7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at CDW, Avaya, Cisco, Clarus, More
Our top stories of the week include Cisco giving partners and customers an option to defer payments.
May 5, 2023
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Cisco is giving partners and customers an option to defer payments on its solutions until 2024 through its new Cisco Capital Business Acceleration Program. Businesses that purchase Cisco hardware, software or services before July 29 of this year can wait to 2024 to make a payment.
Cisco executives made waves when they said the latest initiative tackles the problem of cash flow that many businesses are facing during the macroeconomic downturn.
“The Cisco Capital Business Acceleration Program is in response to customer and partner requests to help mitigate financial challenges based on overall market uncertainty and the impact that it is having on their businesses. Our goal is to provide payment options that allow continuous technology investment to maintain productivity and business continuity while minimizing cash outlays,” Cisco Capital senior vice president and president Kristine Snow said. “Customer success is our priority. The new program is designed with this in mind and will help address some of our customers’ most pressing concerns.”
Find out who the initiative applies to and what the contract terms are here.
Clarus Communications, a technology services distributor that belongs to the TDM family of companies, announced its 100% Club, which gives selling partners all vendor compensation that comes from deals in return for subscribing to Clarus. Leaders at Clarus and TDM are calling this one of the first subscription-based offerings by a TSD to technology advisors.
The premise is simple: Partners pay a $1,000 monthly subscription to Clarus and in return receive 100% of all commissions from vendors they sell with Clarus. They’ll also get upfront SPIFFs.
Jeff Ponts, managing partner, West, at Clarus, made waves when he said with its 100% Club, Clarus makes revenue streams for both Clarus and the subagent more predictable.
“It’s 100% payout. We make our money on subscription. We know what our costs are. It is the biggest no-brainer since I started this business 20 years ago,” he said.
Learn why this program couldn’t exist without private equity.
CDW layoffs have reportedly displaced hundreds of workers after the company’s CEO said its first quarter was “a period of intensifying economic uncertainty.”
Christine Leahy, CDW’s chair, president and CEO, made waves when she said customers are spending more cautiously and prioritizing mission-critical initiatives.
“This demand contraction resulted in first-quarter performance below our expectations,” she said. “Volume declines were most acute with our largest commercial customers and across transactional products. Solutions were more resilient, but performance also came in below our expectations. While these results were disappointing, the team executed well in a rapidly changing environment.”
Read what employees had to say about the layoffs.
Channel vet Michelle Ragusa-McBain has joined the SonicWall channel team as vice president and North America channel leader.
Ragusa-McBain’s goal is to enable partners to grow and profit with the “boundless shift to cybersecurity.” SonicWall announced her appointment at this week’s Channel Partners Conference & Expo.
“For me, SonicWall is a 30-year industry legend in cybersecurity, one of the hottest topics right now obviously for many MSPs and MSSPs, and customers and partners around the world,” she said. “And SonicWall is sort of this amazing kind of comeback story because they had their acquisition and now they’re private again. And this is not the SonicWall of yesteryear. They have new leadership. They’re reimagining how they go to market (GTM)…”
Find out more from Ragusa-McBain about her goals for the position.
At last year’s Kaseya Connect Global, Neil Medwed, vice president of corporate development and M&A at Meriplex, remembers he could hear a pin drop after CEO Fred Voccola’s keynote. Kaseya had recently announced its acquisition of Datto and most of the company’s MSP customers were not happy with the move. This year, the audience reaction at the conference was much different.
“I love the standing ovation,” Medwed said as many MSPs were still on their feet, applauding Voccola’s keynote. “From the nervousness of last year to the enthusiasm of this year, it’s a big change. The new products announced for IT Complete and the dropping of prices, it all certainly makes a difference for their community and is beneficial to the IT community as a whole.”
Learn more about these products and what Kaseya is doing to teach young techs, engineers.
Avaya has come out of chapter 11 bankruptcy with approximately $650 million in liquidity. Company officials said Avaya emerges from bankruptcy focused on advancing innovation with their long-range product road map.
The debt Avaya carries is now at a “healthy level,” analysts said. Currently, the assets of the business are financed mostly by the capital coming from investors, which they get equity in return.
Analyst Jon Arnold made waves when he said that compared to the last Avaya bankruptcy, “this emergence from chapter 11 was much faster and on more favorable terms, which is great to see given how capital markets are tighter now.”
Read the article here to learn why the terms are more of a win-win for the company.
Informa Tech’s Channel Group, in partnership with JS Group, the channel consulting and research firm, is launching a first-of-its kind report on the state of the technology services distributor market.
The newly announced study, titled “Unlocking the Potential of Technology Services Distributors,” sheds light on the changing identity of TSDs and partners’ changing expectations for TSDs. The survey asked 53 vendors and 142 partners about their experiences working with TSD partners and the service gaps they experience.
“What we saw in our research is that high-growth partners are in some instances outgrowing the legacy model of engagement offered by their TSD,” JS Group CEO Janet Schijns said. “While they may enjoy events, outings and networking, they want increased demand generation, technical and integration support, as well as digital engagement. As these are now must-haves for these partners, this could change how these partners think about which distributor they chose to partner with in the future.”
Learn here why the traditional TSD model still presents a plethora of opportunities.
Informa Tech’s Channel Group, in partnership with JS Group, the channel consulting and research firm, is launching a first-of-its kind report on the state of the technology services distributor market.
The newly announced study, titled “Unlocking the Potential of Technology Services Distributors,” sheds light on the changing identity of TSDs and partners’ changing expectations for TSDs. The survey asked 53 vendors and 142 partners about their experiences working with TSD partners and the service gaps they experience.
“What we saw in our research is that high-growth partners are in some instances outgrowing the legacy model of engagement offered by their TSD,” JS Group CEO Janet Schijns said. “While they may enjoy events, outings and networking, they want increased demand generation, technical and integration support, as well as digital engagement. As these are now must-haves for these partners, this could change how these partners think about which distributor they chose to partner with in the future.”
Learn here why the traditional TSD model still presents a plethora of opportunities.
This week’s edition of our top stories includes seven channel people making waves at CDW, Avaya, Cisco, Clarus and more. We’ve highlighted the individuals behind the top stories of the week (see our slideshow above) at Channel Futures.
First up is Avaya. Our No. 2 story discusses how the company has come out of chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, again. Analysts think this time around is a win-win situation for Avaya and that the debt the company now carries is at a healthy level.
When it comes to what’s novel, Clarus Communications is on to something. The technology services distributor has unveiled its 100% Club, where selling partners get all vendor compensation that comes from deals in return for subscribing to Clarus. Officials at Clarus call this arrangement “the biggest no-brainer.”
Finally, CDW layoffs are impacting workers in a huge way. As one worker said: “I think we lost a lot of people with a lot of knowledge” and that we’re “still sifting through the wreckage. Not my first layoff rodeo, but this one feels really different, and not in a good way.” Find out how leadership responded to the job cuts.
And that’s a wrap. If you didn’t catch our previous edition of Channel People Making Waves, you can find it here. Thanks for reading!
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Claudia Adrien or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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