Donna Wittmann has had a busy year at Cisco Canada (NASDAQ: CSCO) with several introductions of new partner resources and programs throughout the year.
Perhaps the most shocking news this year was Cisco’s decision to end its system integrator contract and long-time partnership with HP at the end of April because of differing visions of how the companies were to deliver value in the data centre.
Also this year, the company expanded its Borderless Networks architecture with the introduction of new routers and switches to make it easier for people in business environments to communicate anytime, anywhere, using any device through a seamless and secure environment.
Cisco also evolved its go-to-market strategy from a technology to architecture-focus to encourage more partner specialization.
“We’re very focused on the small and mid-market area which we classify as being anywhere between 100 to 1000 seats,” Wittmann said.
To help its partners, Cisco introduced a Mentoring Program, Canadian Supercenter, Avant Garde and a Partner-Enablement program.
“The goal (with Avant Garde) is to have a holistic and structured approach for how we can help partners sell, deliver and support solutions and services in the SMB and mid-market space,” she said.
