SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire - February 25, 2008) - Cisco Capital(SM) today launched
per-user-per-day pricing that makes it easy for North American channel
partners to offer their small to medium-sized business (SMB) customers
financing for Cisco® (NASDAQ: CSCO) Unified Communications systems for
roughly the equivalent of a daily newspaper. This new pricing is part of a
series of tools and programs to help Cisco certified resellers demonstrate
the affordability of Cisco Unified Communications systems and to help them
meet customer demands in this burgeoning technology market.
Per-user-per-day pricing is designed to help channel partners overcome any
initial customer cost and budget challenges around Cisco Unified
Communications systems, a suite of voice, data, video solutions and
applications designed to help organizations communicate more effectively.
Financing with Cisco EasyLease, a leasing platform that provides
competitive financing solutions to complement the company's SMB growth
initiatives, allows customers to take advantage of state-of-the-art unified
communications technology with a minimum upfront investment. Cisco
EasyLease is tailored to SMB customers, offering simplified documentation,
expedited credit approvals and low transaction minimums.
"Innovative financing programs that assist customers and channel partners
in navigating the complexities of financing have proved to be highly
effective tools to manage technology transitions," said Joe Pucciarelli,
program director, Technology Financing & Management Strategies, IDC. "New
customer financing options that bridge technology and capital with
tangible, readily understood metrics are an increasingly important strategy
to assist companies in structuring hardware, services and financing
solution sets."
"As budget and price are often concerns for small to medium-sized
businesses, they often mistakenly believe that Cisco Unified Communications
systems are beyond their budget," said Cindy Hamer, AMS.NET private sector
sales manager. "Per-user-per-day pricing and zero percent progress payments
from Cisco Capital are complementary, powerful tools that address those
budgetary concerns. The per-user-per-day pricing gets the attention of even
the most cost-sensitive customers, while progress payments allow us to
provide a competitive financing offer of no interest and deferred payments
during the installation period."
Cisco Capital has also enhanced the grow i.t. partner portal, which
contains Cisco Capital programs, offers, tools, training and collateral to
make it easier for channel partners to create finance quotes, auto-generate
documentation, and understand and take advantage of financing in their
sales cycles. New partner resources include:
-- An updated self-service online commercial quoting tool that allows
partners to generate their own customized per-user-per-day pricing quotes.
-- Co-brandable partner marketing materials on the Cisco Partner Central
website, available via the Campaign Builder and Marketing Acceleration
Planner (MAP), that make it easy to market per-user-per-day pricing to
customers.
-- A series of brief videos on demand (VoDs) on the grow i.t. partner
portal covering financing trends, financing basics, sales strategies, Cisco
Capital offers and partner programs, and partner engagement.
-- An updated Cisco Capital Operations Guide that explains how channel
partners can work most effectively with their customers and Cisco Capital.
For more information about Cisco Capital, per-user-per-day pricing for
unified communications, new training VoDs, zero percent progress payments
and the grow i.t. partner portal, see www.cisco.com/go/ciscocapital.
About Cisco Capital
Cisco Systems Capital Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco
Systems, Inc., specializes in financing networks by providing innovative,
flexible financial programs to Cisco customers and channel partners
worldwide. As part of Cisco's total solution, Cisco Capital helps channel
partners to manage cash flow, grow sales and increase profitability, while
offering attractive, flexible and short-term financing solutions that make
it possible for customers to obtain higher credit lines and longer and more
flexible terms that ultimately help them build stronger and healthier
businesses. For more information, visit www.cisco.com/go/ciscocapital.
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms
how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco
can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to
http://newsroom.cisco.com.
Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Capital, and Cisco Systems are registered
trademarks, service marks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its
affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other
trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective
owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership
relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco
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Contact Information: Press Contact:
Ron Schmidt
Cisco
408 525-6088
ronschm@cisco.com
Analyst Relations Contact:
Ron Davis
Cisco
408 526-8803
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