Cisco skills up VARs to grow market share
Networking titan ponders a more high-touch model to boost sales of new technologies
Territorial army: Cisco's commercial partners are now divided along territory lines
Cisco has stressed its commitment to a “partner-led” sales model, but admitted it may need to become more hands-on after arriving “too late” for some sales opportunities.
Over the last year, the networking titan has revamped its sales model for 100- to 1,500-seat firms. A territory-based channel management model was introduced last summer, and the vendor has since iterated its desire to let partners set the agenda.
Cisco’s UK director of commercial and SME David Critchley, claimed the model has been a success, with the unit expecting a double-digit sales spike this quarter. But he admitted Cisco is “looking at how we evolve deploying field resources to make sure [partners] get involved in the right opportunities at the right time”.
“If we are waiting for inbound requests from partners, we can miss opportunities or come too late, at the end of the sales cycle,” he explained.
“This is generally around the new technologies. We still want to be partner-led, but it is about striking that balance. Part of this is bringing the partner up to speed.”