Cisco Kickstarted New SME Program to Improve Partner Sales Efficiency in Asia Pacific

Cisco announced the launch of Partner Deal Express at the recently concluded Cisco Live Melbourne. The Partner Deal Express is a programmatic and scalable initiative aimed at improving sales efficiency and profitability for partners when they sell to small and medium businesses (SMBs/SMEs).

The program enables Cisco's partners to provide faster transactions for SMBs as it provides an upfront discount on a targeted portfolio tailored for SMBs. With this, partners would not need to seek approval on deals that fall under this program.

It also offers the best pricing and promotions to improve customer experience and increases partner profitability through predictable pricing, which makes closing SMB deals/transactions easier and faster. To achieve that, Cisco will regularly review historical pricing and competitive analysis and adjust Fast Track (pricing) to provide the best upfront discount for SMBs.

The Partner Deal Express program portfolio includes four product families tailored to cater to fundamental SMB needs. From these core product families, Cisco partners can construct affordable solutions priced to fit specific customers. The portfolio comprises:

• Cisco Meraki, the leader in cloud-controlled Wi-Fi routing and security
• Webex by Cisco, the leading enterprise-grade collaboration platform
• Duo, an easy and flexible multi-factor authentication solution
• Cisco Umbrella, a cloud solution combining multiple functions to provide flexible, cloud-delivered security.
• Cisco On Premise portfolio, Cisco Catalyst, Cisco Business, and Cisco Firepower series

According to IDC, SMBs comprise approximately 98% of enterprises in Asia Pacific and are a key and majority component of economies. SMBs also generate the largest number of employment opportunities in the region, accounting for more than 50% of the workforce, which creates a growing need for partner expertise in the security and hybrid workspace.

SMBs are looking to increase their operational efficiency, planning and hiring for growth, and improving customer service in a hybrid work environment. Cisco has been focusing on the market and working with partners to provide tailored solutions for SMBs to help them achieve their business outcomes. The SMB segment was among the fastest-growing area for Cisco in the financial year 2022. To support the Partner Deal Express program, Cisco will be launching a new SMB Website across APJC (available in all languages) with the aim to drive traffic and leads to our valued partners.

"Small and medium-sized businesses are a big priority for Cisco, especially in Asia Pacific, which is one of the fastest growing markets for SMBs. With technology evolving at a fast pace, SMBs need our partner's expertise to ensure they deploy the right technologies to transform in the right areas and harness the full potential of digitalization. The Partner Deal Express program is an initiative that enables and empowers our partners to help SMBs by providing simplified visibility, management, and control," said Michiko Kamata, Managing Director, SMB APJC at Cisco.