Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

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Almost half of all businesses use Cisco networking kit – but many are missing out on benefits their current Cisco partner are not passing on to them. These range from massive price reductions to support and consultancy. Only a handful of the biggest organisations work directly with Cisco. Most IT managers source their Cisco kit from Cisco resellers but some of these partners are simply not passing on the value added benefits that should be offered to all Cisco clients. Great value added resellers (VARs) work with clients, rather than just sell to them, so that Cisco kit will enable IT managers to deliver on their short, medium and long term objectives.

By forging a strong working relationship with Cisco, a great Cisco partner will offer competitive prices together with in-depth consultancy to identify the best set-up for the business, with the benefit of having the inside track on Cisco’s plans for new products and updates.

So, we have one question:

Are you getting the best from your Cisco partnership?

Your relationship with Cisco

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Cisco is the worldwide leader in networking and it works to transform how people connect, communicate and collaborate, reporting first quarter revenue of $12.1 billion, for 2013. Cisco offers a whole range of products, prices and business benefits through its partners – but many of these benefits do not see the light of day as some partners, focussed only on the margins that come from shifting hardware, are less concerned about passing on value added benefits to clients. Tin shifters have customers that they simply sell to – great VARs have clients that they work with to meet business objectives.

Effective partners with a strong relationship with Cisco can work with IT managers to design the right solution for the business and to achieve challenging transformations without expensive external consultants.

Intro

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Client

requests quote

VAR

provides

bespoke

quote

VAR

deliv

ers

or

der

Client

places order

Reseller dispatches order

Customer requests quote from reseller

Reseller provides generic quote

Customer places order

The two types of Cisco partners A tin shifter A great value added reseller

• VAR will align with current promotions and programmes to achieve best commercial pricing

• Cisco account manager introduced to client

• BOM produced• Whiteboarding, Proof of concept,

industry and technical specialists contacted

• Technology planning available to build roadmap

• Stock and delivery timelines provided

• Optional services made available• Finance options made available

• VAR and Cisco liaise with client on project delivery, implementation and training

• Roadmap is confirmed• Support timelines provided• Product lifecycle mapped and

reviews set• VAR continues engagement

and support on current equipment and advises over time of updates, changes and matches this to agreed and understood road map

• VAR contacts Cisco for delivery of order• Cisco, VAR and client plan implementation and training

• Immediate discounts applied• Cisco account manager assigned• VAR registers opportunity with Cisco

• VAR qualifies exact requirement and advises if technology selection is correct and current

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Your Cisco account manager should be a hotline to Cisco. They can get in touch with systems engineers and subject matter experts at the networking giant who know all about a particular vertical market sector. Resellers with a tin-shifting mind-set, who are not utilising these invaluable resources, fail to pass on this added value to their customer.

For example, with the growing trend of mobile working becoming a key issue for businesses across the UK, setting up a BYOD solution is becoming mission critical. Cisco has specialist BYOD Smart Solution providers, such as DTE, who can guide IT managers along the way. The Cisco BYOD Smart Solution provides a comprehensive approach to design, manage, and control the access of a BYOD network, enhancing user experience and productivity.

A direct hotline to Cisco

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

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The best Cisco partner will be able to understand the solution you have, tap into what the business needs, know what is available and what is coming soon to meet your needs. Working with a great Cisco partner can help get the business where it wants and needs to be – at a competitive price. It’s important to remember that it’s not possible to buy legitimate Cisco kit at a lower price than that available from a registered partner. The process of registration with a genuine Cisco partner allows businesses to take advantage of Cisco promotions and programmes on authorised hardware.

Don’t just buy Cisco – work with Cisco, through a partner. That way you will get the right kit and future proof the business. The first step is to make sure you know what you should be getting from your Cisco relationship.

It’s not all about price

“Don’t just buy Cisco – work with Cisco through a partner.”

