Cisco SME chief sees services boom

Vendor's UK and Ireland director of commercial and SME vows to simplify channel schemes to boost services sales

Critchley: it will become much simpler for partners to understand what programme to use for what opportunity

Simplicity is the watchword for Cisco's new UK commercial chief David Critchley as he aims to help VARs explore lucrative managed services revenue streams.

Critchley took on the role of UK and Ireland director of commercial and SME six months ago, having been with the networking giant for 12 years in a variety of positions. He has been tasked with addressing the needs of businesses with between 100 and 1,500 seats.

Sub-100 seat firms are now handled separately, meaning the vendor's commercial arm now covers 20,000 customers, compared with the old SMB unit, which handled 3,000. Critchley revealed 94 per cent of Cisco's UK customers are small businesses and claimed giving them a dedicated focus was important.

"The idea was to build products and solutions specifically for that small business segment," he said.

Echoing what Cisco's UK channel chief Bernadette Wightman said two months ago, Critchley claimed one of his key goals was to make partners' lives simpler. "Simplicity is key," he said. "It will become much simpler for partners to understand what programme to use for what opportunity."

Critchley added that managed services was an important growth area for SME- and mid-market-focused resellers. At its partner summit in Boston in June, Cisco unveiled plans to simplify and expand its Managed Services Channel Programme.

"The bar of entry has been lowered," said Critchley. "We are seeing an increase in managed services, it is a growing market for this segment."

He claimed collaboration technologies, such as WebEx, were starting to gain traction with SMEs. "Selling it as a hosted offering, rather than a capital expenditure, presents a tremendous opportunity to deliver value that is financially compelling in a tough market," he said.

"We are starting to see video conferencing coming into the commercial space, becoming embedded in the supply chain, rather than just being a boardroom technology. This offers a terrific opportunity for skilled VARs.

"The consumerisation of our market means people expect so much more. We also see a demand for wireless technology and anything that enhances that customer experience."

Critchley asserted that SMEs were often more nimble than larger corporate organisations when it comes to investing in new technology. He added: "In Cisco's first forays into IP telephony, a lot of the early adopters were mid-market firms and smaller organisations, rather than larger ones, because they are less locked into their infrastructure."

But he cautioned that, in the current climate, the need to sell kit on its merits was more clearly defined than ever.

"The days of people deploying technology because it is cool or interesting are long gone," he said. "We have to give them compelling business benefits and return on investment."

Critchley concluded that the growth of the managed services market – which Cisco claims stands at 19 per cent annually – has been accelerated by the recession but would continue long after the economy rebounds.

"The economy has just been a driver," he said. "What would have been a much more gradual move to managed services became more compelling."