to driving accelerated customer adoption of smart services capabilities
Delivers a clear field escalation process should a mishap occur
Describe the sales compensation neutrality strategy
You be the judge as to how this really works, your outside voice and views are a great reality test. Let us know what you hear and how we are doing, we think we are off to a solid start, so let’s engage.
To learn more, click here and check out a blog by Raja Sundaran VP WW Services Partner Organization on the Rules of Engagement that talks more about Cisco’s approach and “tasty” opportunity for our partners.
Hit the video below from Keith Goodwin, SVP WW Partner Organization, and Bob Singleton, SVP WW Services Partner Organization on our Services Go-to-Market model and ways partners will benefit.
While some of us are fortunate enough to have our basic needs covered and can focus on the joys of the holidays, there’s no denying that there are so many others who don’t even have that and could use a little bit of help.
We knew we couldn’t be the only ones who felt passionate about giving back. So, we set out to learn how our partners are giving back this holiday season.
Force 3 Force 3 Vice President of Marketing Krissy Edell Kelley tells us on our Facebook page that they are supporting Toys for Tots, a charity that “delivers, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.
Dimension Data
Got Mo? Mo what? Moustache that is! For the month of Movember (the month formerly known as November) Dimension Data supports a moustache growing charity event that raises funds and awareness for men’s health issues. Check out the Mo Bros of Dimension Data.
Not only have our partners found ways to give back during this holiday season, they also found ways to give back throughout the year. See how our partners gave back this year while having a bit of fun. Read More »
While 2012 will be the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac, in IT 2012 will be the year of the cloud. And not just one big cloud, but many clouds.
This world of many clouds means numerous opportunities for Cisco partners to offer customers, whether it’s building clouds, selling cloud services, or designing and implementing cloud-ready networks.
To help ensure partners have a successful Year of the Cloud, today Cisco is announcing a set of cloud capabilities called CloudVerse to help partners build public, private, and hybrid clouds for customers — bringing together the intelligence of the network, the power of the data center, and the flexibility of cloud applications.
Here’s just one example of a unique offering: Cisco partner Logicalis built a customized hosted cloud solution for its clients. Watch this video to find out how they did it. Keep reading to learn about new CloudVerse services and technologies.
There’s no arguing that cloud usage is on the rise. By the year 2015, 50% of all CIOs expect to operate the majority of their applications and infrastructures via the cloud. And global cloud traffic will increase 12 times to 1.6 zettabytes per year – that is the equivalent of more than four days of business class video for every person on the planet.
Despite this meteoric increase in cloud usage, it’s still common for customers to tiptoe into the realm of cloud or shun it altogether, citinglack of cloud talent, concerns around overall user experience, security risks, and cost as major inhibitors to cloud deployment. That’s where Cisco and our partners come together to provide deep expertise in strategy, planning, design, implementation, and optimization.
What are the specific new technologies and services in CloudVerse? Read More »
The movie industry has the Oscars, the music industry the Grammys, but what about the IT industry? How do we recognize the top performers, the stars, and those behind the scenes making the magic happen? One could argue that CRN’s Top 100 is about as close to a channel award shows as you can get, minus the red carpet designer gowns and tearful acceptance speeches.
This year’s CRN awards are out and we’re happy to report that several Cisco executives were recognized on the Top 100 list:
Rob Lloyd in the category of “Channel Advocates”
Edison Peres in the category of “Channel Sales Leaders”
Keith Goodwin in the category of “Channel Services Leaders”
Chuck Robbins in the category of “Channel Strategists”
John Chambers in the category of “Influential”
The awards were based on nominations from solution providers who rank executives based on a number of criteria: channel influence, effectiveness and visibility, as well as business and sales impact. CRN also factored in channel sales volume, channel investment and resources, channel advocacy and visibility, and performance in UBM Channel research projects with a panel of UBM Channel editors making the final ruling.
Thank you for voting for Cisco in these awards. We’re proud to see that a number of partners made it to the list as well and congratulate the winners.
Of course, what would an award be without an acceptance speech?
It used to be that everyone had to be at the office to work. Phone, desk, computer, email--that was it. We’ve come quite a long way since those days and I personally am thankful. Using WebEx, Jabber, video, and a phone means I can work at home in my sweats on most days. I’m sure you have your own list of reasons that may or may not include a relaxed work-at-home attire.
This week at the Collaboration Summit in Miami, collaboration took a huge leap forward. Unified Communications via Jabber can now happen via a Web plug-in, so customers can use IM, Android, click-to-call and click-to-video from Apple, BlackBerry, Windows, and even Nokia devices.
Not only does collaboration offer great benefits to your own work experience, but these tools are a great way for partners to differentiate, too, by offering a host of integrated solutions and services to customers. And with channel programs, incentives, sales and marketing resources, partners can earn even more profits on the countless ways to customize collaboration solutions.
Plus, the Jabber Software Development Kit means new collaboration-enabled applications. (More details on the Collaboration blog.)
Let’s see, what else happened this week? New versions of WebEx, partners, parties, demos, and Cius ambassadors roaming the halls. Read More »
