New Cisco SMB chief eyes recruitment drive

Incoming small business head Andy Brocklehurst looks for 200-plus new partners

Cisco's new UK small business chief has outlined plans to go on a recruitment drive as part of the vendor's quest to make a bigger splash in the lower-end market.

Andy Brocklehurst is taking over from incumbent UK and Ireland head of small business and distribution Gordon Mackintosh, who is moving to a new role in the US. The incoming SMB leader told ChannelWeb he has been tasked with bringing adding more than 200 partners.

Cisco aims to take market share from traditional market leaders such as Panasonic, Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent and Samsung in the small business segment. Brocklehurst claimed building awareness of Cisco's SMB-tailored technologies was key.

"Our primary challenge is that, from an end user perspective, there is a perception that we are a premium brand and we want to try and break that perception," he explained. "Partner interest in us is more than ever. [In a lot of cases], where they have dual vendors, they are looking to replace their second partner with us."

The vendor's recruitment drive has been given a boost by the recently unveiled partnership with Micro Peripherals. The distributor was signed specificially to focus on the SMB sector and Brocklehurst revealed 88 per cent of business transacted so far has been with new reseller recruits.