It has been two years since Cisco launched its new partner-led GTM, and Pramodh Menon, MD, Partner Business Group, has done a good job of executing this strategy on the ground in India.
Under Menon’s leadership, Cisco’s channel GTM has seen a significant increase in market coverage; its active partner base also rose from 1,400 to 2,700. As a result, the contribution of SMBs to its business has grown from 15 percent to 30.
Remarks Gunjana Shah, Director, Insight Business Machines, Mumbai, “Menon took up the channel responsibility at a time when the market was slowing down. Cisco is no longer the company it was three years back when its focus was only routers and switches. Its portfolio and addressable market have increased significantly since then. Considering this, Menon has done a good job.”
Cisco’s collaboration and unified computing business hasn’t grown as per expectations, and it still hasn’t been able to gain traction for its server business
Partners say that the company has one of the best SMB programs in the country. “Cisco has created a fabulous white space in the SMB and mid-market, and is going all-out to enable partners to tap these opportunities. Besides, some of its initiatives are motivating partners to build new specializations,” adds Shah.
Still, going forward, a lot needs to be done by Menon and his team. Competition for Cisco is getting intense in its networking business, with HP, Juniper and Huwaei getting aggressive.
“Both HP and Juniper have been extremely active over the past 12 months. They are enrolling and enabling partners, and providing support and benefits which are better than what Cisco is currently offering. Cisco needs to watch out,” cautions Prarthana Gupta, CEO, Cache Technologies.
What’s more, Cisco’s collaboration and unified computing business hasn’t grown as per expectations, and it still hasn’t been able to gain traction for its server business. On the collaboration front the company has only recently started working on a channel strategy
for its Tandberg range of products which is targeted at SMBs.