Long time Splunk partner CyberCX confident of success with Cisco

A Splunk partner for about a decade, CyberCX is now looking at how it can offer Cisco’s products as it integrates into the new Cisco360 partner program.

While CyberCX is in the process of being acquired by Accenture, the Australian cybersecurity firm is still focused on servicing its customers and running its business as usual. A Splunk partner for nearly a decade, CyberCX is now looking at how it can offer Cisco’s products as well.

Simplifying this process will be exactly what the new Cisco360 program intends to offer existing Splunk partners around the world. Ever since Cisco closed the Splunk acquisition, one of the key goals was to not only focus on integrating the solutions but also making sure Splunk partners can easily be integrated into Cisco’s partner ecosystem to continue their business and also offer Cisco products to their customers.

According to Phil Seifert, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Alliances at CyberCX, the Australian cybersecurity firm is very excited about the integration into Cisco, which has been going pretty well.

In an interview with CRN Asia during the Cisco Partner Summit in San Diego, Seifert mentioned that Cisco has done a very good job at recognizing what Splunk is really good at and the value it seems to bring into it.

“They (Cisco) haven't collapsed it into an immediate Cisco partner model or anything where that would struggle. So, it seems to be a really strong way to go about it and the integration, and it's very positive. There are incentives for us now to extend into security as well and to the Cisco security portfolio, which we don't do a lot of today. But I think we have a great desire to see that grow, and I think the Splunk introduction will be a real help,” said Seifert.

Integrating into Cisco360

For Seifert, the way Cisco360 values a partner’s specific skill set is something CyberCX is really grateful for.

“We're going to obviously come out extremely strong on the Splunk side in their PVI and then we'll need to work on our security and through infrastructure. So that really works well compared to the old program, which meant that we would have to take on skill sets and networking insights and that would not have been successful,” he said.

Seifert also highlighted that CyberCX has been given counsel guidance from both Cisco and Splunk account managers as well as the channel managers. They’ve been making sure that CyberCX understands the program and also the deadlines.

“I've seen what bad looks like. This is not that. This is quite good, actually. These are achievable goals. They've given us plenty of runways, till February, when we see that. And yes, it’s been really well actually. And I’ll be very transparent with the challenges. I think the partners who are very specialized and very small are obviously going to struggle because this is a bigger ocean. But the nice thing about the program is that it's very well balanced in terms of how partners are evaluated,” explained Seifert.

The partnership journey

For Akther Ahmed, Group Vice President, Partners & Alliances, APJ, Splunk, Cisco360 is not just about revenue, but also competency, skills and engagement.

“It's not too simplistic, but it's also not too complex. It's got the right balance of things that make a partner a good partner. Because keep in mind, the business we're in, it's not just about selling. The real selling begins after the first deal is done. It's about consumption. It's about retention. It's about finding new use cases. So that's why we're very excited to work with folks like CyberCX. Because they're not just focused on reselling a box,” said Ahmed.

Ahmed also mentioned that as CyberCX is very focused on driving adoption, it's going to make them a successful partner. And the small partners that lack deep competence will struggle if they are not well prepared.

“But the partners who have the right skill sets will shine. And that's precisely what we want,” added Ahmed.

Looking ahead

With CyberCX now part of Accenture, Seifert added that as a business, both in terms of industry thought leadership, CyberCX has had successful outcomes with customers across Australia and New Zealand.

“There's an intent to move up into Southeast Asia, take the capability up into Southeast Asia. We have been acquired by, or we're in the process of being acquired by Accenture as well. And so, we'll be a big part of Accenture's go-to-market for Southeast Asia through to Australia and New Zealand. They acquired us for a reason. And that's the skills and the capability, the depth in cybersecurity,” he concluded.