Looking Back at CLUS19: Americas Partner Experience Perspective

It’s been an eventful and inspiring past few weeks for Cisco, as well as for the Americas Partner Organization (APO). We just wrapped our 30th annual Cisco Live (CLUS), where we saw record-breaking attendance at Partner Xperience – with participation from nearly 400 Cisco Partners! If you missed a session from an executive or thought leader – or simply want to re-live the moment – The Partner Xperience replays are now available. PLEASE NOTE: You will need to be logged in using your Cisco Partner credentials in order to access the replays.

Amid the enthusiasm around CLUS, I was fortunate enough to share my own excitement after just having announced my position as the new leader for the Americas Partner Organization. I am honored and excited about the future, how we are performing together in the present and our strategy to transform in the future.

The future for Cisco and our Partners is bright, in part thanks to the exemplary leadership of Rick Snyder over the past several years. Rick’s thought leadership and commitment to the Partner community and Partner teams have made a very positive and significant impact. I look forward to building upon this success together with you to carry the momentum forward as we go above-and-beyond for our customers. It was truly an honor to stand by Rick at our Partner Xperience and wish him the best in his retirement.

An integral part of our continued success is in connecting with our Partners on a real-time level through events like last week’s Partner Xperience at Cisco Live. As I look back on our week in San Diego, there are some key takeaways I would like to share:

Feedback Influences Transformation: The Partner Xperience at Cisco Live enabled us to really listen to our Partners, and to take in feedback that makes us better together and strengthens our relationships. Through the conversations we have with our Partners, we are given the ability to evolve, adapt and transform in an ever-changing industry. These relationships are our leading edge, and what ultimately drive our growth.

Customer Experience Is Everything: It is more important than ever to be hyper-focused on providing an outstanding customer experience. According to Salesforce, 76% of consumers think companies should understand their needs and expectations. It is our duty to anticipate our customers’ needs and deliver a truly great experience – it is our duty to be customer obsessed!

Our Partners Make Possible: Our Partners enable us to craft solutions and drive innovation worldwide – you are a critical piece of the bridge from impossible to possible, and we are so much better together. Our Partners are the fuel to the customer-obsession fire!

With this emphasis on our Partners and customer obsession, we’re investing heavily in actionable, partner-focused initiatives:

Cognitive Collaboration delivers productivity improvements and competitive advantage across the organization by evaluating cognitive technologies for their applicability in the workplace and to improve customer engagements. Determine use cases for potential. Here’s how.

Networking is being reinvented with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Learn how AI/ML are driving more intelligent insights & issue analysis almost instantly – by detecting anomalies, classifying data, predicting values in a sequence, making specific suggestions, categorizing data, and translating the information. Learn more here.

Cisco is developing the IT team of the future with new DevNet certifications – engaging developers from the top down to help our Partners drive a better customer experience. See Susie Wee’s interview for more detail on the new Cisco CCNA certification here.

In fact, last week in San Diego, we took the time to speak with several partners and get their thoughts on our announcements and what it’s like to attend this event in person. If you can spare four minutes, it’s worth the watch.

In an increasingly complex era of rapid digital transformation, we are striving to simplify and hone-in on our communication; our intent is to continuously and consistently improve our execution of future in-person Partner events. Your feedback is extremely valuable, and we encourage you to engage with us in the comment section provided below.

It was great to hear from so many of our partners about the value of events like this. I hope everyone found the week to be as enlightening, inspiring, and powerful as I did. There are too many individuals to list individually for their hard work in making CLUS and Partner Xperience so incredible, but to our host city of San Diego, the event staff, our Cisco representatives, and especially our valued Partners and customers – THANK YOU!

Together, we make possible!