Every Friday, we'll highlight the most important Cisco partner news and stories of the week, as well as point you to important, Cisco-related partner content you may have missed along the way. Here's what you might have missed this week:

Off the Top

Cisco introduced a newly defined Small and Midsize Business (SMB) Specialization this week. Steve Benvenuto, Cisco Senior Director of Business Development for the Strategy, Planning and Partner Programs team in the Worldwide Partner Organization, took the time to explain just what the evolution of that specialization means to the channel in his most recent blog.

Cisco has simplified the specialization by reducing the training courses significantly. In addition, the program exams have been updated and the benefits of the specialization have been updated.

Be sure to check out Steve's blog and get up to speed on the new SMB Specialization.

Good Reads

• John Hernandez Reflects on the past year in the Contact Center Business
• Jim McHugh talks about partnering with EMC to speed customers toward the cloud
• Raghunath Nambiar on Cisco Validated Design for Cisco UCS
• Rob Lloyd discusses Brazil's spotlight on innovation and the Internet of Everything

Keep An Eye Out

• Swing by the Cisco Partner Event calendar for the latest information on Cisco partner gatherings.
• Register for the Marketing Velocity On the Air Webcast, Building Personas: Part 2, on September 17th. During this webcast, you learn how each persona engages in the customer buying cycle and how you use personas in campaigns.