Cisco rouses partners with call to arms

Bernadette Wightman: We are taking a more aggressive approach to competition in the market

Cisco is urging its partners to get more aggressive in the marketplace as it aims to surge ahead of its vendor rivals.

Cisco’s server-centred Unified Computing System (UCS) portfolio was launched into the channel last month.

Cisco’s UK and Ireland channel director Bernadette Wightman told CRN the vendor would take the fight to rivals in the datacentre space.

“We are going to put some real focus on winning business in this market and growing market share,” she said. “That will bring us into competition with different partners in different ways than before. We are building strategies and programmes to help partners compete in this space.”

Wightman was also unruffled at suggestions that many of Cisco’s top partners have long-standing server relationships with HP or IBM.

"I have always had partners that sell more than Cisco,” she said. “We are taking a much more aggressive approach to competition in the market. We want to be in every opportunity and I want to understand where and why we lose and how we can do better.”

Scott Nursten, managing director of Cisco Gold partner s2s, claimed that his firm “wanted to get involved” in UCS, adding that the technology stacked up well against other server manufacturers.

“But it will be a difficult market for Cisco to penetrate,” he added. “A lot of its partners are in bed with HP and it is a political minefield.”

Richard Eglon, marketing manager at Gold partner Comms-care, welcomed the UCS launch.

"We support Dell, HP, IBM and Sun, so this is a natural step for us,” he said. “Channel partners are enquiring about it. Now it is a case of how people go about adopting the Cisco infrastructure; whether they want a proprietary, one-vendor solution or have several vendors specialised in certain key areas.”

Over the past six months, Cisco has also revamped its sales model in the SME
and mid-market space. Sub-100 seat businesses are now addressed by a dedicated small business unit, while the vendor’s commercial wing now covers companies with between 100 and 1,500 staff.

Wightman claimed the changes would boost Cisco’s standing in the small business market.

“It has a different kind of partner ­ the returns and the margin models are very different ­ so we have given it some true focus and identity,” she said. “[Small business] is a very fragmented market; the key area is simplicity. We need to be agile in that market and bring things out quickly.”