Cisco leadership continues to make itself available for partners as the new fiscal year kicks off, hoping to make this year successful for everyone across the Cisco ecosystem. Experts can empower partners through Cisco webinars made available to the partner community. EDGE360 captured two recent presentations that touch on important areas for partners: Optimizing the IT acquisition process for the public sector and combatting long lead times for critical equipment for customers.
Here’s a bit about both of those discussions for partners to check out:
Maximizing IT Impact for the Public Sector
As we have seen throughout this year’s federal buying season, IT spending is a key focus for federal agencies as they adjust to more modern work environments and prioritize IT modernization. In fact, President Biden proposed that roughly 10 percent of the total federal budget should be spent on IT. This presents massive opportunities for VARs and IT resellers with public sector customers seriously looking to modernize their IT approach.
In a recent Cisco webinar titled “Capturing Opportunities in the Industrial Realm,” David Correa, Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco, Fernando Samorinha, Sales Specialist – IoT RTM – Florida & LATAM at Cisco, and Howard Orocu, Product Business Manager at TD SYNNEX, spoke to the nuances of catering to the public sector, how areas like IT and OT are becoming increasingly intertwined, and the resulting IoT opportunities for Cisco partners.
These experts outlined how to capture more opportunities in the industrial and public sectors, an overview of the IoT portfolio offered by Cisco, and examples of secure industrial architectures that are at work today. They also covered how the EDGE program promotes growth in this area for partners and where valuable supporting resources can be found and utilized.
You can watch the full discussion here and reach out to EDGEPrograms@SYNNEX.com to learn more about how the EDGE program can help sharpen your public sector-facing Cisco practice.
A Refreshing Approach to IT Equipment Purchases
Another recent webinar designed to help make this Cisco Fiscal Year a great one for partners is titled “Close Opportunities NOW with Cisco Refresh.” In nearly every aspect of life right now, many supply chains are seeing extremely long lead times, creating frustration for any end-user. The world of IT is no exception, which is why the Cisco team is touting the value of Cisco Refresh.
Ela Massett, Cisco Refresh Account Manager, Shawn Motley, Director of Cisco Product Business Management at SYNNEX Comstor, and Mark Rodrick, Remarketing Sales Manager at Cisco, offered their expertise around Cisco Refresh and how it is helping Cisco partners combat long lead times for new equipment. Massett offered an analogy that compares purchasing Cisco Refresh products to purchasing a certified, pre-owned vehicle when car shopping. With an identical warrant and identical support to new product purchases, Cisco Refresh offers the elements that customers rely on but with a fraction of the lead time.
According to Massett, the Cisco Refresh program addresses three key points for partners and their customers:
- Product lead time constraints – as mentioned above, customers of brand-new products are seeing massive lead times. Massett even noted that customers can be waiting for a new Nexus 9K plus switch for 180 days. The Cisco Refresh programs mitigates that wait.
- Budget constraints – because these products are not brand new, out-of-the-box, there is a notable discount on the equipment.
- Enhanced solutions – with more budget flexibility, customers are now able to consider a more expansive suite of solutions that can make their approach to IT modernization more holistic.
You can watch the full conversation here and reach out to refreshquestions@cisco.com for any questions about the program.
