Brainstorm Networks
For its commitment, Brainstorm has been chosen as a Cisco Focus Partner, and this year the solution provider plans to devote a large portion of its marketing efforts to a branding campaign.
Up until last year, network integrator Brainstorm was a 3Com gold partner that also registered itself as a business partner with Cisco Systems to gain access to some WAN and LAN equipment and pick up an occasional router deal.
But at the 2004 NetWorld+Interop in Las Vegas, Brainstorm CEO Calvin Cooke heard Cisco President and CEO John Chambers give his stump speech about Cisco’s architectural approach to businesses’ infrastructures—and the famously evangelical Chambers landed another convert.
On the plane ride home from Las Vegas to rural Colorado, Cooke had his epiphany. He decided Cisco had the right strategy and it was time to make a change. “We had to get forceful about getting all our arrows pointed in the same direction,” Cooke said.
Already big into VoIP in the education vertical, Brainstorm worked quickly to become Cisco-certified in IP telephony as a way to differentiate itself from the competition. “Cisco really rewards those companies that specialize, and we’ve chosen to take advantage of that,” Cooke said. “Our business strategy is all about specialization.”
Success followed quickly. Brainstorm’s revenue grew 100 percent for the 12 months ended June 30, 2004. Also contributing to that success was a strong focus on security. “Security is involved in everything we do,” he said.
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Above all, Cooke said what’s made all the difference in putting Brainstorm on the path to fast growth is the company’s dedication to its relationship with its new main vendor partner. “We’ve taken the word ‘partner’ seriously,” Cooke said.
It certainly has. Brainstorm set up an office on the same floor in the same building as Cisco’s Denver office, and even changed its fiscal calendar to coincide with Cisco’s. “By putting our quarter system on Cisco’s system our salespeople are motivated in the same way,” Cooke said, adding, “It’s all about understanding what motivates the Cisco reps and aligning Brainstorm with that.”
The efforts have been noticed. “Brainstorm has worked to meet the requirements of the Cisco IP Communications Specialization, installed a fully functional Cisco Security demo lab and taken advantage of partner profitability improvement programs,” said Chuck Robbins, Cisco vice president of U.S. Channels.