Edison Peres, Cisco, Worldwide Channels

Channel Chief Name	Edison Peres
Channel Chief Title	VP, Worldwide Channels
Company and Division	Cisco, Worldwide Channels
Markets Served:	Networking Security
Company's overall 2007 revenue:	$34.9 billion
Percentage of revenue from solution providers:	> 80%
Number of years with the company:	6
Number of years involved with indirect sales:	25
Number of employees in channel organization:	2,000+
To whom do you report in your organization?	Keith Goodwin, Senior VP, Worldwide Channels
Does that individual report to your CEO/president?	Edison reports into Keith Goodwin, Senior VP, Worldwide Channels. Goodwin, reports into Richard Justice, Executive VP, Worldwide Operations and Business Development. Justice, reports to John Chambers, Chairman and CEO.
Describe your channel organization's major accomplishments over the past year:	VIP hits $1 billion: In April of 2007, we passed $1 billion in Value Incentive Program (VIP) payouts to our channel partners. The popular incentive program--based on value--rewards our global community of channel partners for success in key advanced technologies, including Unified Communications, Security and Wireless. Partner Talent: Our channel partners have told us their top concern and inhibitor to growth is IT talent. To help our partners acquire, develop and retain talent we have launched an aggressive partner talent initiative. We have already launched a series of exciting initiatives, such as internship programs with Cisco Networking Academy graduates, partner job fairs (in the real world and Second Life) and HR Forums (to share best practices with partners). Managed Services Channel Program: As part of the IT industry's first offer-based partner program model, and consistent with our value-based strategy, we launched the first global Managed Services Channel Program (MSCP) to help partners capitalize on the huge market opportunity in managed services. Managed services represent just one part of the unprecedented breadth of opportunities we see for Cisco partners today. http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2007/prod_103107b.html
List up to 10 of your top products sold through the channel:	Router and router systems • Switches • Security • Server Networking and Virtualization • Unified Communications • Wireless • Storage • TelePresence • Video networking • Network management and networking software
Describe how your partner community has grown over the past year:	Cisco channel partners generated approximately $28 billion in fiscal 2007.
Name the one individual who has had the most profound impact on your life:	Jim Walker, Senior Vice President, Sales at AT&T (retired) has had great influence in my professional life. He is an incredibly strong sales leader with a unique ability to drive change, while balancing business objectives with customer and partner requirements. In addition, he is an excellent communicator, who fosters loyalty through a high degree of integrity.
Please name the single most innovative initiative for which you were responsible for the past year?	At the Cisco Partner Summit in April, we announced significant enhancements to the Cisco Channel Partner Program designed to recruit and enable smaller partners that focus on the SMB market. Select Certification marked Cisco's first new certification in more than 10 years and the SMB specialization became our first market segment specialization. These program enhancements will help accelerate growth and foster differentiation in the channel, by providing the tools, training and incentives that meet the needs of today's SMB-focused partners. Our goal is to recruit 5,000 Select Certified partners this year and we're on-track.
What were the key channel partner investments you made in the past year?	Partner Enablement: To enable our partners to more effectively sell, support and deliver Cisco solution, we doubled our investment in the Cisco partner enablement initiative. This consistent, repeatable framework provides our partners with the programs, tools, content and training to enable them to more effectively sell, support and deliver Cisco Solutions. • SMB: At the Cisco Partner Summit in April, we announced the next major evolution of our SMB strategy. In addition to the launch of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System -- a purpose-built communications solution for small businesses -- we also introduced Select Certification, an entry-level certification for channel partners with a primary focus on the SMB market. News Release: Cisco Raises SMB Commitment to New Level http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2007/prod_040307.html • Managed Services Channel Program: As part of the IT industry's first offer-based partner program model, and consistent with our value-based strategy, we launched the first global Managed Services Channel Program (MSCP) to help partners capitalize on the huge market opportunity in managed services. Managed services represent just one part of the unprecedented breadth of opportunities we see for Cisco partners today. http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2007/prod_103107b.html • Partner Talent: Our channel partners have told us their top concern and inhibitor to growth is IT talent. To help our partners acquire, develop and retain talent we have launched an aggressive partner talent initiative. We have already launched a series of exciting initiatives, such as internship programs with Cisco Networking Academy graduates, partner job fairs (in the real world and Second Life) and HR Forums (to share best practices with partners).
How are you attracting the next generation of solution providers?	We're doing a number of things to attract -- and grow -- channel partner with the right capabilities in the right markets. First, we've invested in market intelligence capabilities that allow us to address coverage and capacity gaps by technology, market segment, industry, geography and even offer type. With this type of market insight we can truly act as 'trusted business advisors' to our new and existing channel partner, helping them profitably grow their business to address customer demand. We have also adjusted our program to meet the unique business models of different types of partners. For smaller partners who address the SMB market, we've launched Select Certification and the accompanying SMB Specialization. For highly specialized partners, we have Master Specialization to give them a brand to recognize their unique value proposition. Finally, we launched our Managed Services Channel Program, which fits the unique business requirements of managed service providers and helps enable their growth.
What is the greatest challenge you overcame in the past year?	We see an unprecedented breadth of opportunities for Cisco and partners today. As our CEO John Chambers has said, we are no longer just plumbers. The network is a platform for IT and communications. Ten years ago, channel partners basically sold only routing and switching equipment to corporations and larger organizations. Today our channel partners sell routing and switching gear, plus an ever-expanding range of advanced and emerging technologies. On top of that, we have grown to include smaller businesses, vertical industries, service providers, and even consumers. Additionally, our channel partners have evolved from break-fix services to an entire range of lifecycle services. While in one sense the world is more complex for our channel partners, it's also full of much more promise. Our partners can invest in many more new business opportunities with us. However, the challenge for them is to not only grow but do so profitably. To address the challenge, we first have to evolve our mindset. Given the breadth of opportunities now available, partners can no longer do it all. They can no longer invest across the all these opportunities and continue to grow profitably. And we can no longer expect them to do it all. We now recognize that it's best for partners to selectively invest. With that in mind, Cisco is approaching its role with our channel partners much like a financial advisor with an investor. Our sales partners need to pick and choose investments that make the most sense for their businesses and capabilities. We need to be able to sit down at the table with information that's relevant for helping our channel partners invest wisely. For example, we've implemented what we call Regional Capacity Planning around the world. This process allows us to determine within a country or sales region, the market opportunity for a given technology, service, customer segment, vertical or offer type, such as managed services. Then we map how much partner capacity we have in that area against the market opportunities. This tool helps us identify the gaps in market opportunity and partner capacity. We have instances where we have plenty of channel partners in a market but they are all going after the same slice of the market. That means that they are all competing against each other while many of the customers in the area are underserved. This type of situation is inefficient for everyone involved, especially our mutual customers. Market gaps mean opportunities for our channel partners, and this is one way we can help them identify their best opportunities for profitable growth.

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