IBM, Cisco Champions Of Champs
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In this year's survey, there are no bigger Channel Champions than IBM and Cisco Systems.
The two industry behemoths dominated the 16th annual CRN Channel Champions awards, walking away with a combined 11 of the 28 awards, including the two most prized trophies: The Best Overall Channel Program Criteria award and the Best Overall Technical Satisfaction award.
The top trophy for Best Overall Channel Program Criteria went to IBM for having the highest composite channel program satisfaction ratings. IBM also won four categories overall: application integration middleware, advanced desktops and workstations, midrange servers and, in a tie with Hewlett-Packard, network storage hardware.
If solution providers had one word for IBM as a partner, it would be consistency. In category after category, solution providers gave IBM stellar satisfaction ratings for the consistency of its channel programs.
"IBM's unwavering commitment to the channel is job one," said Harvey Najim, president and CEO of Sirius Computer Solutions of San Antonio, Texas, one of IBM's largest business partners. "They are truly concerned about their partners' profitability. If you drill down, it's all about their channel programs themselves and the consistency of those programs. They don't, like some vendors, constantly change those programs."
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Donn Atkins, general manager of IBM's global business partners, said IBM intends to continue its channel dominance by focusing on building its partners' skills and capabilities in 2006. IBM said its business partners now contribute 35 percent of sales—an all-time high.
"Our programs don't require radical change," Atkins said. "Our programs require just enhancement and tuning and trying to get better yields on the investments that we and our partners have made. A great example is the fact that we now have 100 business partner innovation centers around the world."
Atkins said IBM intends to spend another $250 million this year to open 40 more business partner innovation centers, which allow IBM partners to configure demo equipment to customer specifications and showcase solutions before purchase.
"Our partners have made big investments to build the set of skills necessary to win in the marketplace," he said. "I am going to continue to reward them for that."
Next to IBM's channel prowess, it was Cisco's technical excellence and expanding Channel Champions market reach that was the big story. Cisco not only took the Best Overall Technical Satisfaction award for having the highest composite technical ratings across all the categories it won, but also won five categories overall, spanning the market from small business to enterprise.
Cisco, which has steadily increased the number of Channel Champions awards it has taken home over the past three years, was the winner in the small-business WLANs, small-business networking hardware, VoIP technology, enterprise networking hardware and enterprise WLANs categories.
Arnie Bellini, the president of ConnectWise, a Tampa, Fla., solution provider, said no one deserves the broad and deep Channel Champions recognition more than Cisco. "They are an awesome partner," Bellini said. "They really deserve the recognition and praise. They are making a big difference in the IT industry with innovative products and technology. And they respect the relationship they have with the VARs."
A jubilant Chuck Robbins, vice president of Cisco's U.S. and Canada channels, said a big reason for Cisco's success is the full-fledged channel commitment throughout Cisco. "That means a real commitment, not a press release commitment," Robbins said. "From [Cisco CEO and President] John Chambers to the sales organization to the technology business units, everyone is fully committed to going to market with channel partners."
He said that commitment has led to Cisco's success in the small-business arena. "I am extremely pleased to see the wins in the small-business category because that says we have begun to accomplish some of our goals to have partners and customers believe we are really serious about that marketplace," Robbins said.
In the United States and Canada, Cisco has increased its budget for its overall channel effort by more than 20 percent over the last year, Robbins said. That does not include Cisco profitability incentives for partners.
After winning the most awards of any vendor, the question is: Can Cisco top its 2006 Channel Champions performance next year? Robbins said the key will be for the networking leader to continue to focus on the channel fundamentals while evolving its program based on market dynamics.
"There is not a one-size-fits-all channel program anymore," he said. One example of Cisco's channel innovation is a recently launched pilot channel program for managed service providers that is slated to debut in November.
As always, listening and responding to partner feedback will be important to succeed, Robbins said. "If you are going to ask partners to give you feedback, then you better be ready to act, because you are going to lose credibility if you don't," he said. "Partners want to be partners. They don't want a vendor relationship. They want a partnership."
Atkins, for his part, said he is confident about IBM's prospects for keeping its Best Overall Channel Program Criteria crown. "We have a linkage with the partners that will continue to give us that edge in understanding what that next set of opportunities and values are," he said.