Cisco Partner Strategy On Course with ‘New Normal’

Despite widespread disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cisco partner strategy hasn’t changed. It’s the right strategy for now and the future.

That’s according to Oliver Tuszik, Cisco’s senior vice president of the company’s global partner organization. He kicked off Thursday’s post-Cisco Live 2020 partner roundtable addressing Cisco partner strategy.

The company’s channel executives talked about the opportunity for partners moving into the “new normal,” and how technology can continue to shape and solve the world’s problems.

Cisco’s Oliver Tuszik

“It is very clear that partner profitability remains our No. 1 priority,” Tuszik said. “This is not only for this time, it is also for the future.”

Despite all that has happened, Cisco is still in normal business mode, he said. Its sales teams, together with its partners, are focused on the same kinds of activities, he said.

“It’s about the customer, the single deal, delivering incredible services, building up pipeline … and, yes, even at this time winning and gaining market share, and having an impact,” Tuszik said. “And our team is supporting partners on the deals, on this current situation, but also for the future. We continue to perform and transform. It’s normal business under abnormal conditions.”

Some things have changed for the better during the pandemic, he said. In the United States, there was a very complex setup when it came to health care, and certain things weren’t allowed, such as having a call between a doctor and patient, he said. These regulations were suspended.

“We’re in a phase where we can predict an outcome, and it’s our team’s job is to help our partners through this slowdown in the business and help them to prepare for the new normal,” Tuszik said.

During the downturn, Cisco has taken numerous steps to help partners, he said. It made changes in the supply chain and helped partners with the support system. Cisco also relieved pressure on a lot of support programs and certifications, he said.

“And we added additional financial support,” Tuszik said. “We launched a new program that is helping customers to free up capacity. We see how this is picking up, with more than 20% growth already in this program. And in addition, we see the pipeline is growing. There’s still a demand for IT because IT is the future and what helps us get through these times.”

The new normal includes three fundamental changes. Those are: secure connections from anywhere; more IT agility, managed services and SaaS; and digitization for survival.

“We see very clearly this is exactly what we were talking about close to two years ago,” Tuszik said. “We will continue to drive the business. These three key areas became more important than ever before.”

Focusing on customer success, a key part of the Cisco partner strategy, has never been more important, he said. That’s because a lot of systems are going to change, and a lot of free trials are in use.

“We need to help our partners to show the customers that they deliver the value so that they go into the renewal mode,” Tuszik said. “There’s a big opportunity, especially due to the high amount of customers. And the customer experience doesn’t stop there. It’s more about we help them to create more value and business outcomes.”

It’s also more important to reduce complexity and give partners one platform to work with Cisco, he said.

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