When a company relies on partners to bring in 80% of its business, it had better make sure of two things: that they are good at what they do and they stay partners.
“Together we lead” is the slogan that Cisco has coined to launch a reinvigorated partner campaign. It seems to mean a reorganisation of the troops to handle all the issues of globalisation and Web 2.0. It also provides a range of apparently new support packages to keep the guys sweet and switched on (http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/svcs/ps3844/serv_category_home.html) – hence the headline above.
Virtual Expert is a new web offering to enable channels to access technical support while Partner Space is a portal where partners can post their own profiles and promotions. As Cisco has found that business opportunities often need skills sets for which a partner is not properly equipped, it has set up Partner Exchange as a sort of clearing house for partners to be brought together on selected projects. An extension or refinement of this concept is Partner Connect where suitable partners are grouped – perhaps around a technology or an account.
All this is designed to keep Cisco’s partner family on message. Cisco also wants to extend its family as it sees a lot of business out there that it may be missing. It is particularly concerned about developing market opportunities where it anticipates biggies.
Globalisation, in the Cisco lexicon, is not about a Western invasion any more. Globalisation is a network that has permeated everywhere.
So it is now piloting its Global Resale Agent Model. (http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2008/hd_110608.html) It has identified 120 global customers that are being supported by 220 partners. It plans to go much further by developing the capability of partners to work in harness. Hence Partner Exchange.
Part of the further roll out will lie with Industry Solution Partner Network. (http://www.ciscoispn.com/en/qa) Within this framework Cisco sees the opportunity for its Certified Resellers to move up a cog as well as bring in new partners entirely.
And how does all this hold up in the today’s economic crisis?
Better than doing nothing, that’s for sure. We think it may have to make some adjustments at the edges – the ‘R’ in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) looks increasingly as though it will be ‘r’ – but overall this appears a well-structured effort to build-out Cisco’s delivery and reach.
In fact if such a dominant and all pervasive delivery structure is maintained, Cisco needs neither the most advanced products nor the cheapest.