I recently had to shop for a new dishwasher for the first time in six years.  Wow, how the experience has changed. The selling dynamic has shifted from lengthy discussions about models and capabilities to a tailored conversation about my needs in use and care. At the end of the day, I purchased aplan(with ongoing services) so that my family and I can focus on using the dishwasher in the ways that support our needs.  I was in and out in 25 minutes and spent the majority of that time talking about the outcome I needed.

The same shift is happening in IT and there is no better way to get an outcome than with a managed service.  This is especially true as the shift to as-a-service happens, where the array of potential outcomes in a solution grows exponentially.  This puts the focus on how a solution performs after it is installed -a customer expectation that is best met with ongoing, high-value managed services.

"Cisco and our partners were built for this moment.  We will deliver the future together." 

-Chuck Robbins, Cisco CEO, at Partner Summit 2021

For managed services, this is our market to win, together.

We estimate that when you add up all the hardware, software, and related services in Cisco's addressable markets, the managed services opportunity will reach$258B worldwide by the end of 2025.  That is a huge market that you are already capturing with more than 2,150 Provider managed services, from bespoke solutions for the largest enterprises to turnkey offerings for the distributed branch and SMB.

We are just getting started.  To better assist you in your growth journey in this pivotal route to market, we have made investments across the company in several key areas.  Here are the highlights:

Product:We are further aligning our platforms and commercial capabilities to simplify your ability to integrate our products with your go-to-market.  For example, our Cisco SD-WAN platform has several new important capabilities to support you in a market that we believe will go managed in nearly two-thirds of deals by 2025.

Service Creation and Sales Acceleration:We've got some of the industry's best service creation experts, but haven't fully scaled this expertise to support your velocity.  By nearly tripling the number of service creation resources in the field, we can better support your ability to co-develop and scale your Cisco-based solutions using world-class best practices.

Sales Operations

• You asked, we have listened. We are enabling our sellers to meet you in the market motivated to selltogetherfrom the moment a new opportunity arises.  From amending our compensation policies and targets, to awareness of this route to market with new tools such as the Partner Managed Services Locator (available externally next calendar year), sellers are gearing up for joint success,  One seller put it best at our Sales Kickoff earlier this year: "Partner managed is going to be more and more of how I retire quota at Cisco."
• We have also recently introduced a managed services flagging capability in our Cisco Commerce Workspace (CCW) which will help us better track your results and reinvest in your success. If you are an Americas partner, we've introduced a new offer to reward you in your use of this important new capability.

Program:Finally, we are proud of the progress we are making with the Cisco Partner Program -Provider role to better meet your needs.  By more than doubling the investment year over year for programs that support you across service creation and sales acceleration, to evolving to support parity with our reseller-based programs across deal registration, protection, selling incentives and branding (Provider Gold!), you can invest confidently in this role if managed services is your primary go to market.

Showing Up in the Market

From the recent launch of the Cisco-based managed SASE solution from AT&T, to the innovative network solution at Galp delivered by Logicalis and Vodafone, to the NextNet managed services wins we recently celebrated at Long View's sales summit, we are so amazed at the innovations you are driving in the market day in and day out.  You'll see us focusing more of our company messaging around managed and as-a-service use cases and we are pleased to introduce a whole new Cisco.com and content experience for youand our customers.

Next Steps

Whether you are an existing Provider looking to break ground in emerging solutions or a value-added reseller (VAR) looking to get started, let's talk!  Start by booking a meeting with your partner account manager (PAM) to see how you can move your business forward this year.

Also, be sure to take advantage of all the on-demand sessions from Partner Summit including these presentations relevant to your market opportunity:

• BIS08 "Managed Services -Why Cisco, Why Now"
• BIS24 "Cisco+ What's Happening Now and What's Next"

And as always, stay tuned for much more from me and my team on this blog and follow me on Twitter.  I'd love to hear from you -#GoManaged!

We'd love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with#CiscoPartners on social!

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