Conflict Management

One thing Chambers heard loud and clear: There is a conflict between service providers and Cisco solution providers. He vowed to address those concerns and fix the problem, as reported in our cover story by Infrastructure Editor Larry Hooper.

The challenge will be articulating how and when Cisco will resolve the conflict. In addition, the vendor will need to convince solution providers that partnering with service providers to resell their telco services as part of a total solution is the way to go. Some solution providers are leery. Cisco will need to quantify why the strategy makes sense and show solution providers how they can make more margin by teaming with carriers, which have undercut them on Cisco hardware sales.

Cisco, which is maniacal about customer-satisfaction numbers, needs to look at partner satisfaction, too. Each year, the Cisco channel must reach a collective customer-satisfaction number, but are Cisco channel executives held accountable for the channel's satisfaction with the company? The channel partners with Cisco, but also in many ways, it is a customer of Cisco. And while Cisco appears to be the only game in town,with competitors such as 3Com, Enterasys, Avaya and Nortel embroiled in their own troubles,it still needs to position itself positively with solution providers for when the market turns around. According to CRN's Channel Satisfaction survey, Cisco's numbers are generally favorable but lower than last year. It will be interesting to see the numbers in the coming months as Cisco implements its new strategy.

Speaking of the need to offer total solutions, starting in this week's issue, CRN will devote a page of coverage to vertical solutions, including storage, imaging, mobility and point-of sale applications. As solution providers differentiate themselves based on technical or vertical expertise, we hope to provide readers with the latest technology trends and product news in those areas.

Do you agree? I can be reached at (781) 839-1272 or via e-mail at [email protected].