Cisco's Partner-Led One Year Later: New Incentives, New Focus

Cisco implemented its partner-led strategy

Sage, Cisco's vice president of worldwide partner-led, told CRN that it has become a critical part of the company's channel strategy, particularly in the SMB market. He said Cisco will put more emphasis on midmarket opportunities with partner-led this year, pointing out that midsize companies are the fastest growing Cisco customers and are consuming emerging technologies faster than enterprises and small businesses.

In addition, Sage detailed where some of Cisco's $75 million channel investment will go -- specifically, bonuses for solution providers. Cisco recently announced a new partner-led offering, dubbed Partner Plus, that will provide new incentives and bonuses for partners, which they can then reinvest in sales training, demand generation and other efforts. For more on partner-led, watch CRN's interview with Andrew Sage at Cisco's Partner Summit 2012.