Q&A: Cisco UK partner chief Angela Whitty

Fresh from Cisco's Partner Summit in San Francisco earlier this month, CRN catches up with the vendor's UK partner boss Angela Whitty

Cisco held its second partner conference of the year in San Francisco earlier this month, outlining its strategy for the year ahead. Security was a key theme as the firm works hard to be viewed as a security expert. The vendor talked up the importance of digital marketing and also reaffirmed its commitment to the channel.

Just a few weeks on from the gathering, CRN caught up with Cisco's UK partner boss Angela Whitty (pictured) to get the UK partner perspective on the strategy.

What do you think were the most important messages for UK partners at this month's Partner Summit?

The simplification piece – at a corporate and local level – has really driven a bit of a digital revolution internally. If we can simplify how easy we are to do business with, that's got to be a good thing. If you link the simplification and alignment piece and look at some of the things we're doing internally, it makes us easier to do business with.

How are you making life easier for partners?

With our ordering system, you can now do not only product order entry, but the whole services renewal piece. We talk about software as being the growth engine. What we're trying to do is increase the adoption of software and taking it from a transactional to a recurring revenue so we drive profitability through our partner base.

The Sales Connect platform – the tool all our salespeople use for training, presentations and so on – has been opened up to partners as well so you get consistency. Having our sales conference and then Partner Summit, and then the alignment of the tools and information – what you get is a nice seamless view of the messaging and strategy. It makes sense because partners are an extension of our sales organisation anyway.

We're also opening up our Marketing Connect tool so partners get the same templates for doing lead generation. We're trying to simplify our engagement; if we look at the alignment piece, some of it is making sure we understand the strategic priorities of our partners and bring the best of Cisco to them. But also we look at how the market is evolving. We've been traditionally a resale business but more and more we're seeing our resale partners wanting to diversify and we see more multi-partner engagements. You see an SI working with an ISV to come up with a solution. We're doing more in the IT service provider space too.

You mentioned multi-partner engagements – this is a trend a lot of other vendors are talking about. Are you actively encouraging partners to work with fellow partners? In which areas is this most beneficial?

You might have a big SI which might have invested in a big datacentre and a small partner that wants to provide datacentre services, but might not necessarily have the funds itself to invest. One of the things I certainly get asked is how we [at Cisco] can be part of that – not just supporting it, but sponsoring it and being that conduit and introducing people.

We do see that happening and it's working well. Partner Summit is a great place where that dialogue goes ahead, and the Partner Forum, that went ahead last week in Brighton. You see different partners meeting up and having those conversations. I think what they introduced at Partner Summit two years ago – having the ecosystem partners there – has been really successful.

It sounds like a simple enough concept to team up with another partner who specialises in an area in which you are lacking, but on a practical basis, how does it work? Surely a lot of trust is involved and this can take a long time to build up?

It's always a challenge if you don't have those relationships, but the UK partner community, in my 18 months of experience, seems to be a very tight-knit community. So I think a lot of those relationships are already there. And as those different organisations expand, I think they see how they can do things together. We also have – and you see it at Partner Summit and Partner Forum – is the other partners on the edge of our ecosystem, like training partners and partners who offer value-added services; they help to bring those partners together too.

The Internet of Things (IoT) was a key theme at Partner Summit, and some partners, such as Logicalis for example, seem to be making progress in this area. Is this opportunity something for the whole channel?

It's a difficult one because IoT means something different to everyone. For some it is a fundamental part of their business and for others, like Logicalis, it is a growing part of their business. There really isn't one answer. I think the digitisation story is driving people to think about it. It's a case of watch this space. Everyone will have a story and some are very clear about what it is today, and for others we need to help them on that journey.

This year has seen a lot of consolidation in the distribution market. What do you make of it all, and what impact does it have on the Cisco channel?

[Consolidation] is always going on and the days of distribution being a fulfilment arm are long gone. We have seen consolidation of Tech Data and Avnet – really good distribution partners who are looking to add that value into their partner base. There is a lot we can do to mentor and to on-board them and bring up through the ranks the next level of partners. How do we help them? There is an emphasis on how do we [as vendors] help distribution. I know they are always thinking about how they add the next level of value, in technical support or the service offerings.

What's on the cards for the next calendar year at Cisco? Will there be a lot of change, or more of the same?

There's nothing fundamental because nothing is a short-term [change]. Going from 30 years of resale to the next generation of go-to-market is not going to be something which happens overnight. It is going to be an evolution over the next three to five years. It's interesting: I was talking to a guy in my team who has been in the Cisco partner organisation for a long time and we were planning for Partner Forum. He pulled out a presentation from 2009 and a lot of the trends seen then are similar to what we're seeing now. It's a change that's going to go on and we will continue to invest so we can cover more partners. That's fundamental. It's about helping our partners to grow and develop.

Cisco talks a lot about IoT and how fast the industry is changing, and how partners must move quickly to keep up. But what about traditional Cisco partners – are there many of those who don't want to move on? Are they still important to you?

There may be some, but every business wants to evolve. To make it clear, that resale business is absolutely core and important to Cisco and we will continue to maintain that. We will have a job to do. If partners want to stay there, that's fine because there will always be a business there. But I think it's the partners who want to evolve and develop that we need to help.