Cisco competency check

Cluster, a leading global Cisco Business Learning Partner, has launched a Cisco BYOD Competency Audit Service that will assess the readiness of resellers to deliver solutions to address the challenge of growing mobile device usage by employees.

A recent survey by CompTIA*1 found that more than six out of ten companies now allow employee-owned mobile devices to be used for work. With more users now wanting to hook-up all their laptops, tablets, and smartphones to the network, the strain on wireless LANs is growing. Cluster’s Cisco BYOD Competency Audit will assess a partner’s ability to meet customer needs and address the market potential.

Matthew Hathorn, CEO of Cluster, states: “With its range of access points and controllers, Cisco offers products that enable secure and manageable high-performance wireless access. But in order to deliver effective, dependable solutions, resellers need to understand how to meet the specific requirements of customers with regard to performance, security and manageability. Our BYOD Audit will measure and assess their understanding and capability in these areas, and identify where they need to improve their levels of competency.”

As a result of the audit, Cluster will recommend a learning programme that is suited to the partner’s needs. Hathorn says: “It is assumed by many partners that they need Cisco Advanced Technology Partner (ATP) specialisation status to sell BYOD. But achieving ATP status is not a pre-requisite to selling wireless solutions for BYOD by any means; about 70 percent of the BYOD market opportunity is non-ATP wireless access, so we anticipate that most partners will simply want to attain a higher level of competency in Cisco wireless technologies, both from a technical and sales perspective, to address this market.

“The Cluster Cisco BYOD Competency Audit helps partners understand that Cisco is a very credible BYOD provider, that you don’t have to be an ATP to sell Cisco BYOD, and that Cluster can help them improve sales and technical competencies.”

The audit and subsequent training provided by Cluster will help resellers to get results by focusing how Cisco technologies can make a real difference to customers’ wireless deployments, says Hathorn.

“For example, many Cisco Partners are leading BYOD sales with the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), which is used to provide a central policy enforcement infrastructure. Leading with ISE however, can lengthen the sales cycle, especially when customers are looking at both wired and wireless unified access. Cisco Partners in the Nordics have been more successful in selling ISE as a management option for large projects, where the requirement is predominantly for wireless guest access. This subtle difference in approach results in quicker sales cycles and higher conversion rates.”