Cisco SME chief tightens focus

Simplicity is the watchword for Cisco's new UK commercial chief David Critchley as he aims to help VARs explore lucrative managed services revenue streams, writes CRN-UK.

Critchley took on the role of UK and Ireland director of commercial and SME six months ago, having been with the networking giant for 12 years in a variety of positions. He has been tasked with addressing the needs of businesses with between 100 and 1 500 seats.

Sub-100 seat firms are now handled separately, meaning the vendor's commercial arm now covers 20 000 customers, compared with the old SMB unit, which handled 3 000. Critchley revealed 94% of Cisco's UK customers are small businesses and claimed giving them a dedicated focus was important.

Acer is looking to bolster its strong market share in the US by rolling out its Acer Channel Excellence (ACE) Programme for solution providers who hit specific annual sales goals, reports ChannelWeb.

The ACE Programme is designed to provide a higher level of sales and support for qualified Acer solution providers who do a minimum of $100 000 in sales in a calendar year. Solution providers who qualify for the ACE tier will have access to enhanced sales and support from the vendor as well as deal registration.

The number three PC maker in the US hopes to introduce the programme with 200 to 300 solution providers in the US with the goal of rapidly increasing to 500 partners domestically, making it an exclusive part of Acer's partner ecosystem, which the company estimates at 14 000 partners.

In a bid to address growing clientele base, Sage India, a provider of enterprise business solutions for SMEs, has decided to strengthen its channel business, states ChannelTimes.

With slowdown helping SMEs in getting more projects and deals, Sage India acquired many customers. Now, Sage India wants to engage more channel partners, and enable the entire channel base with the necessary skill sets to address the customers paint points.

It has introduced an enablement programme for its partners in terms of sales and post-sales. The company is also planning to bring out a plethora of incentivesation programmes.