Cisco to focus on SMBs

VINITA BHATIA Las Vegas, April 5

Small and medium businesses (SMB) spell big money. Worldwide,
vendors are falling all over themselves trying to reach out and cater to this
segment to augment their business. Cisco too has been working aggressively on
breaking into more and more SMB accounts for the past four years. And now it has
finally realized that if it wants to really make inroads into this business,
then it needs to acknowledge the efforts of the channel that engages with SMB
customers.

This is precisely why the networking major has introduced a new
facet to its global channel certification program. It has created a new category
of partners called 'Select Certified Partners'. This was announced at the
Cisco Partner Summit 2007 held at Las Vegas from April 3 to 7, 2007. Keeping in
mind that this was Cisco's first new certification in 10 years, it highlights
just how important the SMB channel is to the company.

Cisco had initiated the SMB Select Marketing Program in Germany
in 2004 before taking it global. Currently, Cisco is surveying 2,500 members
globally and trying to enroll them in this new Select Certified partner
category.

	"The idea is not to bring in more partners as much as it is to develop those who are working in the SMB space"
	Michael Allen, Director-Channels Operations, Asia Pacific, Cisco Systems USA

Talking about the new certification, Andrew Sage, Senior
Director-Worldwide Channel Marketing, Cisco Systems noted that enterprises
account for 50 to 65 percent of Cisco's worldwide sales while SMB made up for
the rest. "During our interaction with the channel, we learnt that 90
percent of the local resellers who were not gold or silver partners were
considering investing in a higher level of certification. Cisco represents
almost 15 to 25 percent of their overall business and therefore if we wanted
them to bring in more business, we had to invest in them," he added.

Features of Select Certification

The new 'Select Certification' is being touted as a quick entry point
into Cisco's Channel Partner Program. "Earlier, a lot of our SMB partners
felt that getting Cisco certification was tougher. We decided to make it easier
so that they can get benefits which they can pass to the customers," said
Stuart Hendry, Director-Commercial Segment, Asia Pacific, Cisco Systems USA.

Under the Select Certification program, Cisco will identify from
its 30,000 registered partners to select candidates not on the basis of the
volume of business they transact, but on the value of this business. They will
then be slotted into categories like Gold, Silver and Premier. The key criterion
for partners who will qualify for this program is that they should have SMB
specialization. They should also have technical and sales capability across
routing, switching, security and wireless technologies.

Partners who get the 'Select Certification' will get free
e-learning and partner development funds. "This fund can be used for
training and procuring demo equipment. We will facilitate an online wallet,
which will make it convenient for partners to figure out how much funds they
have in hand, how much they have used and where," explained Sage.

Additionally, partners will also get incentive packages
including Opportunity Incentive Program (OIP) and Value Incentive Program (VIP).

Also Cisco will be extending its Capital program for the new
certification members.

Currently Cisco has 380 SMB partners in APAC and it expects them
to be the early incumbents of the 'Select Certification' program. Over time,
others will join them as the vendor is working hard to have a wider network.
"But the idea is not to bring in more partners as much as it is to develop
those who are working in the SMB space," reiterated Michael Allen, Director-Channels
Operations, Asia Pacific, Cisco Systems USA.

(The author was hosted in Las Vegas by Cisco)