Cisco's Linksys Just May Have A winner In Its Small-Biz Channel Program
This week I'd like to turn to a company that, to date at least, has taken what I consider a very solid, consistent approach to driving channels. This company historically has listened to the channel's needs and responded to changing conditions. I'm not saying everything it does is stellar, but I do believe it thinks about what it is trying to accomplish and works very hard at it. More importantly, its management generally isn't afraid to admit mistakes and correct poor decisions quickly when necessary.
The company is Cisco Systems. Now, while Paul Mountford, vice president of worldwide channels, and his team have a long and successful track record on the high end, I'd like to concentrate on the vendor's recently acquired Linksys division, which is focused on the small-business and SOHO markets.
For Tushar Kothari, Linksys vice president and general manager, the low end of the market poses a different set of challenges than Cisco faces in the high end of the market.
First and foremost, the price point of these small-business products, and as a result the profit, can pose a challenge when it comes to the resulting amount of dollars the vendor can invest in channel programs for this space.
But less than a year into the purchase and integration of Linksys, Kothari and his team are making some interesting moves on both the product and program side that are worth a closer look by VARs selling into the small-business market.
The newer products shipping under the Linksys brand and aimed at small businesses look like business offerings from an aesthetic standpoint. The recently introduced 10/100 8-port router, priced under $300, is one example. And this week, Linksys is launching a channel program for its new products that it hopes will help drive solution provider sales in the 25-employee-and-under space. (See page 12 for more details.)
Kothari and Linksys clearly understand that in order to attack this market they need products, programs and a channel capable of delivering a solid experience to the customer.
Linksys' new Partner Connection Program is an improvement to an initiative that is already seeing some 800 partners signing up per week, according to Linksys executives. Those in the current Linksys program will have to re-sign for Partner Connection, meaning some 10,000 will need to do so.
To me, the new program is worth the effort for solution providers in this market given the online training, special promotions, extra margins through distribution, dedicated technical support, marketing tools and discounted demo products that come with it.
Cisco, through Linksys, clearly realizes that you cannot simply design a single program for all portions of the market and be successful. The small-business space is the largest of all markets, but the volume comes in small buckets not in huge barrels. That's the reason so many other large suppliers have been unable to get a grip on this market in a meaningful way.
If Cisco's Linksys unit can continue to support solution providers that sell into small businesses with a program designed just for them, and then improve on it as the market evolves, my bet is that it will see dramatic growth. In addition, today's small business could become tomorrow's midsize or large enterprise, and Cisco has offerings and well-oiled channels there as well.
Good products and programs, as well as consistent messages to the channel that Cisco/Linksys has something to offer solution providers, just might pay off in more ways than one.
Make something happen. I can be reached at (516) 562-7812 or via e-mail at [email protected].