Bernadette Wightman
UK and Ireland channel director, Cisco
Career so far I joined Cisco in August 1999, as a channel account manager. Since then I've held numerous senior roles, including looking after the IT services channels in the UK where I managed our IBM & HP partnerships and our outsourcer relationships with Accenture, EDS, CSC and Cap Gemini. I also led the Cisco team into BT Global Services and headed up the combined BT Channel team from Cisco. Prior to taking on Cisco's channel division in the UK & Ireland, I was responsible for the creation and development of our UK&I SME business.
Do you care about green IT? Yes, and everyone should! In all of its activities, Cisco strives to be a good carbon citizen. With an eco-board devoted exclusively to environmental issues, a carbon strategy that goes beyond mere compliance wherever possible and a range of programmes designed to help partners manage their own carbon issues we are making a real, measurable difference. Cisco's own technology is a big part of this story. TelePresence and web-based collaboration, in particular, have had a truly dramatic impact on our own business, significantly reducing our carbon footprint and saving hundreds of millions of dollars in travel costs at the same time.
If you could be in a rock/pop band, which one would it be and who would you be? Blondie, Debbie Harry.
What is the best corporate jolly you have ever been on/taken partners on? The event that springs to mind was actually a charity ball we ran last year for Red Nose Day. Where, along with a Cisco Partner, we jointly bid for the service of two Cisco vice presidents to cook dinner and do the garden!
Has 2009 been as bad as everyone said it would be? 2009 was a tough year and we'll see ongoing readjustment and transformation across our industry. However, change can be very positive; I'm seeing some of our partners transition to new business models and reinventing themselves to provide a more consultative model taking on board the new world of virtualised, on demand resources, software as services and unifed communications.
Have any of your predictions come true this year? I was a very early adopter in Cisco of the Flip camera, which was an acquisition we made early this year. I recognised that video was going to play a very important role in the way we communicate both internally and externally and the Flip gave me an easy way to do that. I now use it daily to capture my thoughts and share experiences with the team.
What do you see as the channel's biggest challenge in 2010? Profitability is absolutely key to our channel partners. My role is to ensure that Cisco, while serving the end users, supports its partners, helping them to remain profitable and ensuring that they continue to feel motivated to work with Cisco.
What is the best part of your day? I'm an early riser, so as I drive to appointments, first thing in the morning.