Cisco's SME drive suffers setback following management departure
Nwtworking giant sees business development manager leave
Cisco’s assault on the SME market suffered a blow last week following the departure of business development manager Neil Moulton after just four months in the role.
The networking giant recruited Moulton from rival Siemens Communications to spearhead the vendor’s SME channel charge at the beginning of the year (CRN, 23 January).
Moulton told CRN at the time: “I’m here because Cisco is putting such an emphasis on the SME market. I know what makes the SME partner community tick. There will be some changes in the coming months to the routes that Cisco uses to get to market.”
John Donovan, managing director of channels at Cisco UK and Ireland, said: “We can confirm that Neil Moulton is no longer working for Cisco.”
Mark O’Hara, managing director of Cisco reseller Hydra, said: “It is common for people to leave IT firms. It happens in all workforces because sometimes things just don’t work out, although with some large firms it seems like changes for changes’ sake.”
O’Hara added that he would like to see the appointment of a new Cisco representative who was willing to engage with smaller resellers.
Keith Humphreys, managing consultant of research firm EuroLAN, said: “Moulton covered business development for Cisco advanced technologies, such as wireless, voice and security.
“This is Cisco’s style: it will recruit three people, with the expectation of keeping two. Cisco is a pretty driven company.”
Moulton was unavailable for comment.
Separately, Tim Ager, security vendor sales director at distributor InTechnology, has left the company. He will take up the post of channel director for EMEA at security vendor Celestix this week. He has been replaced by Andrew Beaumont.
“It is time to move on,” Ager said. “I have been at InTechnology for more than three years, and it is time to move. This step into ‘vendor land’ will give me the ability to make policy and set strategy. It is just a natural progression.”
Peter Wilkinson, chief executive of InTechnology, was unconcerned about the departure.
“Staff come and go in every business; it is no big deal. I am sure Tim will do well in his new role,” he said.
Additional reporting by Sara Yirrell.