Full Speed to Profitability: Keep the Momentum Going

Wow.  So that’s what a Full Speed Partner Summit feels like? Let me take a second to catch my breath and reflect on #CiscoPS16.

As we heard from Chuck Robbins, we’re seeing unprecedented speed and opportunity in our industry with the digital era creating new opportunities for growth and the need for all of us to have new types of partnerships for the future and beyond. We need to align to our customers’ business drivers, differentiate solutions with business impact, and change the game.

Chris Dedicoat and Wendy Bahr took it a step further by talking about capturing digital growth with our digital capabilities, including some key launches and announcements.

Partners can learn more about all Partner Summit launches and announcements on our Partner Summit SalesConnect Hub.

And while Cisco and our partners deliver powerful business outcomes to customers, Karen Walker shared how our marketing team can help drive that growth by accelerating digital demand.

Contact your PAM to customize your digital marketing strategy and engage with your customers like never before.

During the Americas Session, Alison Gleason and I shared how our partners can capture digital opportunities, accelerate profitability, and leverage the power of the partner ecosystem.

I also discussed what our most profitable Americas partners are doing to drive terrific profitability, then went further to discuss very concrete profit drivers you can put to work NOW in the areas of security, collaboration and core refresh.  Speaking of profitability, here’s what the All Star (most profitable partners) are doing to improve their profits:

Leading with security as their #1 source of highest gross profit

Driving 41% of their business via selling to the line of business

Generating 31% of their business in recurring revenue streams (cloud, SaaS, etc.)

Leveraging the ecosystem to deliver business outcome-led solutions

Earning 45% higher Cisco Practice Gross Margins

Cisco Partners: Watch Partner Summit 2016 Sessions

We also heard a lot of buzz around our digital solutions and transformation opportunities. The Digital Solutions Integrators represent a new role for our ecosystem at Cisco and were a key highlight of the event.

Please keep that conversation going using the #CiscoDSI hashtag, as that role will continue to grow in our ecosystem.

For more information on how to best use SalesConnect as a partner, contact your Partner Account Manager. It’s a secret weapon and game-changer for our most successful partners.

Partners, start moving at #FullSpeed to profitability by leveraging the #CiscoPS16 tools on SalesConnect: https://t.co/LMOxkjnQK5 pic.twitter.com/hjgGldZR1h

— Rick Snyder (@RickSnyderNC) November 4, 2016

Congratulations again to our Americas Partner Award Winners!

There was no better way to end a great week with partners than hearing the powerful story of John McClean, who overcame so much to become an incredibly successful ironman athlete. His ecosystem was essential to his success:

“It’s impossible for me to do this alone. Only with amazing partners have I been able to climb this big mountain”

As John said, “We all must change the dialogue and believe. How far can you go?“

How far can we go?

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