“A good recession is a terrible thing to waste”.

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Cisco Resolves Long-standing Field Compensation Issue

News and Commentary from the Cisco Partner Summit

Beth Vanni

Thousands of partners are in the room.  3500 partners are participating in the Virtual Summit event.   Press and analysts hang on every word from the senior executives, listening for new major investments and innovations.   These are the hallmarks of the Cisco Partner Summit, this year based in Boston, one of the oldest and most sophisticated cities in the U.S.   Many also revere Cisco’s commitment to channels and partnering among the oldest and most mature in the high tech world.   Admittedly, their programs, automation, incentives and partnering commitment from the top-down is legendary.   But, then I listened closely to the keynote speech form Keith Goodwin, Cisco’s SVP of Global Channels……

The Cisco management team announced many channel program enhancements already this week including new services offerings, further extended credit terms to partners, eliminating on-site certification audits,implementing a new limited lifetime warranty  on certain products and adding a new 15% rebate for core switching products. Much of these announcements will really help keep partners focused and profitable on core Cisco technologies and will encourage them to continue to invest in training and pre-sales work. But,the announcement that got THE loudest applause from the audience was around Cisco field sales compensation. Something so basic that it’s hard to imagine Cisco still having this issue acting as a barrier to partner field engagement.

Channel Roundtable for SaaS “Pure Plays”

Sandra Glaser Cheek

We recently held a “SaaS in the Channel” roundtable event with about 10 pure-play SaaS vendors to discuss the challenges and opportunities that they face in developing robust partner programs and ecosystems. After discussing the particular challenges that each vendor faced it became apparent that that SaaS partnering is truly a blend of the old and new. Many of the most basic partner principles are challenging to this crowd – how to train partners effectively, how to craft the best business proposition, tracking evolving partner business models, managing multi-channel strategies, etc. And some of the issues are new – how to continue to educate the market on SaaS as a business and licensing model, how to handle support and when and where to get the partner involved, etc.

Passing It On

Diane Krakora

During these economic hard times, stories abound of people making a difference in their community, giving back to their social network and passing on support to the next generation. I don’t know if there are more good deeds being done now or we are so hungry for any good news that these acts of kindness are being reported more. In a way, it doesn’t matter, the awareness is being heightened. There’s the story of the chain of people paying the toll for the next car behind them, and the “free” café that serves the local homeless population fresh nutritious food (and the non-homeless who pay “what they can”) or the random man who pre-pays for the woman’s food in line at the grocery store (who can’t make the food stamps go far enough to feed her family).

I witnessed this type of selflessness this week within our channel community. The speakers at the Baptie Channel Focus event this week all passed on their knowledge, experiences and wisdom to the next generation of channel professionals. Some of the speakers were sponsors and were there selling their wares to the attendees, and some of the speakers were well respected channel leaders like Luanne Tierney of Cisco, Sheila O’Neil of Panasonic, Mike Haines with Microsoft and Stephen DiFranco from Lenovo. Talking with Maurizio Capuzzo, long time Channel Focus favorite Italian (formerly of Symbol), I discovered a giving spirit   in our channel ecosystem. Not only was he, like the rest of the speakers, willing to give two days out of the office to impart their knowledge on a relevant topic, but Maurizio also took vacation time and spent his own money to travel from New York to San Diego to participate. When my eyes twinkled with gratitude, he nonchalantly said “I enjoy passing it on”.

I am so inspired by this generous act to pass on knowledge to channel professionals, that we are dedicating our May webinar to the next generation of channel leadership. On May 14th at 11am PDT, please join me as I discuss careers in channels with four great channel chiefs:

•Allison Watson, SVP Worldwide Channels, Microsoft
•Keith Goodwin, SVP Worldwide Channels, Cisco
•Steve Houck, GM Latin America (former VP WW Channels), VMware
•Leonard Iventosch, VP Channel Sales, Isilon

Enjoy the lively discussion about their career choices, trials and joys of being a channel chief. And who knows, maybe you’ll inspired to pass on your expertise as well.

Register for Webinar

Voice of the Partner – What lessons can we learn from Starbucks?

Sandra Glaser Cheek

Starbucks is celebrating its MyStarbucksIdea.com’s first birthday. On this site, Starbucks asked “What would make your Starbucks experience perfect? We know you’ve got ideas – big ideas, little ideas, maybe even totally revolutionary ideas – and we want to hear them all.”

Starbuck’s has a dedicated team of “Idea Partners” – Starbucks employees who are experts in their respective fields. They bubble up the most popular and innovative ideas that are the best fit for Starbucks and present them to key decision makers within the company to recommend how they can execute on the new ideas. The top ideas are posted to the “Popular Ideas” section of the website and Starbucks customers can help decide which ideas are best by voting.

Dell Distribution Agreement Shock Waves

By Tim Lowe

Finally some news other than what’s going on in the economy!

DELL’s distribution agreement announcement is sending shock waves throughout the industry larger than rumors of IBM-SUN merger discussions. The availability of a subset of the DELL product line through broad line distributors Ingram Micro and Tech Data has ramifications for every value added reseller in the channel. The worst kept secret in the industry for years has been the percentage of DELL desktop and laptop business that has either been sold or influenced by the channel. I’ve never seen an accurate estimate of how many Dell desktops have been “sold” by the channel through the influence of a solution provider either for a configuration fee or simply as part of the overall solution package. And of course Dell has used broad line distributors for years to provide the logistics of their third party options. However the public announcement of a formal relationship between DELL and Ingram Micro/Tech Data legitimizes the entrance of Dell into the channel supply chain.

