AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, May 26, 2010 - Cisco today announced the launch of the Cisco Partner Demand Centre, an organisation designed to help the company's channel partners increase the speed and efficiency of their marketing activities. The centre will offer channel partners integrated demand-generation services through highly tailored marketing tools and expertise including instant access to support from Cisco. The Partner Demand Centre will help all Cisco channel partners that target small to midsize businesses to accelerate their growth by providing them with the tools and information they need to win and retain new business.
"Effective marketing is integral to helping our partners win business, but many have limited budgets, resources or marketing expertise," says Thierry Drilhon, vice president, worldwide partner organisation, Cisco Europe. "Cisco's Partner Demand Centre provides our valued partner community with unparalleled access to our co-marketing engine, Partner Marketing Central. It also brings together specialist marketing skills, resources and co-marketing funds that will help create unique campaigns and stage successful events. By equipping partners with the tools they need to generate as many leads as possible, we are putting them on a course for sustainable but ambitious growth."
The Partner Demand Centre is available to all Cisco channel partners, with additional benefits for those signed up for Avant Garde, Cisco's pan-European partner enablement initiative. All Avant Garde partners have access to a Cisco client manager and marketing assistance, and Avant Garde Plus partners are also eligible for bespoke campaign execution and support. All other channel partners will benefit from access to M-concierge, a call centre service that provides guidance on the resources available to them. In addition, channel partners enrolled in the Partner Development Funds initiative, which makes quarterly payments to qualifying partners based on their sales of Cisco Small Business products, may also choose to use the capital generated by the fund to pay for marketing campaigns through the Partner Demand Centre.
As part of the Partner Demand Centre, Cisco can help channel partners more effectively target and win new business with small to midsize customers by assisting with data modelling and the use of high-value market intelligence. This assistance is designed for Avant Garde partners who want to identify incremental revenue opportunities, promote continuous customer engagement, and work on the most promising customer prospects to boost sales and make the most of limited resources. Partners can contact their territory business manager to discuss details regarding the possibility of such assistance.
Also as part of the Cisco Partner Demand Centre, channel partners will have access to Partner Marketing Central, a Web portal using the latest media technologies. Partner Marketing Central contains an extensive library of campaign templates and assets encompassing event management tools, social media integration and website marketing services. "The Partner Demand Centre represents our pledge to fully engage with, support and nurture our channel partner community," says Stanimira Koleva, commercial and small-business director for Cisco Europe. "We recognise that economic recovery brings opportunities as well as new challenges, particularly for small and midsize businesses in Europe. With Avant Garde and the Partner Demand Centre, we have equipped channel partners with the tools they need to accelerate their way through the upturn and it's time to capitalise on the opportunities we are seeing to assist customers with transforming their business."
Three Partner Demand Centre offices have been set up to deliver services more closely aligned to their geographic time zones. For more information on Cisco's Partner Demand Centre and for details on how to join, please access the online marketing portal at www.cisco.com/go/partnermarketing.
