Cisco’s annual partner meeting continued to emphasize software. It provided more structure and incentives for customer experience initiatives that had been in place for several years.
The networking company has made software more important than hardware-centric sales. Since at least 2016, Cisco’s partner conference has focused on encouraging partners to follow this path. A related thrust is the Cisco CX and Lifecycle Advisor initiatives, which aim to assist partners in moving from traditional reseller models to ones that are focused on software adoption and renewal.
Cisco unveiled its Lifecycle Advisor incentive program at the Cisco Partner Summit 2019. This program rewards partners who successfully activate and adopt software among customers. Cisco also introduced a reward program for partners who activate more Cisco DNA Center use cases. Cisco also introduced “Operate offers,” managed packaged services that partners can resell. These include managed detection and response as well as managed secure SD-WAN (unified communications) and managed a response. Ben Niernberg (senior vice president of services and sales at MNJ Technologies), a technology service provider based in Buffalo Grove Ill., spoke out about the importance of customer experience during the partner summit. He said, “The most important theme is around Lifecycle Advisors & CX — the need to create a practice around it.” Niernberg stated that MNJ was on the CX path before Cisco’s recent announcements. The company received its CX certification. This program was revealed by Cisco at the 2018 partner summit. It also completed its first CX engagement. Niernberg pointed out that those of us who embrace CX and the lifecycle is being incentivized. Cisco has formalized this process. He cited the Cisco CX program requirements to be beneficial for his company. He said, “We love that we have to present and create a business case for [CX] customers.” It helps us differentiate ourselves and distinguish those who understand the program from those who just go through the motions. Jason Parry is vice president of client services at Force3, a network, and security solution provider based in Crofton. He said that the conference’s discussion about Cisco CX, Cisco lifecycle, and software “aligns directly with where they have been going for the past few years.” They have made significant investments in the software space, especially in their CX team and lifecycle. Cisco also launched a specialization around the DevNet developer community in an attempt to formalize a partnership initiative. Cisco already has a number of developers as allies, including independent software vendors and systems integrators. DevNet also includes traditional reseller partners, some of whom have dramatically retooled their businesses to lead with the software. Cisco’s DevNet Specialization is what the company calls a “mainstreaming” of DevNet to partners. It aims at recognizing channel companies with software development skills, business practices, and knowledge of network automation, DevOps, and digital transformation. According to Cisco, the DevNet Career Certifications will count towards Gold Certification eligibility as well as the DevNet Specialization. Parry stated that in order to maximize this capability, one must have the ability and the knowledge. Parry said that Force3 invests in software skills and provides employees with training opportunities, either formal or self-paced. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has updated its HPE Partner Ready Program in order to better position GreenLake offerings. The company’s consumption-based IT model, HPE GreenLake, spans on-premises and edge as well as the cloud. HPE has identified the SMB market to be a primary target and encouraged the channel’s participation in that expansion. Eric Loe, senior director for HPE Partner Ready Program strategy, stated that “As HPE evolves towards ‘everything is a service’, we really believe that GreenLake underpins a lot of these.” The HPE Partner Ready Program has been updated to provide enhanced demo capabilities, pricing tools, and greater financial benefits. It also streamlines the partner onboarding process. HPE stated that partners have access to new training resources, competency programs, and technical certifications. GreenLake was the only vendor to mention that it has added specialists and resources to help partners in the sales process. HPE announced that the new GreenLake Quick Quote tool allows partners to customize workloads according to customers’ performance and cost requirements. Partners can also pursue an HPE Master Accredited Solution Expert Hybrid IT Solution Architect certification to design and deploy hybrid IT infrastructure. According to HPE there are more than 740 GreenLake customers worldwide today. There are also upwards of 500 HPE partners selling the product. Jesse Chavez is the vice president for worldwide partner programs and operations at HPE. He said that GreenLake’s partners are interested in it because it offers an alternative to AWS and Azure. He said that partners have been reluctant to provide AWS or Azure because they fear they will be disintermediated. Chavez said that GreenLake was created to allow partners to own the customer relationship and do the invoicing. This week’s Microsoft Ignite conference brought out news of channel interest, including Azure developments and new robotic processing automation (RPA). Microsoft has made Azure Arc available in preview. This hybrid cloud technology allows customers to run Azure services on any combination of on-premises, edge, and multicloud settings. It also extends Azure management “to all infrastructure.” Chris Smith, vice-president of cloud architecture at Unitas Global in Los Angeles, stated that Azure Arc is moving forward with Microsoft’s efforts to create Azure as a platform that allows central management. Azure Arc makes it easier to manage multi-cloud, edge, and on-premises strategies. Microsoft also made Azure Cost Management (ACM), a tool for cloud solution providers, available to partners. ACM requires that partners sign a Microsoft Customer Agreement to onboard customers. Microsoft took the wraps off UI flow, an RPA capability in its Power Automate offering, while it was still being developed. UI flows are a preview low code technology that allows users to recast manual tasks into automated workflows. Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft) spoke out about RPA at the Ignite conference. At VMworld Barcelona VMware expanded its MSP offering by introducing VMware vCloud director service. This multi-tenancy service is for VMware Cloud on AWS. According to the vendor, the service will eventually be extended beyond VMware Cloud on AWS and other VMware-based clouds. VMware also announced Project Path, an initiative that will allow cloud providers and MSPs unify service delivery for VMware-based clouds. It is available in both private and public data centers. Multi-cloud developments were also announced by VMworld: IBM also announced that it will offer a beta version of IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions Shared. This multi-tenant product is available on the IBM public clouds and uses VMware vCloud director. Read the original article here.Cisco CX emerges to be the key summit theme
DevNet specialization debuts
HPE renews the Partner Ready Program
Microsoft Ignite – Azure and RPA development
VMworld Barcelona highlights channel developments
Matt Ogden is MNJ’s Chief Operating Officer. Matt is widely recognized as the voice of the customer. He was, in fact, a customer of MNJ for 14 years. MNJ customers trust Matt for his command of IT and Digital Transformation within the context of optimized business outcomes.
Matt bridges the gap between legacy technology environments and practical future state success. He has a rare ability to meet the customer where they are and build high integrity, cost effective plans to help technology teams function better. He has even been called a CTO/CIO whisperer. His command of best practices comes from his 14+ years of experience as a leader within the Fortune 19 company – Marathon Petroleum Corporation.
Matt is a Management Information Systems (MIS) graduate from Kent State University. Matt is all about family and invests his free time into them while enjoying coaching and Disney World adventures. Matt is also an avid Cleveland Browns fan.
