Wendy Bahr: Cisco Partners Want to Take Advantage of Market Changes

In light of the many recent executive-level changes at Cisco Systems (CSCO), it wouldn’t be strange to wonder how the new corporate structure for the networking and security company will affect its global partner ecosystem. For Wendy Bahr, Cisco’s newest worldwide channel chief, the widespread market and industry changes are serving not only as an opportunity for growth, but an excuse to help the company’s partners flourish amidst an evolving IT landscape.

As a 15-year Cisco veteran—nine of which working with the company’s channel partners—Bahr was recently named senior vice president of Cisco’s Global Partner Organization in July following longtime channel chief Bruce Klein’s decision to pursue other opportunities outside of the company. During her first 90 days, Bahr has been traveling across the globe and speaking to channel partners to determine how she can help Cisco’s reseller ecosystem to thrive among growing market competition and changing customer needs.

The VAR Guy had a chance to catch up with Bahr last week to hear how Cisco’s first-ever female worldwide channel chief plans to foster growth and innovation among the company’s global partner ecosystem.

So far, Bahr said partners are generally excited about the opportunities they see in the channel, but they want Cisco to focus on taking advantage of the various market changes that are shaping the current state of the channel. This includes educational efforts surrounding new skills and investing in new technology innovations to boost product sales.

“They [customers] are looking for us to provide the right programs, the right training, the right support and the right aligned go-to-market with our sales teams to ensure that we can take advantage of reaching those customers’ aspirational goals,” said Bahr. “They want the technology to drive these business priorities.”

After speaking with partners, Bahr came up with three key areas that will serve as the focus of her ongoing channel strategy. The first initiative will be to simplify Cisco’s product and services catalog so it is more accessible to the average partner and their customers. This includes efforts to simplify Cisco’s product, software and services programs so partners can take advantage of the benefits within. Bahr said she is also working to simplify the way Cisco’s programs are governed to help partners profit.

The second area of focus will be around aligning the product and go-to-market strategies between Cisco’s direct sellers and its partner network. By creating a unified front when speaking with customers, Bahr hopes to develop new ISV opportunities between legacy partners and new partners.

At the core of her new channel strategy is a renewed focus on strengthening Cisco partners’ security efforts and their ability to protect customer solutions. This includes a holistic approach to security, so customers have protection before, during and after an attack. Bahr said Cisco is currently the largest security provider in the industry, with 5,000 employees dedicated to the company’s security solutions. 

“I think security is what is being woven throughout the architecture of technology,” said Bahr. “It’s what customers care most about … and it’s where they are putting the bulk of their budget. So helping our partners take advantage of that opportunity and making them relevant to have the right kind of conversations in this space is something that we are absolutely keenly focused on.”