Last week saw the launch of Cisco’s new SMB portfolio to the Datasharp Group at Cisco’s Head Quarters in Bedfont Lakes.
Andy Brocklehurst, UK Lead for Small Business and Distribution commented, “Cisco is delighted to welcome Datasharp to our partner community. The team at Datasharp offer us the insight and solutions for Small and Medium businesses in the UK that is so critical to our success and such a major part of our strategy in growing our market share in this segment. We are confident that this new partnership will drive incremental growth for both companies.”
Traditionally Cisco has been more dominant in the Enterprise market and they are now looking to replicate this success in the SME market. Cisco has a target to hit 20% market share in SMB under 100 extension space in 2011. To do this they are changing their strategy from relying on small local data capable partners who typically are selling voice as an adjunct, ad hoc component into their customer base to looking at the existing voice business partner market and devising a programme that is attractive to the top voice resellers encouraging them to adopt Cisco’s small business portfolio.
John Wyatt, National Business Account Manager at Cisco said, “Datasharp was the obvious choice for us. They are a long term voice player, with deep understanding of voice market. We have been pursuing them for a number of years and now, with the SMB Select Portfolio offering end to end solutions, we are delighted to have them on board. With their expanding network of offices offering nationwide coverage, strong technical capability and culture of self-sufficiency I predict a bright future for our partnership.”
Paul McIntosh CEO Datasharp commented, “We are delighted to be partnering with Cisco as one of their select partners for the SMB range. We believe this compliments are already strong portfolio of products from Siemens, Shoretel and LG and allows us to provide our customers with a complete offering from end to end for their voice and data requirements.”
Datasharp says their company is recognised by the industry as having exceptional technical knowledge working closely with manufacturers in the development process, and the Technical Director and Product Manager, Allan Williams and Craig Letheren respectively, are already involved with Cisco technical providing valuable insights into product development.
Jane Cockcroft, MD of Datasharp commented, “I believe Datasharp has the strongest portfolio of products and accreditations in the industry to provide our group of ever expanding offices. I believe Datasharp is unique in both the quality of the portfolio we can offer and the credentials of the dedicated team of professionals to support it. For example, Cisco require high levels of accreditation all of which I am pleased to say our team passed with flying colours only being beaten by Cisco engineers! We look forward to a long and successful relationship with Cisco – a brand that is highly recognised and respected globally.”