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Impressed with our end-to-end capabilities and global reach, DTE were approached by InMobi in 2011 to provide hardware and consultancy services across EMEA.InMobi were looking for a partner, rather than a supplier, who could offer value-added services above and beyond that of a traditional reseller and who had the technical capabilities and experience to supplement their own internal IT department.

• Deep-dive workshops their current and future business needs

• Concept and testing services for a wide range of technologies

• Ongoing engagement with the IT/Management team

In 2014, the partnership is rolling out a unified communication portal between InMobi, Cisco and DTE, which will provide strategic support through real time information to all partners further increasing response time, collaboration and project deployment.

“DTE have changed our supplier relationship into a true partnership that brings value to our technology estate. By engaging our Cisco account manager, DTE have improved the level of insight and support available to my team.” - Siva Kularasalingam - IT Support Manager (Europe & Middle East), InMobi

InMobi case study

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

There are a number of benefits you should be getting out of your Cisco partnership. But too many reseller partners are not sharing the love. Are you getting these value-added benefits from your reseller?

Additional discounts passed onto customers in up-front pricingA great Cisco partner will negotiate the best prices with the vendor and utilise all current programmes and promotions, such as trade ins, to obtain the best possible commercial prices.

In tough economic times, it can be very tempting to buy Cisco products from a reseller offering deals that seem too good to be true. But imagine having to explain to the CEO that network downtime was due to counterfeit and unsupported kit. Or, in the worse case scenario, because the police have removed stolen switches from the premises.

What should you be getting from your Cisco partner?

Benefits

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Authenticity guaranteeCisco Brand Protection is coming down hard on resellers of unauthorised kit so it may be time to ask some awkward questions if you have any doubt about your chosen reseller.

• Did the kit come from one of the four UK Cisco distributors – Azlan, Ingram Micro, Comstor and Avnet?

• What is the serial number of the kit? • Who is my Cisco account manager?

Expect nothing less than complete transparency in your reseller partnership – great VARs will be happy to answer all these questions.

Whiteboarding sessions and workshops leading to a full bill of materialsCisco partners should be in it for the long haul and be prepared to work in complete partnership with the IT manager from day one, to lay the foundations for a strong ongoing relationship. This might start with whiteboarding sessions and workshops to thrash out what each partner can bring to the relationship and what the IT manager – and the business – really wants, creating a full bill of materials.

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Find out what to look for in a great partner

What should you be getting from your Cisco partner?

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Post-sales consultancy by highly accredited systems consultants Consultancy services should continue post-sales. Highly accredited systems consultants at effective Cisco value added resellers will not leave businesses high and dry once they have got their sale. As any IT manager knows, choosing and buying the kit is only the first step in running an enterprise network.

Premier partners have the inside track on Cisco’s plans for the future and can work with IT managers to create a technology roadmap that allows IT managers to plan out their IT strategy to get a clear view ahead of business goals and challenges.

Cisco support is second to none. Top Cisco partners will have a hotline to Cisco and can support businesses’ networking issues in a highly responsive manner, allowing businesses to rely on top-notch service levels that keep enterprise networks running.

On-site proofs at Cisco’s European LabsNot many IT managers know that their business can carry out on-site proof of concept projects and demonstrations at Cisco’s European Labs. A decent reseller will be able to set this up for you and smooth the way to impressing management with a great demo of the project and of your relationship with Cisco.

“DTE has a long standing Cisco relationship as a reseller, where they have consistently leveraged the value the franchise carries to better support their customers commercially, technically and from a support perspective. DTE constantly strives to achieve the most positive and impactful business outcome for their customers, whilst building long term relationships as trusted advisors.”

- James Day, Territory Business Manager (Commercial), Cisco

What should you be getting from your Cisco partner?

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Asset/lifecycle managementNo one wakes up needing two 48-port switches. An effective partner will build up a picture of what hardware a business has and what it needs. It will work with you to plan for when maintenance agreements expire and kit reaches the end of its life. Partners should be happy to get involved in asset and lifecycle management so that changes and upgrades are planned for.

