Cisco adds partner incentives in new SMB push

Cisco has unveiled a number of partner investments as it looks to pursue more small and medium businesses, in addition to other initiatives.

The networking vendor has added a performance incentive to reward partners that focus on SMB customers (“Perform Plus”); a redesigned cloud and managed service program to address MSPs that sell to small businesses (“CMSP Express”); training and joint-selling initiatives; and more streamlined deal registration for smaller deals.

Perform Plus, which will launch in Cisco’s fiscal Q3 of FY20 (February to April), gives eligible partners a quarterly cash rebate. Cisco says the incentive would also benefit partners that “demonstrate targeted growth behaviors” but are not able to capitalise on other incentives.

The investments are part of the Cisco Designed for Business brand, which also includes a curated list of SMB-specific products, dedicated Cisco support and a multi-year “awareness campaign”.

“The pace of change and transformation is phenomenal. Businesses of all sizes are struggling to stay relevant, compete for customers, and manage efficiencies,” Cisco global head of small business Marc Monday said.

“Cisco’s goal is to give small businesses access to the same best in class technology capabilities as our enterprise customers, but also balancing with simplicity and usability so the customer can focus on what matters most, growing their business.”

Also launching is the Cisco Virtual Demand Center (VDC), which the vendor said supports SMBs by generating and satisfying the demand generated by Cisco marketing activities with a low or no-touch sales motion.

Cisco said VDC gives partners actionable opportunities that are ready to engage, so customers get faster response times.

Nico Arboleda travelled to the Cisco Partner Summit at Las Vegas as a guest of Cisco.