Cisco To Take Partners To Next level With TIP

The company has launched the Teaming Incentive Program and Global Partner
Network, reflecting the changing complexion of the business where borderless
networks is the key

Write the rules. Own the game.' That was the theme of the Cisco Partner
Summit 2010 in San Francisco, which incidentally is also Cisco's hometown. With
over 1,500 of the company's global partners in attendance at this four-day
summit (April 26-29) and many times more joining the Summit virtually, the mood
was certainly upbeat when the company communicated its roadmap for FY 2011.
“Competition is good. It makes us better,” said Keith Goodwin, Senior
VP-Worldwide Partner Organization, Cisco, in his opening address. He was making
a light-hearted reference to IT major HP. Both the companies scheduled their
partner conference on the same dates, forcing partners to choose one in a show
of loyalty. In what possibly is a sign of aggressive market positioning the
company reiterated its commitment to Cisco partners exhorting them to take the
flight to success with them.

Bold moves are required to come out of the hit delivered by global recession
and to capture growth. And in terms of strategy it was all there: Right from
technology forecast to partner rebates. Cisco is betting on 'the network as the
platform'. Goodwin in his opening address outlined the market transitions that
the industry is going through and how one can ride on these transitions.
Borderless networks—collaboration, virtualization, video and cloud-based
services are transforming the information technology. The company announced a
series of initiatives that will help channel partners evolve their business
models to align with these transitions.

Cisco is well positioned for the future. Its Chairman & CEO John Chambers has set the agenda. The “network is the platform” and on this platform the company will deliver solutions that will transform the way we live, work and play. Reiterating Cisco's vision, strategy and the execution roadmap Chambers emphasized on the company's commitment to its channel partners and the clear focus on direction that the company is taking. In an interaction with media on the sidelines of Cisco annual Partner Summit 2010 in San Francisco, Chambers talked about the company's move from command and control to collaboration and teamwork and how it has been executed over the last decade, particularly in the last five years. Chambers determined to keep Cisco ahead of the curve It is this “dynamic network organizational structure” that is at the core of Cisco products and services rollout for global markets and will be a key differentiator. “The dynamic network organization is the one which realigns itself in response to market need,” explained Chambers talking about the structure which has operational excellence as its foundation and allows an easy flow of creativity and innovation-which again is reflected in its product portfolio and positioning. Committed to staying ahead of the market transitions in terms of forecasting and preparing for riding the market transitions, now and in the future, Cisco itself has transformed into a collaborative company in the past decade. Consciously driven by John Chambers this transformation has seamlessly integrated Cisco operations, which is amply reflected in its current play in over 30 market adjacencies. According to Chambers, tracking competition is the way to keep the score. However, to stay ahead the company focuses its energy on business architecture, technical architecture, acquisitions, new markets, strategic partnering, operational excellence and innovation and not the competition. According to Chambers the competition is nowhere near Cisco to cause any kind of dent and he is determined to keep it that way by keeping the organization, flexible, scalable and agile. Just like the solutions Cisco provides. The company is number one in the product categories it is present in. Chambers currently has one point agenda. Capture the imagination of its customers-primarily the CEOs and the government leaders. Going through a tough last year has brought in resilience in Cisco and has actually upped the confidence levels. The story that numbers tell is still two weeks away. The company's Q3 results for FY2010 will be announced on May 12, 2010.

Essentially, the company emphasized its partner-centric philosophy and focus
on encouraging early partner engagement and Cisco specializations built around
the network platform and its complex delivery models.

To create its market differentiator, Cisco will focus on identifying 500
transformation accounts along with its partners. These will be the
early-adopters, businesses with complex requirements fulfilled by building
solutions on top of network platform. To move ahead in this direction Cisco has
announced a number of initiatives for its channel partners.

Accelerating partner growth

For its channel partners Cisco launched the Teaming Incentive Program (TIP).
Edison Peres, Senior VP-Worldwide Partner Organization Go-to-Market Group,
Cisco, called it the 'fourth pillar' of their incentive program line-up which
includes Value Incentive Program (VIP), Opportunity Incentive Program (OIP) and
Solutions Incentive Program (SIP). He elaborated that TIP is to encourage early
sales engagement and reward partner investment in consulting and professional
service capabilities. The way it works is: after the partner is identified and
qualified by Cisco and s/he agrees to team with Cisco. The reward will be in the
form of differential discounts in recognition of their investment in the deal. A
TIP pilot has been running since last 18 months in Latin America and has been
successful in incentivizing the partners to make pre-sales and certification
investments, effectively promoting better sales teaming. Implementation of TIP
will be done in phases beginning July 2010 and is likely to be through by
December 2010.

(nanditas@cybermedia.co.in)

The author was hosted in San Francisco by Cisco