Every great success needs the right team. From the moon landing to the latest blockbuster movie, success requires the talents and skills of many people working together with a common goal. At Cisco, we make sure you can build the team you need with our partner ecosystem.
Every part of it — from our online marketplace to face-to-face and virtual events — does its part to help our partners and our own salesforce find, connect, and create the best solutions for the people that really matter: our customers.
No one wins alone
Trends in the tech world mean collaboration is more important than ever. Digital business has grown to the point where no single company can provide all the answers for every customer. Solutions are complex and if you only have part of the answer, how can you continue to deliver solutions for your customers?
The answer? You find ecosystem partners– independent software vendors (ISV), digital solution integrators, solutions partners – who have the specific knowhow required to solve your customer’s problem. And that’s how the Cisco partner ecosystem works. Partners help each other with opportunities, challenges, and solutions. Each provides a part of the answer the customer needs. And in the process, everyone gets to expand their portfolio and supercharge sales.
We get partners together
Cisco helps play matchmaker by doing two things. We help channel partners find the right ecosystem partners to collaborate and create go-to-market (GTM) plans. And we make sure every solution is aligned to or compatible with Cisco’s intent-based networking infrastructure and architectures.
The Cisco Marketplace is the starting place. That’s where customers can find ready-to-go solutions and the associated partners. But where do channel partners find ecosystem partners? The answer is with Cisco connecting events – Ecosystem Exchange, Ecosystem Partner Connections,and Winning Together. These ‘match-making’ events are proven effective at connecting partner types and accelerating joint GTM activities and monetization. Feedback has been extremely positive.
Connecting Events
Ecosystem Exchange: At the recent Partner Summit (PS17) and Partner Xperience at CiscoLive Barcelona, Cisco held the Ecosystem Exchange. Here channel and ecosystem partners meet face-to-face to make new connections. Channel partners get the opportunity to grab 30 minutes of face time with ecosystem partners and pitch ideas, share products-solutions, and bounce around new ways to solve customer challenges. And with more than 70 ecosystem partners participating at PS17, every architecture and every industry from healthcare to hospitality was represented.
Ecosystem Partner Connections: Ecosystem Partners pitch for no more than 8 minutes, using a prescriptive and proven format, on why they are the best go-to-market choice. Channel partners are encouraged to ask questions, and then tell Cisco which partners they are interested in doing joint business. Connection requests are handed off to local Cisco sales team to drive GTM coordination and joint sales planning efforts with all partners.
Winning Together: 1-hour web-based sessions. Cisco and one ecosystem partner go in-depth on technology and joint solutions.Sessions provide channel partner sales teams with the knowledge needed to hold relevant conversations and present the most current material in their customer meetings.Winning Together can help build pipeline and even assist with closing opportunities if channel partners find the solution is something that can help their customer.
What’s next? Join Us!
Cisco has many connecting events planned in 2018.
 |
Visit the Events Calendar to register and attend. CiscoSalesConnect login required. If you do not find a relevant event listed, please reach out to your local Cisco Partner Account Manager (PAM) and request a connecting event in your region.
Coming Soon: Cisco Live Orlando Partner Xperience, June 11-14, 2018 |
Additional Resources
In addition to connecting events, Cisco offers resources to help drive Ecosystem Partner sales motions. Cisco SalesConnect login required.
 |
New Ecosystem Partner Locator —a directory you can use right from your mobile phone or desktop to find and learn more about which Ecosystem Partners can help you sell. Search by vertical, architecture, and where partner is headquartered. Find links to video overviews, websites, and win stories for next steps on opportunities.http://cs.co/epl |
 |
The Partner Sales Acceleration Hub —helps you connect, accelerate and monetize with Ecosystem Partners. Find ecosystem sales best practices, sales accelerators, customer wins, and tools. http://cs.co/Partner-Acceleration |
 |
The Industry Transformation Partner Guide —an enablement roadmap to help drive partner success. It includes a welcome kit, Line of Business VoDs, ecosystem series webinars, Quick Selling Guides and so much more! http://cs.co/customerin |
 |
Customer-in Win Stories —browse examples of win stories involving multiple ecosystem partners working together to tackle customer challenges and deliver new business outcomes. |
CONNECT WITH US