HELPING THE SMB CUSTOMER – NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL

Beth Vanni

How HP is using its vast Resources to Help SMB customers and Partners survive the Downturn

The fact that there 6.3m SMB customers in the U.S. and that they’re projected to grow 5x the rate of the market overall in 2009 isn’t news. The fact that the SMB market represents a $60+ billion dollar market for commercial computing products isn’t new either. But, amidst all the industry noise about how critical small business is to the US economy, what are the largest manufacturers really doing to help this customer segment, and more importantly the partners who service them, thrive and grow?

Well, sometimes bigger really can be better. With total revenues of over $120b and 8 of every 10 SMB customers already owning some HP equipment, HP is leveraging its vast resources and broad product portfolio to take a very active role in giving SMB customer and SMB-focused partners new reasons to invest in new equipment, get support and collaborate. Today, HP announced new products, new support, a new SaaS delivery model and new partner program offerings – all focused on the under-999 employee customer space.

Is Your Channel Partner Dashboard Flashing “Maintenance Required”?

Sandra Glaser Cheek

I recently took my 2006 Honda Odyssey into the mechanic because as I was driving to work the dashboard light indicators were lighting up like a Christmas tree. It began with a bright red brake indicator, next came the oil light, then “maintenance required”, and finally some random light I still don’t know the meaning of. So, I started thinking – can I even make it to the mechanic, should I call a tow truck, will I miss my meeting? Not to mention that this will undoubtedly mean, ka-ching – an unanticipated expense!

This experience got me thinking about our business. What if I just ignored my dashboard? I mean, yes the indicators were on but the car was actually running and sounding fine. In the old days when I drove my 1980 hand-me-down Chevy Citation, there weren’t any sensors on the dashboard. I just drove the car until, well, it broke down – and trust me I got more than my fair share of that back in “the old days”. However, today’s cars are fine-tuned, high-tech machines with lots of thing-a-ma-jigs that make sure I can brake to a stop faster, I won’t get as hurt in an accident, I get better mileage, etc. So yes, I could probably still drive “old school” like I did in my younger days and ignore the flashing dashboard. But at what cost?

The Quality vs. Quantity Debate: Starbucks as a Case Study in Regional Coverage vs. Quality of Service

Beth Vanni

Today’s headlines add to the growing “chicken little” reaction to the U.S. economic woes….   “Starbucks Cutting More Jobs, Closing Stores”.   Now, I’m a pretty loyal Starbuck’s customer (sometimes two Venti ice teas a day!), but also a 25 year channel analyst.   And, my reaction to this headline was a candid “Well, of course they are!”
The facts of this news release I think lend themselves to a fitting analogy around a common vendor challenge in the technology space, i.e., how many channel partners is “enough”?  When do you have enough capacity and coverage with your regional channel partners to service your market(s)?  When do you refocus your efforts on diversity of services and customer satisfaction provided?
The Starbucks facts are as follows – the company will close 300 underperforming company-owned stores worldwide and will open 160 fewer stores than its previous targets in 2009.  The company will also eliminate ~700 corporate and non-retail positions globally.   But, hasn’t Starbucks been at a break-neck retail store expansion rate steadily for the last five years?  They now have nearly 20,000 outlets globally (corporate owned and licensed) and have been growing that number exponentially year over year.    Case in point – I live in a small, rural town of 40,000 and we have two Starbucks.  And as I travel to Silicon Valley regularly, there are at least 10 retail locations in the short 4-5 miles I drive from my hotel to our offices – sometimes two within ½ mile of each other!

Stretching Your Dollar – Suggestions for Managing Consulting Engagements

Sandra Glaser Cheek

Stretching Every Dollar
Making the Most of Consulting Engagements

Even with budget and headcount constraints, many of our clients continue to view outsourcing as a smart and strategic way to do more, with fewer available resources. In these tight economic times, we offer some tips to get the most out of your consulting engagements.

• Set a firm budget before launching the project.
• Commit to longer than 90 days. Longer commitments generally result in savings.
• Be clear on the format and delivery method of project materials. Choose a method that reinforces or “socializes” the outcomes through the organization.
• Identify consultant-critical tasks that leverage the consultant’s specialized skill-set. Assign other general organizational tasks to an internal resource.
• Be flexible. Can the consultant work off-site, partial day, etc? Flexibility on the client’s part can result in a wider pool of available talent for your project.
• Play to each consultant’s strengths. Engage senior consultants to define strategies and models. Hire program specialists for tactical implementation. Plan ahead to ensure higher cost consultants aren’t executing administrative tasks.
• Include mentoring and/or training milestones to leverage the talent of senior consultants and improve the skills/knowledge of your team.
• Share the project’s findings with cross-functional groups in order to maximize the investment and gain “buy-in” from other groups.
• Include knowledge-sharing time into the project scope. This ensures that “Intellectual Property” remains a part of your company after the engagement has ended.
• Consider hiring a consultant on a post-project “retainer” basis. This allows you to maintain a low-cost safety net during transition time.