Cisco to Help Channel Partners Evolve and Accelerate

New Initiatives Accelerate Partner Investments in Professional Services, Partner Collaboration and Architectural Capabilities

| Source: Cisco Cisco

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - April 28, 2010) -  Cisco Partner Summit -- As collaboration, virtualization, video and cloud-based services transform the information technology industry, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is helping its channel partners accelerate their growth and evolve. Today at its global partner conference, Cisco announced a series of initiatives designed to help the company's global community of channel partners evolve their business models. The initiatives include a partner incentive program to encourage early engagement with Cisco, a collaborative partner-to-partner sales model to help partners respond to the globalization of business, and the evolution of Cisco specializations from individual technologies to architectures. 

HIGHLIGHTS:

Driving Early Engagement, Promoting Investments in Professional Services

  • As the information technology industry evolves and market transitions fuel a new wave of business transformation, early engagement between Cisco and its channel partners is becoming increasingly critical to meet customer demand for architectural solutions and complex delivery models.

  • Cisco today announced the launch of the Cisco Teaming Incentive Program to encourage early sales engagement and reward them for their investment in consulting and professional services capabilities.

  • Historically Cisco has rewarded Partners who uncovered new opportunities through its Opportunity Incentive Program (OIP).

  • Cisco will determine which partner is entitled to benefit under the Teaming Incentive Program for each customer deal based on a set of objective criteria that includes customer relationship, pre-sales investments, joint account planning, certifications, specializations, and investments in professional and technical services capabilities.

  • Once the most qualified partner is identified, and agrees to team with Cisco, that partner will have the opportunity to benefit from differential discounts in recognition of their investment in the deal.

  • A localized pilot for the last 18 months in Latin America showed that the Teaming Incentive Program helped incentivize partners to make pre-sales and certification investments and promoted better sales teaming.

  • The Teaming Incentive Program will form the fourth pillar in the Cisco's channel partner incentive program, joining the Value Incentive Program (VIP), Opportunity Incentive Program (OIP), and Solutions Incentive Program (SIP). 

Global Partner Network Helps Partners Collaborate to Win Multinational Business

  • Cisco is also introducing the Global Partner Network, a program that enables channel partners to collaborate to better serve multinational customers.

  • Historically, many businesses expanding internationally have engaged in separate transactions with local Cisco resellers in each country of their operations. 

  • Many Cisco channel partners have developed a "trusted adviser" relationship with mutual customers and these customers often prefer their local channel partner to design and deliver technology solutions to meet their global needs.

  • The Global Partner Network provides channel partners with the framework to collaborate on, transact and fulfill global customer business requirements.

    • The Global Partner Network allows a Cisco channel partner to act as a "host" partner in the headquarters location of the customer.

    • To be able to meet the comprehensive needs of a customer in locations where the host partner may not have a local investment, the host partner can establish an "agency" relationship with other qualified Cisco partners and distributors in remote locations.

    • The host partner owns the customer relationship, designs the solution architecture in the headquarters location and has responsibility for the overall transaction from pre- to post-sales.

    • An online portal, the Cisco Commerce Workspace, allows the host partner to manage the global deal, secure Cisco approvals, and manage agents by remote country.

Evolving Toward Architectural Capabilities

  • Cisco announced today that it will evolve its channel partner specializations from technologies to architectures to help channel partners develop integrated practices around borderless networks, collaboration, and data center virtualization.

  • Cisco is also helping train its partners to develop architectural sales capabilities in partnership with its global community of Cisco Learning Partners. These partners are helping create new individual curricula for "Business Architect" and "Technical Architect" designations. This new training will help partners sell consultative services and architectural solutions.

  • Cisco began to accelerate the partner evolution towards architectures a year ago, when it announced its flagship profitability program, Value Incentive Program, would shift from rewarding partners' investments in technologies to selling architectural solutions.

Supporting Quotes:

Keith Goodwin, senior vice president, Worldwide Partner Organization, Cisco:
"The convergence of multiple market transitions, from collaboration and video, to virtualization and cloud-based services, is transforming the Internet and fundamentally changing the way customers acquire and use technology. To capture these growth opportunities Cisco and our partners must provide value in new ways and evolve our business models together."

Edison Peres, senior vice president, Worldwide Partner Organization, Go-To-Market Group, Cisco:
"At every stage of the market and technology evolution, there have been different expectations for our partners. Cisco has responded by evolving our partner program to help partners move along that journey successfully. Today we're building on that tradition with the introduction of new channel initiatives that will help our partners evolve and accelerate with Cisco."

Mark Hilz, president and chief operating officer, INX:
"As the globalization trend continues, customers are increasingly looking to expand their operations into other countries but prefer to work with their local channel partner to deliver technology solutions. Cisco's Global Partner Network provides INX with the ability for us to collaborate with agent partners and conduct seamless transactions as we serve our multinational customers. Through Cisco's Global Partner Network, INX is able to accelerate revenues while promoting greater customer loyalty."

Availability:

  • Implementation of the Teaming Incentive Program will be phased in beginning July 2010 and is planned to be completed by the end of 2010. The Teaming Incentive Program is being piloted in Emerging Markets beginning May 2010. 

  • The Global Partner Network is currently in pilot and general availability is scheduled for Q4 2010.

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Supporting Resources:

Technorati Tags: Cisco, channel partner, channel program, Teaming Incentive Program, Global Partner Network, Cisco Services

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