Partners welcome Cisco management shake-up

Cisco’s decision to kick off its next financial year with a revamped UK management line-up has been welcomed by its top partners.

As revealed by CRN Online, Phil Smith will replace Duncan Mitchell as Cisco’s UK and Ireland managing director on 1 August. Smith currently holds a European role as Cisco’s vice president of technology and corporate marketing.

John Donovan will vacate the UK and Ireland channel managing director role after five and a half years, with current SMB head Bernadette Wightman rumoured to be taking on a wider channel remit.

Mitchell will take up a post in Cisco’s Emerging Markets business while Donovan will head the enterprise and mid-market team.

Scott Nursten, managing director of Cisco Gold partner s2s, welcomed Smith’s appointment: “I come from a technical background and I believe that people at the top of technical organisations should understand technology, so I see this as a really positive move.”

Paul Renucci, managing director of Affiniti, said: “I am quite excited about Phil stepping in because he has such a strong technical background. He will look to establish relationships with key partners that have the capabilities to really exploit technology.”

Meanwhile, Cisco is firing up its Web 3.0 engine across Europe. The UK-centric Cisco 3.0 organisation set up last year under the leadership of Nick Watson will now move into the wider European market, the vendor confirmed.

Tom Kelly, UK managing director of Logicalis, said: “Cisco is trying to give Web 3.0 a wider focus across the whole of Europe and has asked Nick to put it across to partners and customers following a pilot in the UK.

“Web 3.0 is where IP telephony and unified communications were in 1999. The concept of Web 3.0 is where people need to be but I believe it is limited to a small number of partners with in-depth knowledge to react to it and drive it forward.”