10 Things Partners Are Saying About Cisco

2007 VARBusiness Alternatives Study

About 10 percent of respondents said they worry about pushback from their primary vendor in the three areas where Cisco plays. The networking giant was picked as the most retaliatory vendor across the voice, data and wireless networking categories. Here's what partners had to say:

1 "Cisco is the 800-pound giant."

2 "Cisco does not like their partners selling competing products, but it is OK for them to have three 'partners' in the same account competing for the Cisco business."

3 "Cisco is already taking our leads/business and feeding it to other, higher-level partners."

4 "Cisco does not take kindly to partners venturing off the reservation."

5 "I have experienced Cisco sending in competition to our customers when finding out we are quoting 3Com, for instance."

6 "Once a Cisco account manager hears you're selling a competing product, he will not bring you in to any of his accounts again."

7 "They want all of your business."

8 "You never want to upset Cisco."

9 "Cisco has given some of our customers to other dealers without our consent."

10 "Cisco field reps can be nasty when competing."