With another fiscal year coming to a close, Cisco partners are reflecting on the past year’s changes and challenges while preparing for what’s next. Spoiler alert: there’s a lot coming up. Dana Reina, Senior Manager at TD SYNNEX, shared some insight with the EDGE360 Editors regarding the trends and innovations affecting partners and customers and how they will impact the tools for distributor success in the future..
From the recently released renewal automation program to the EDGE Focus Tool to the Everything-as-a-Subscription (EaaS) program, the goal is to create solutions that increase efficiency and effectiveness, and it’s being achieved through putting the best tools for distributor success in the hands of our partners.
Keep reading to learn what recent changes have had the biggest impacts according to Reina and her advice for Cisco partners moving forward.
EDGE360 Editors: What major tech changes and innovations from the past year are most impacting the work you do with Cisco Partners and VARs?
Dana Reina: The shift to software-driven solutions and the management of recurring revenue have been most impactful in the work and support we provide to our Cisco Partners. We have had to evolve our thinking and support from just the simple hardware and service transactions to software-driven solutions.
Our focus has been around supporting recurring revenue management and developing tools and processes to allow scalability and a frictionless experience. We have recently launched TD SYNNEX Renewal automation in partnership with Cisco’s Lifecycle Advantage program to allow partners a no-touch approach to addressing long-tail renewal opportunities.
Editors: What have been the biggest lessons learned from your perspective on how the IT channel is connecting with SLED, Fed, and Healthcare customers?
Reina: Throughout the pandemic, the public sector embraced cloud-based workplace solutions, which allowed for the continuity of business and service to the public. We saw increased efficiencies and decreased costs during this time, along with the recognition that hybrid workplace is here to stay.
“Simplification is the future and will continue to serve as a critical element when conducting business.” – Dana Reina
Vendors, partners, and distributors alike must encourage customers to adopt a cloud smart strategy that will serve as the long-term solution for increasing data protection, enabling faster migration of workloads, and optimizing costs.
Simplification is the future and will continue to serve as a critical element when conducting business. We continue to experience evolving technology landscapes, data migrations, and embedded solutions, driving many healthcare, state, local, and education organizations to adapt and change quickly.
Securing data, leveraging technology to drive costs as budgets continue to be strained, and adopting next-generation technology will all be drivers of the future.
Editors: With the end of the Cisco fiscal year coming up, what advice do you have for Partners and VARs?
Reina: Communicate early and often, both with your vendor rep and your distributor teams. Engage your distributor for creative avenues when it applies to unique financing options or exclusive programs, such as EaaS. It never hurts to ask.
“We also offer a full suite of enablement support… including provide focused consulting, best practices, education, training, tools, and tactics for your core business functions” – Dana Reina
Your TD SYNNEX Cisco coworkers will be fully staffed and committed to ensuring every PO and deal is booked for YE. From engineering, operations, financing, sales, and purchasing, we have you covered.
We also offer a full suite of enablement support around Cisco Practice Development. Our EDGE Progression Programs provide focused consulting, best practices, education, training, tools, and tactics for your core business functions. Grow your Cisco practice strategically and profitably. We align you to very specific participation levels for your targeted Cisco technology, including security, collaboration, data center, networking, and Meraki.
The EDGE Focus Tool was created to make the TD SYNNEX EDGE Progression Programs simple to learn and easier to achieve. With calls to action shown in an easy-to-understand, percentage-complete format, we track how partners’ success through their Cisco partner journey is tied to their growth within TD SYNNEX’s EDGE Progression Programs.
Editors: Finally, with Cisco Live! having wrapped up, what are some of the lessons to carry forward?
Reina: TD SYNNEX had another fantastic experience at this year’s Cisco Live! Cisco is doing a lot to help partners create recurring revenue practices, and we were able to see some new tools that are being added to the toolkit.
“When partners see something they’re interested in knowing more about, I hope they know they have resources at TD SYNNEX that can help them make those investments.” – Dana Reina
Partners have been asking for better ways to transact, manage, and renew Cisco annuities: Cisco Live! had something for everyone on those topics. EA 3.0 is going to open a lot of software and services options – more flexible consumption models for customers and more sales opportunities for partners.
There is a new generation of software portals out now – CXC for customers and PXC for partners – that provide visibility into software and services telemetry. We continue to see enhancements to Operations like Lifecycle Advantage and new financing options to make it easier to conduct business with Cisco. Most of our partners are asking how to go faster with their Cisco recurring revenue practices – I think Cisco Live! spurred a lot of ideas.
Most importantly, when partners see something they’re interested in knowing more about, I hope they know they have resources at TD SYNNEX that can help them make those investments.
To learn more about tools for distributor success, click here.
