Cisco educates partners on the right upscaling model

Realizing the evolution of its channel from mere box pushing to solution providing, Cisco is helping its partners to position themselves correctly in the current scenario. The company is having an ongoing series of engagement meets where it educates partners on how they can develop their company to fit into the right channel category.

At these meets, Cisco helps partners decide for themselves which genres their companies can fit in and then equips them with the requisite skillsets. The first step is to find out the nature of solutions provided by partners. “This is where our Gold partners like Datacraft, Wipro and CMC would fit in, as it involves core or advanced technology deployments,” said Shirish Joshi, VP-Channels, India and SAARC, Cisco Systems. The next level is understanding the partner’s business models and slotting them accordingly. This depends on whether the company is into fulfillment, systems integration or providing a bunch of solutions, which includes Cisco’s offerings. The dominant business defines the company’s core competency and once the vendor maps its partner’s core business skills, it comes up with go-to-market strategies, which will suit the latter best.

Cisco helps these partners chart an annual business plan and then has quarterly reviews of the performance. This helps it point out areas where the partner needs to focus more and also how it can upscale itself. It also determines synergies, which will enable the partner to address new customer verticals.

The reason Cisco is undertaking this education initiative is to move the top tier of its partners into solution-based business. “Here the margins are high, but the investment is relatively higher too. Partners need to be well-certified and have the technical skillsets to cater to their customers. This calls for investment, both from the channel’s and vendor’s end,” Shirish explained.

Shirish Joshi Moving top tier of its partners into solution-based business where margins are high

Talking about certifications, it is quite surprising that only 50-odd partner of Cisco’s 1,500 channel network have gotten themselves certified on the vendor’s technologies. The company has eight Gold and Silver partners and 10 Premier partners. It recently introduced a new tier in the certification grid—the Cisco Premier Select partners. Explained Shirish, “There were 25 certified partners who did not meet the qualifications of a Silver player, but had capabilities better than a Premier partner. So we instituted this new category for these partners.”

The vendor is also strengthening its focus beyond the 100 cities where it has representations through the channel. It has identified locations, which hold good potential and hopes that its channel engagement model will help it plant deep roots in these areas. The company has also started a web-based channel helpline for non-metro cities.

VINITA BHATIA