Welcome back to my "Tell Your Customer Story" series. I hope you enjoyed my previous blog on how Core BTS, a Cisco partner, created a powerful solution for their customer.  The second in this series spotlights Cerium Networks and how they brought a customer's vision to life.

Innovating for Success

When "it becomes crystal clear that we cannot keep doing things the same way," what level of technology expertise does it take to help a county overhaul the way it's been operating for 30 years? According to a county official, that was the problem facing Benton County, Washington. They needed to serve their constituents with a shrinking operating budget.

So Benton County turned to Cerium Networks, a Master Collaboration and Master Security Specialized Partner. The county worked with several vendors over the years, leading to a complex technology environment. Cerium helped streamline their operations. They made sure that the county's business ran smoothly during the process.

The implementation required a number of Cisco technologies, including a high-speed switching backbone, data center virtualization, unified communications, and Cisco TelePresence. Cerium had the knowledge and experience to handle the project.

Roger Junkermier, President of Cerium, is committed to maintaining their Master Specializations, the highest level of expertise attainable by Cisco partners. "It's a very significant investment in resources and time, but it increased our depth of knowledge tremendously. Generalization is trending towards specialization, because that's what customers are looking for. We are a specialization company."

According to the official, the transformation is leading Benton County into the future: "I get up every day and tell the 168,000 citizens of Benton County that I will build a better place for them. I can't say enough about Cisco and Cerium in moving forward in helping me deliver on my dream. Because if you don't have a dream, you die."

Up Your Game with the Cisco Partner Ecosystem

Customers seek Master Specialized partners for their deep expertise of Cisco solutions. As a part of the Cisco Partner Ecosystem, you can tackle your customers' complex problems, reach additional markets, and carve out new revenue streams-all while lowering costs.

Stay tuned for more success stories from Master Specialization partners in my upcoming blogs.

In the meantime, show your customers the Master Specialization website. It will help them understand the added benefits of working with a Master Specialized partner and why they should be working with you to solve their most pressing business challenges.

Share your story with us. We'd love to hear how you're building a network of partnerships as you adapt to shifting trends and technologies-and helping your customers do the same.