Cisco is trying to win over SMB resellers in Canada through a series of initiatives with distributors here. The latest is an extension of its partnership with D&H Distributing into the Canadian market, combining its SMB solutions with D&H’s service and support capabilities.
And only a few weeks ago it announced a “Try and Buy” program with Tech Data Canada, which could help lure more SMB resellers into the Cisco fold.Cisco has always done well in the enterprise space – in fact, it’s the de facto standard there. Not so much, however, in the SMB market, where many view Cisco as an enterprise player, and Cisco has yet to really penetrate that market. For Cisco, the SMB market is its largest opportunity in terms of market share growth – but it needs the channel to get there.
Two years ago, D&H became a Cisco specialty distributor in the U.S. The distie, which focuses on personalized customer service for SMB resellers, entered the Canadian market in July, opening its first international warehouse in Mississauga, Ont.
Some wondered if there was enough room for another distributor in the Canadian landscape, especially since D&H wanted to bring 1,000 new partners on board in its first year. Now, after five months, it already has more than 800 resellers signed up – so it must be doing something right.
That’s good news for a vendor like Cisco, which can leverage that base of resellers to reach out to the SMB market here – particularly in vertical markets and more rural geographies (Cisco is more established in Canada’s urban areas). It’s also good news for D&H, since it has the backing of a well-known tier-one vendor partner.D&H plans to bring Cisco partners on board, train them and help them with certifications – with the ultimate goal of helping them reach Premier partner status.
But Cisco isn’t spreading itself thin. It’s struck up a number of alliances with distributors to aggressively pursue this market. Just a few weeks ago, it announced that it’s offering its “Try and Buy” program to resellers in Canada through Tech Data, which is also beefing up its SMB focus.
The program allows resellers to obtain specific Cisco products on a trial basis through Tech Data for up to 60 days. Cisco has had success with the same type of program south of the border.
This is also a way of targeting the SMB market here, since it’s likely that most resellers participating in the program will be SMB resellers that are unfamiliar with Cisco’s products (as opposed to Cisco’s established enterprise VAR partners).
Back in January, Cisco announced a financing program for North American resellers with Ingram Micro, called the Cisco Express Leasing program. This was designed to give resellers in the SMB space immediate access to Cisco’s leasing offerings. This targets a major problem for SMB resellers: credit.
It looks like Cisco has its bases covered – now the ball is in the channel’s court.
