Networking market leader Cisco Systems kicked off its annual Partner Summit in April with an apology to solution providers for year-long product shortages that resulted in a lot of frustrated customers and partners. A variety of factors contributed to Cisco’s supply chain woes, but the channel didn’t care as much about the ’why’ as it did the ’what now?’ Partners blamed Cisco for being too tight-lipped about details that would have helped in project planning with their customers. The lack of information, solution providers said, jeopardized their role as a trusted advisor to their customers, leaving many partners to grapple with frustration and lost sales, and leaving Cisco with some channel fences to mend.
