Cisco ups support for Aussie partner services

Cisco is stepping up its efforts to help partners derive even more revenue from services as the cloud and mobility demand new approaches to customer engagement.

Speaking yesterday at Cisco’s APJC Partner-Led conference in Bangkok, the vendor's APJC head of services Bo Kwang Suh outlined his vision of a ‘multi-billion dollar services egg”.

Suh said he expected the 'egg' grow exponentially over the next few years as customers spend more money on consultation sales while also seeking more services around things like system optimisation and health checks.

“There is a great opportunity to rethink and reposition our services play," Suh said.

Around 40 percent of Cisco's partner revenues come from services, but account for 60 percent of their profits.

Earlier this year Cisco consolidated some 50 services programs under the one umbrella named CSPP (Cisco services partner program), the biggest ever change to the company’s services strategy.

Suh said the program has seen widespread adoption amongst Cisco’s partners, especially in APJC.

CSPP already has 7100 partners signed up throughout Asia and India. More than 500 have earned around $17 million in rebates, with Cisco setting a target of $100 million in rebates by 2014.

New ideas

Suh stressed the importance of partners getting creative and bringing new ideas to the services table, particularly as new technology “mega” trends such as the cloud and mobility continue to challenge traditional approaches.

“Today’s services models may not survive the next three to five years," he said.

CSPP is especially focussed on helping Cisco partners chase the so-called commercial market; the small to mid-range space the vendor boasts is 100 percent partner-led.

As organisations in this band deploy more sophisticated solutions their reliance on partners to act as trusted advisors will be bigger than ever, Suh said.

He added that Cisco services such as the ‘smart care’ program, designed to help partners deliver better network monitoring and troubleshooting to customers, continues to evolve and now boasts new capabilities around things like better device and software management, disaster recovery, remote monitoring assessments as well as data analytics.

Suh also stressed the value of Cisco’s CPS (collaborative professional services) training resources, which he said is stacked with no less than 300 service menus.

During his keynote address, Cisco APJC boss Jaime Valles said services are key to profitability and a vital weapon against the company’s competitors.

“Services are the main source of profitability for you [Cisco partners] and for us.”

He noted the opportunities were especially exciting in the APJC market which he said is on track to be the biggest growth engine of the global economy.

By 2020, Valles said APJC would account for 46 percent of the world’s GDP, have 60 percent of the world’s high speed broadband connections and 54 percent of all mobile phone subscribers.

He was bullish about Cisco’s ability to claim an even larger share of its core markets, drive away competitors and to remain fresh and innovative.

“We are going to be the most relevant technology company," he said.

David Binning traveled to Bangkok as a guest of Cisco.