New Year’s Podcast Series: Zack Dickson of Cisco Canada

Zack Dickson, vice president of the partner organization at Cisco Canada

In 2021, Cisco Canada got a new channel chief with the arrival of Zack Dickson. It was a big year, with new models, new programs, and the continuing evolution of business’ reaction to the COVID19 pandemic driving a path toward the dawn of the era of the hybrid workplace.

Dickson joins us on today’s edition of the New Year’s Podcast Series to look back at an eventful first year with Cisco and offer his thoughts on what partners can expect in 2022.

We discuss:

his reflections on his first year with Cisco;
the standout developments for Cisco Canada throughout 2021;
how the move to hybrid work was changed how the channel engages customers;
why Cisco Partner Summit was a highlight of the year despite being virtual-only;
the launch of the Cisco Plus packages model and what that’s meant to the partner base;
the talent shortage in Canada, and why that spells opportunity for partners to drive new business models;
Dickson’s predictions for what he believes will be a bumpy 2022, but one full of opportunity;
how the global supply chain slowdown is leading to a pivot to software even more than in recent years past;
where the next “new” types of Cisco partners are going to come from, and what the critical metric of those partners will be;
why he thinks it’s a great time for partners to “go for it”; and
the priorities for the Cisco Global Partner Organization for 2022.