Channel chief on Cisco Canada during pandemic: “Keep calm and Webex on”

Mark Collins, vice president of Cisco Canada’s partner organization

In one strange way, the rapid work-from-home move forced by the COVID-19 pandemic has Mark Collins feeling like a kid again.

“It kind of feels like I’ve been grounded, but it’s for the greater good,” Collins says.

In this edition of the podcast, Collins shares how “Cisco’s here to help” customers and partners alike as they navigate both the rapid shifts in technology and the economic challenges brought on by the pandemic.

We discuss:

  • how Cisco Canada internally has transformed since the dawn of the pandemic;
  • how the company is making use of its own technology both for business and for fun;
  • what Cisco’s doing to help partners and customers;
  • the massive uptick the company is seeing in the use of its Webex meeting tools and cloud-based security offerings;
  • the offerings its put in place to help partners get those offerings into the hands of customers quickly;
  • how Collins sees partners thinking about their businesses, both in the short term and the long term;
  • why technology is going to play a massive role in helping business emerge from the pandemic; and
  • why “it’s about us all sticking together and taking care of one another.”

   

Robert Dutt

Robert Dutt is the founder and head blogger at ChannelBuzz.ca. He has been covering the Canadian solution provider channel community for a variety of publications and Web sites since 1997.