Monday Morning Impact – January 28

Cisco Urges Partners to “Go Big” in IOT

Cisco is telling its partners that 2019 is prime time to invest heavily in IoT. In a blog post written by Andres Sintes, the San Jose-based company’s Global Senior Director of IoT & Digital Transformation, early movers will be rewarded with a $4 billion market for IoT products and services backed by a variety of solutions in Cisco’s portfolios for industrial Ethernet Routing, Switching, Wireless, and other categories.

Adding that IoT is Cisco’s fastest-growing architecture, Sintes is encouraging Cisco partners to take advantage of recently developed “sales motions” intended to provide a roadmap to increased IoT revenues through enhanced understanding of key customer “care abouts” in IoT that enable partners to develop sales pitches based on desired business outcomes. These reflect the realization that your “IT buyer’s responsibilities are no longer limited to the carpeted space,” Sintes wrote. “With the explosive growth in IoT and industrial devices connecting to the core network, IT must manage and secure extended spaces with the IoT portfolio. This is actually a very simple sales motion that leverages the skills you already have in place.”

Another aspect of the sales motions involves connectivity, onboarding, monitoring, security, and control of remote and mobile assets. Common use cases would include connecting kiosks, remote equipment and different types of fleets. These would be backed by data-driven business outcomes for targeted verticals like manufacturing, utilities, oil/gas, and transportation. Cross-partnering with other channel partners is recommended in situations where a single company lacks the full range of necessary expertise. In either event, training and enablement tools are being developed to support this initiative.

Channel Impact^®
It is crucial for large vendors to invest in programs to support channel adoption of growth-oriented advanced technologies. Cisco promises to roll out a comprehensive program in the immediate future.

Office Depot’s CompuCom Launches Device as a Service for Apple Hardware

CompuCom, a subsidiary of Office Depot, has launched a Device as a Service program for Apple products, providing managed services, consulting services, and end-user support for a fixed monthly fee.

The move is intended to provide a solution for customers who have employees who prefer Apple products but lack the necessary expertise to provide full support.

“Our customers continue to look for ways to attract and retain the best possible talent by providing technology experiences that transform their digital workplace,” said CompuCom Chief Product and Marketing Officer Ken Jackowitz. “That entails offering a choice of devices that boost performance and that are secure and easy to support. CompuCom’s Device as a Service for Apple brings our customers a seamless end-to-end solution that addresses employee demand.”

The offering includes hardware asset management, procurement/order management, staging/configuration, deployment, 24/7 technical support 24/7/365, end-user support, and end-of-life disposition under an agreement with payment terms of 24, 36 or 48 months.

Channel Impact^®
This initiative can represent a viable option for channel partners and customers who historically have functioned in Windows environments but are nonetheless trying to accommodate end users with an Apple preference.

Avaya A.I.Connect Ecosystem Expands with New Partners and Offers

Avaya has rolled out an expansion of its A.I.Connect ecosystem with new partners and partner offers, including an increased focus on incorporating new Artificial Intelligence capabilities into its Unified Communications solutions.

A.I.Connect is a consortium of companies dedicated to supporting and promoting the interoperability and value of artificial intelligence and machine learning within enterprise communications. The initiative creates a community of technology firms who can collaborate on creating a broad set of technology options of AI capabilities for Avaya customers.

Knowmail, which offers an email prioritization solution, and Over.ai, which has developed an AI-enabled voice platform, are the newly designated A.I.Connect partners with solutions aligned with Avaya’s overall UC and collaboration strategies.

“Avaya’s deep expertise in creating communications and collaboration experiences for enterprise workers leverages AI capabilities for natural language understanding and personal assistants,” said Eric Rossman, Avaya Vice President, Alliances and Partnerships. “With the addition of new AI solutions from companies like Knowmail, over.ai and others, our A.I.Connect initiative continues to expand the ecosystem helping to provide optimal AI capabilities for strengthening workforce engagement across omnichannel communications.”

In addition, Avaya has announced an expanded resale agreement with existing A.I.Connect partner Verint, which provides AI-enabled solutions that deliver actionable insights across text and speech channels, plus key knowledge management, feedback, and online community capabilities.

Channel Impact^®
Consortia such as this one can go a long way towards translating emerging technologies into interoperable, real-world business solutions that grow the bottom line.