Why is there such a downsizing and mass exodus of AMs and SAs in US Commercial. AMs and SAs going to Enterprise or competition. What is going on in US Commercial.
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The commercial segment has more than a few issues, most are above the OD. Start with BK and GP. GP loves to use numbers out of SFDC "tech close", overlay team attachment, etc. In the end the AMs/SEs just play the game to keep their phones from ringing or getting that email from the RM/SEM about some metric that doesn't make them any money is off. So let's get pipeline to 3X, let's mark every deal tech close, and let's make certain our overlay teams show engaged in the opportunity. Then make sure you support the leadership with the covenant house sleep outs with social media post.
OD doesn't threaten anyones job security. Those type of promotions are conducted on purpose.
@aww - You are correct, that OD is a complete joke. Monthly Operation calls just so he can hear himself talk all the time. All he can say is your typical managerial phrases and cliches. Not sure how he got to be a director but the competition for that role at that time must have been very weak cause he is one of the worse ODs I have seen at Cisco. Many AMs and SAs and an RM have left due to his arrogance. Maybe they will consolidate his operation as part of the downsizing and get rid of him. He won’t survive at other companies cause they will see right thru him.
US commercial became doomed as our products started receiving more pressure from competition. The first sign was the dwindling numbers of Enterprise WLAN after leadership got rid of wireless specialists & TSA’s. Aruba capitalized and embedded Clearpass. (And no, Meraki did not erode Aironet). Up next…the proliferation of UCaaS (Ring Central, 8x8)…that ate away the midsize commercial. Add the wasted years of Spark as icing on the UCaaS lost cake. Up next…SD-WAN…iWAN to Viptela to Frankenstein SD-WAN in a four year span. Then…Zoom + Covid. Zoom was perfectly positioned from a price point, feature and marketing perspective. Lastly…DNA…because who doesn’t like the feeling of being charged for something they don’t use or find value in. I know the cost of a switch was roughly a wash to the old model but it was the perception that once again Cisco was making things harder while it’s competition was going for simplicity. Now add partner margins to the mix…partners flooded Cisco commercial customers with alternative solutions that were cheaper, simpler and had greater margins. Oooooh, I also forgot the late to the market NGFW play. Cisco is just now digging themselves out of that ho-e some 4 years late. 2014/2015 seems to be where things started to slide for Cisco.
It has already been confirmed that US Commercial is downsizing. They are only backfilling a percentage of AMs and SAs that have left. That is proof enough that downsizing is real. If not enough AMs and SAs leave Commercial, then there will be an LR.
That’s backwards. People are leaving commercial because Cisco doesn’t make products for that type of tiny little customer. Since people are leaving, management decided they have to pool to reach coverage.
As a prior AM in US Commercial, the leadership is awful. The RM and OD do not know how to run a business nor be actual leaders. They are on a power trip. The field should be able to stack rank managers and leaders. The OD (TD), that I was under, is one of the worse ODs I have seen in my sales career. He sets up a skip level meeting and literally does nothing with the feedback.
Agree. US Commercial is consolidating more and more. SAs are going to a pool model.
Because they would end up being inside sales or pooled only