Up until now, many multinational customers expanding internationally have engaged in separate transactions with local Cisco resellers in each country of their operations.
To foster global coordination, Cisco's new go-to-market strategy is built around a transaction-based partner collaboration model.
Cisco say their Global Resale Agent model provides each ‘host’ partner with policies, processes and tools that enable it to select another Cisco partner as an agent in a different country. The agent can act on the host partner's behalf for the resale of Cisco technologies to new multinational customers.
This model provides local partners with "global rights" to select another partner in a different geography to deliver Cisco technology solutions on its behalf. After the host and agent partner engage in and complete a business transaction, the local partner buys the Cisco solution and invoices the customer locally.
Partner-to-partner collaboration reduces the complexity of deploying the customer's information technology business solutions, streamlines service and support, and provides a means to broaden market opportunities and create competitive differentiation.
Partners will use Cisco's Partner Exchange, a virtual environment that allows channel partners to find, connect with and collaborate with other partners that offer a complementary blend of technology, services and industry expertise.
Cisco's Global Resale Agent model represents the first step toward a broader Cisco initiative of enabling partners to form collaborative long-term business relationships.
A recent global study on partner collaboration, conducted by Illuminas Research and commissioned by Cisco, revealed that collaboration among Cisco partners is a fast-growing trend. Partner-to-partner collaboration generates 31 percent of channel revenue and is growing by 15 percent annually. Furthermore, 62 percent of the partners believe that collaboration will continue to grow over the next five years. Cisco partners work with an average of eight other partners on a regular basis.
Keith Goodwin, senior vice president, Worldwide Channels, Cisco, said "Globalisation continues to impact business strategy and process for organisations of all sizes. Cisco is committed to helping our channel partners and our customers capitalise on market transitions. We developed the new Global Resale Agent model to help our channel partners take advantage of this growing multinational customer segment so they can profitably grow their businesses around the world. With the business adoption of social media and collaboration technologies, the time is right for Cisco to facilitate global partnerships among our channel partners, leading the way to the next phase of growth, differentiation and innovation."