Cisco is offering two new unified communications products for small and mid-sized businesses, the Cisco Unified Communications 300 Series and the Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition 3000. †Cisco is also offering a new global sales productivity initiative called Cisco Partner Advisor, with agents available to support the 24,000 Select and Registered partners who sell to SMBs. In addition, Cisco is extending Cisco WebEx Meeting Center to its partners, providing channel partners more collaboration for SMB customers.
It’s no surprise that Cisco is offering these types of products to the SMB – with a push towards the SMB market in the last few years and acquisitions of companies like Inlet, Cisco has made it clear that the vendor believes video and UC is the wave of the future. It’s important for most networking SMB resellers, not just Cisco partners, to have a strong understanding of UC deployment and management. But Cisco is making it easier for its partners who sell into the SMB space with these new products and tools.
The announcement from the Cisco Partner Summit ’11 includes:
- Cisco Unified Communications 300 Series: This collaboration system delivers everything a company with two to 24 users needs for business-class networking and voice communications. This product lets a small business take advantage of IP telephony to reduce phone costs, boost employee productivity, and create a more collaborative company. It includes built-in data and wireless support, along with features such as voicemail and automated attendant. Three-year, zero percent financing is available from Cisco Capital in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom for the Cisco UC300 Series through the end of July 2011.
- Cisco Unified Communications Manager Business Edition 3000: This unified communications platform, designed for growing mid-sized businesses, supports a capacity of 300 users across 10 sites. The system is quick for a trained Cisco partner to set up, and includes an intuitive user interface, saving time and money for both the partner and the customer.
The Cisco Unified CM Business Edition 3000 offers voice mail, conferencing, the ability to park or hold calls, auto attendant, and standard mobility features like single number reach, extension mobility, and tele-worker support. The Cisco Unified SIP Phone 3905 is an affordable, IP-based phone that integrates with the Cisco Unified CM Business Edition 3000 to address the need for uncomplicated voice communications for mid-sized businesses. It included fixed keys for redial, transfer, hold and resume, speakerphone, volume toggle, and a PC switch port.
- Cisco Partner Advisor: A sales coverage and support initiative for Cisco small business and mid-market partners, Cisco Partner Advisor provides immediate, personalized sales support via click-to-chat or phone. Initially delivered through two global centers in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Lisbon, Portugal, Cisco support personnel are there to help new partners get started with Cisco and provide assistance to partners for deal support, programs, and tools. Over the next few months, Partner Advisor will continue to roll out internationally and support will be available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Korean. †
- Cisco WebEx: Cisco is introducing a partner-led model for Cisco WebEx Meeting Center designed specifically for partners that sell to small businesses. Cisco WebEx Meeting Center lets end users share applications, presentations, documents, or a PC desktop in real time. By selling Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, partners can offer more complete collaboration solutions while helping customers use web conferencing to accelerate productivity and drive business growth. Partners can learn more about selling WebEx Meeting Center here.
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