In many cases, businesses may not need to replace the kit they have; the additional security or redundancy they want may already be available within their existing set-up, or it may be worth waiting a few months as a solution tailored to your exact needs may be in the pipeline. And when kit is at the end of its life the partner should enable ethical disposal, compliant with the law.

Classroom-based, on-site and virtual trainingValue added resellers work alongside IT managers, supporting them and their teams towards getting a better understanding of the Cisco technology they are working with, through classroom-based, on-site and virtual training, and webinar updates. Enterprise networking technology is developing all the time and a forward-thinking partner can offer relevant training and development, which you can obtain by redeeming your Cisco learning credits.

Get in touch with DTE for more information

Did you know? Many products come with extra solutions and software built in that you may not be aware of.

What should you be getting from your Cisco partner?

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Conclusion: Demand the best from your Cisco partnership

Cisco owns the enterprise market in switching and routing, with around 65% and 70% market share respectively. It is not surprising that most IT managers will be looking to source Cisco kit for their networking needs – but not all Cisco resellers are equal. DTE is a value added reseller with a focus on partnership, both with Cisco and with customers. It works hard on its relationships, to make sure IT managers get all the possible benefits from the Cisco partnership, to save money, create efficiency and drive the business.

Benefits of working with a great Cisco reseller like DTE include:• Uses promotions and programmes to obtain

the best commercial prices• Classroom-based, on-site and virtual

training• Technology roadmap workshops• Complimentary products to support

virtualisation and storage• On-site proofs at Cisco’s European Labs• Whiteboarding sessions and workshops

leading to full bill of materials• Pre- and post- sales consultancy by highly

accredited systems consultants• Asset/lifecycle management• Trade in facility against new purchases -

up-front discount and ethical disposal

CustomerSatisfaction

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership

Cisco architectures available

DTE is able to provide the following Cisco solutions for your organisation.

Enterprise NetworkingCisco Enterprise Networks simplifies IT and enables new business opportunities with an open and programmable approach to networking. This includes unified access, Cisco intelligent WAN, connected mobile experiences and Cisco SDN programmability.

Data Centre & Virtualisation Cisco Unified Data Centre changes the economics of the data centre by unifying compute, storage, networking, virtualisation, and management into a single platform. The result is operational simplicity and business agility - essential for cloud computing and deploying IT as a service.

Unified Communication and CollaborationWorking together, people can achieve extraordinary things. Improve collaboration with technology that empowers people to engage and innovate — anywhere, on any device.

DTE’s Cisco accreditations include:• Advanced Routing & Switching• Advanced Security• Advanced Unified Computing

Technology Specialisation• Advanced Wireless LAN

• Express Foundation• Small Business Specialisation• Advanced Unified Fabric

Technology Specialisation

DTE’s Cisco authorisations include:• BYOD Smart Solution Partner• GPN Partner Agent• IronPort Bronze Certified• PSPP Education• PSPP Healthcare• Partner 2 Partner

• Smart Care Registered Partner• Smart Care Registered Partner -

Weight-Based• WebEx Commission Pilot

Program

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About DTE DTE is a highly experienced Cisco reseller with over 10 years in partnership under our belts. Our collective experience in the team adds up to nearly 100 years of Cisco knowledge. They use their highly accredited and specialised skills to implement a range of Cisco solutions for their clients. DTE have experience across the entire Cisco portfolio and have a team of skilled specialists who are certified in all three Cisco architectures (Enterprise Networking, Unified Communication and Collaboration and Data Centre) up to CCIE and CCDE level.

With their years of experience and expertly trained staff, they’ll guarantee that you get the most out of your Cisco partnership

Call us:0845 65 888 10

Email us:info@dteuro.comGet in touch today for a free

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Reaping the rewards: Demanding more from your Cisco supplier partnership