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By R.R. Lynch
Connecting with Diversity
As Cisco celebrates 30 years of
changing the way the world works,
lives, plays, and learns, it attributes
its edge not simply to technology,
but also to its people
who help to “connect the
unconnected.”
C i s c o, t h e w o r l d
leader in technology for
connecting everything—
people, processes, data,
and things—is equally
known for its commitment to diversity in the
workplace and the com- Gunter, III
munities in which it does business
through its supplier diversity business
program. This program was established in 2000 and is now known
as the Diversity Business Practices
(DBP) organization.
The DBP organization, named for
the competitive advantage partner
and supplier diversity brings to Cisco
business functions and its customers,
leads the charge in fostering strategic
relationships between Cisco partners,
suppliers, and customers.
“We see our partner diversity initiative as a game changer in supplier
diversity because Cisco is uniquely fitted for this as a business-to-business
company. We get to solve
our customers’ challenges
with leading edge technology, help increase their
Tier 1 diversity spend,
and grow and develop
diverse-owned businesses
at the same time. In addition, our program is
relevant to Cisco’s core
business and has a potential effect to overall revenue. This is
our true competitive advantage,” says
Madison Gunter, III, manager, Cisco
Diversity Business Practices.
In addition to supporting a diverse
supply chain, both direct and indirect,
the true competitive advantage that
Cisco has with its customers is with its
certified diverse-owned channel partners program. Through this program,
these partners are connected with
customers who want Cisco products
and also have supplier diversity spend
More About Cisco Diversity Business Practices
✓ Key programs: Executive Mentor Protégé Program, Partner Operations
Diversity Forums
✓ Key partnerships/memberships: Women’s Business Enterprise National
Council, National Minority Supplier Development Council, WE Connect International, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Conference Board, National Gay and
Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
goals/programs. Cisco customers win
big by purchasing Cisco products
directly from its diverse-owned partners, which allows them significant
Tier 1 diversity spend. Many of
Cisco’s foundational customers have
benefited from this program, including the Coca-Cola Company and
Chevron.
To further the growth of its relationships with its diverse channel
partners and being in alignment
with Cisco’s business priorities, the
DBP organization hosts two diverse
partner forums annually to connect Cisco diverse partners to its
customers to enhance or find new
opportunities. Cisco executives also
participate to share with and gather
focused information from its partner
community and customers and how
together we can maximize growth by
collaborating. The Partner Operations
Diversity Forums are held during two
national industry conferences: the
National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) Annual
Conference and Business Opportunity Fair and the U.S. Department
of Commerce Minority Business
Development Agency’s National
Minority Enterprise Development
(MED) Week.
Nearly half of Cisco-certified
diverse-owned channel partners
are women-owned business enter-
Connecting with Diversity
prises (WBEs). Benefiting directly
from both Cisco’s technology and
its commitment to diversity is SHI
International Corp., the largest minority- and woman-owned business
enterprise (MWBE) in the United
States. This organically grown and
privately held company has grown
from a million-dollar regional seller
of software to a multibillion-dollar
global provider of IT products and
services.
L e d by
Thai Lee,
president
and CEO
since the
year it was
established,
SHI is reportedly
one of the
top 10 priLee
vately held firms in the IT field in
the United States. SHI’s growth was
not facilitated through acquisitions
and mergers, but through organic and
strategic growth and key partnerships
(continued)
and, of course, focused leadership.
“Our longtime salespeople are
trusted partners free to act in the best
interest of our customers— our only
stakeholders. Rather than ‘targeting’
clients, we listen to them and reinvest
in new service offerings, tools, and expertise that use IT solutions to advance
their business goals. In the end, that
is what matters most to us,” Lee says.
SHI has been a Cisco partner for
approximately 10 years and achieved
Cisco Gold Certification in 2012
after meeting rigorous standards for
networking competency, service, support, and customer satisfaction. Cisco
Gold Certification provides SHI
International with access to comprehensive sales, technical, and lifecycle
services training and support available
from Cisco. As a Cisco Gold partner,
SHI is now able to design, build, and
support comprehensive and connected solutions in three key Cisco
areas: Cisco Borderless Networks
Architectures, Cisco Collaboration
Architectures, and Cisco Data Center
Architectures.
With more than 20 locations
in the United States and multiple
locations in Canada, France, Hong
Kong, and the United Kingdom,
SHI offers custom IT solutions for
software and hardware procurement, deployment planning, configuration, data center optimization,
IT asset management, and cloud
computing.
For more information about SHI,
visit www.shi.com.
◆
R.R. Lynch is chief advisor at R2L
& Company LLC, minority- and woman-owned business consulting
firm that specializes in Business
Optimization
Service Solutions
(B.O.S.S.) for all
business industries. Lynch has
earned advanced certifications from the
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, the Edward Lowe Foundation and
the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Reprinted with permission from the May/June 2015 issue of
Minority Business Entrepreneur
For subscription information, go to: http://mbe.magserv.com or call (818) 286-3171