Cisco on the warpath over mis-sold support packages

By Alex Scroxton

07 July 2008 

Cisco has fired a shot across the bows of Shared Support partners that are flouting its guidelines by offering own-branded support services to non-accredited resellers.

In a document leaked to MicroScope, Cisco said it wanted to stop the practice, and would be contacting resellers in the coming weeks that have been selling Shared Support incorrectly.

The vendor reiterated that Cisco Shared Support Partners (CSSPs) were only allowed to sell their own branded services both direct to end-users and to other CSSPs for resale purposes.

Cisco branded services, such as SMARTnet, could also be resold to end-users or through authorised partners but not through third party resellers in the UK.

“Cisco has this policy in order to maintain a high level of quality in the sales, marketing and delivery to end-users of services under the Cisco Shared Support Programme,” stated Cisco in the letter.

“Over the coming weeks, Cisco will be contacting partners who are not utilising Cisco programmes in the correct way. We will request that such practises are reverted to be in line with the official policy before July 31 2008,” it continued.

One CSSP suggested some partners in the UK would have reason to be concerned.

“For some companies tied to Cisco, it could be a major business risk but I’m not sure if someone within [the vendor] hasn’t jumped the gun a bit,” he said.

Scott Yates, managing director at Cisco Gold Partner Comms-care, told MicroScope that it used to sell Shared Support bought from another partner but stopped last year on Cisco’s request.

“From my point of view this move is a good thing, as it puts everybody on a level playing field. Shared Support was never really meant to be sold through the channel,” he said