The company is investing in industry-leading capabilities around partners, technology and support to develop its small business advantage. These three pillars of Cisco's small business strategy will help companies with fewer than 100 employees gain a competitive advantage and enable the channel partners that serve them to build profitable, sustainable small business practices.
Cisco unveiled a new global partner profitability framework specifically designed to help channel partners serving small businesses build profitable practices around Cisco Small Business solutions.
The company has launched five new Small Business Partner Development Fund (PDF) tracks that map to the different partner types selling in the small business market. These include Cisco Registered Partners, Cisco Specialized Partners, online resale partners and service providers.
Small Business PDF provides quarterly payments to qualifying partners based on their purchases of Cisco Small Business products.
New partner registration and program intelligence tools provide simplified enrollment and sales-tracking capabilities. The tools allow partners to track sales progress on a daily basis and calculate payments across multiple Cisco programs from a single location.
Broad Technology Portfolio
Cisco also announced additions to its Cisco Small Business Pro Series portfolio and enhancements to the Cisco Smart Business Communications System, including:
Cisco SA 500 Series, part of the Cisco Small Business Pro Series: an easy-to-use, all-in-one security solution designed to protect a small business's network and critical data while allowing employees to connect in a highly secure environment to the business network from anywhere at any time. The device features a built-in firewall, virtual private network capabilities and high-speed network connections for optimal network performance. Additional optional features include:
E-mail security and Web security can be activated with the optional Trend Micro ProtectLink Gateway service that helps ensure employees are productive and not letting through spam or visiting inappropriate or unsafe Web sites.
A second layer of security with the optional VeriSign Identity Protection service that accepts a one-time password from a mobile device, giving small businesses added flexibility.
Cisco SPA 500 Series IP Phones, part of the Cisco Small Business Pro Series: an affordable family of feature-rich, SIP-enabled IP phones with HD-quality audio, twice the sound quality of a standard phone.
The five new IP phones work with Cisco Small Business premises-based call control like the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series or with hosted IP telephony solutions deployed by service providers.
Cisco Smart Business Communications System (SBCS) Release 1.6: an enhancement to the complete collaboration and communications system to connect offices, employees and customers anywhere at any time.
Release 1.6 supports the new Cisco SPA 500 Series IP Phones and the new Cisco SR 520-T1 Secure Router, which brings simple, highly secure T1 connectivity to the small business.
Release 1.6 utilizes a new version of the Cisco Configuration Assistant (CCA) tool v2.1, enhanced for multisite configuration. CCA v2.1 guides partners through installation with set-up wizards and systemwide configuration capabilities and allows partners to easily maintain the system for their small business customers with simplified diagnostic, troubleshooting and software-upgrade tools.
Release 1.6 also supports new third-party applications for the automotive and insurance industries as well as a new call accounting application and network monitoring and management application. The integration between SBCS and these applications helps small businesses increase productivity and gain a competitive advantage, while enabling partners to better support the unique needs of their small customers.