Managed Services Provider
Validates Cloud Expertise
Partner Case Study
Cisco partner TekLinks uses Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider to build competitive edge with cloud offerings.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Customer Name: TekLinks, Inc
Industry: IT Services
Headquarters: Birmingham, AL
Number of Employees: 131
Challenge:
• Enhance and expand cloud offerings
based on best technology in its category
• Maintain competitive advantage and
differentiate from other resellers
• Develop deeper understanding of industry
best practices through certification
Solution:
• Cisco Collaborative Professional
Services Cloud Builder and Cloud
Provider offer access to Cisco
engineering expertise, and proprietary
methodologies
• Cisco validates TekLinks’ knowledge and
experience in providing cloud solutions
• Cisco certifications offer differentiation
from other managed services and
cloud providers
Results:
• Strengthened Cisco-based onpremise and hosted cloud offerings to
meet market demands
• Helped achieve key benchmarks in
strategic plans, resulting in managed
services growth by more than
50 percent
• Leveraged certifications to boost cloud
marketing messaging
Challenge
Based in Birmingham, Alabama, TekLinks is the Gulf Coast region’s leading provider
of IT and managed services, with offerings ranging from the desktop to the data
center. Since its founding in 2001, the company has focused on developing industry
expertise for top technologies from market leaders such as Cisco, Citrix, EMC,
Microsoft, and VMware. Today, TekLinks has a notable presence on CRN’s 2012
Tech Elite 250 and VAR500 lists, and is recognized by MSPMentor as one of the Top
25 Global Managed Services Providers, ranking number 22 globally and 19 nationally.
To maintain a competitive advantage and differentiate itself from other resellers,
TekLinks has always closely watched evolving technologies. “In 2005, we saw
the market move toward consuming the services that IT provides rather than
purchasing and managing it,” says David Powell, vice president of managed services
at TekLinks. “As the trend of virtualization picked up speed, we recognized an
opportunity to leverage our data center assets and provide cloud-based services.”
For several years now, TekLinks has been offering both on-premise and hosted
cloud solutions with Cisco at the core. “We’re a hybrid cloud provider that offers
services based on our customers’ business needs,” says Mike Girouard, vice
president of enterprise sales. “We can build an on premise cloud for our clients,
offer them services out of our own cloud and data center, or provide them a
combination of both approaches.”
TekLinks adopted the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (UCS™), a platform that
Powell and Girouard found more feature-rich and robust than competing products
in the marketplace. The team coupled the Cisco® UCS platform with EMC and
VMware products to create multiple clouds offering flexibility, scalability, and speed
to market. “There are a lot of great things that UCS can provide from a management
point of view in virtualization, such as ease of use and administration,” says Powell.
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 1 of 3
Partner Case Study
“With Cisco Cloud Builder
and Cloud Provider, we
saw an opportunity to
differentiate ourselves
with a credible, marketleading, third-party stamp
of approval.”
Mike Girouard
Vice President of Enterprise Sales
TekLinks
Press play below to hear a quote from
Mike Girouard
“Because we had familiarity with the product and how it interrelates to other
products, particularly in the switch environment, this was a natural choice for us.”
TekLinks has a company-wide commitment to fully understanding and embracing
partners’ technology and best practices, so when the Cisco Collaborative
Professional Services Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider programs were offered,
TekLinks immediately took advantage of them.
Solution
Collaborative Professional Services tracks are comprehensive, with Cloud Builder
certifying skills in infrastructure, management applications, and professional services
for partners’ cloud offerings. Cisco Cloud Provider is a separate offering for partners
providing public cloud services. “With Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider, we saw an
opportunity to differentiate ourselves with a credible, market-leading, third-party
stamp of approval,” says Girouard. “We knew that the Cisco certification and best
practices would mean an enhanced level of credibility in a rapidly changing cloud
provider market.”
The TekLinks team saw these certifications as a way to set the company apart from
other resellers that tend to mass market a “one-size-fits-all” cloud solution. “Unlike
a lot of other managed service providers, we add value by layering customized
services on top of the cloud to meet a customer’s particular needs,” says Powell.
The certifications also send an important message to TekLinks’ customers. “These
certifications tell a compelling story as they validate our expertise and provide
assurance to our customers that TekLinks will continue to achieve the highest level
of excellence in each solution we offer.”
As part of the Collaborative Professional Services training, TekLinks enhanced its
employees’ knowledge and skills from Cisco’s Cloud Readiness Assessment. Says
TekLinks practice manager Kathy Posey, “The assessment training gave us some
great questions to ask customers in a template format that would help our sales
people identify cloud opportunities and position our services more effectively.
We’re currently in the process of implementing the Cloud Readiness Assessment
methodologies into our cloud-selling strategy as well.”
Results
TekLinks sees how Cisco, unlike other manufacturers, has found a compelling
play in the cloud market in ways that go beyond technology. “Cisco has created a
whole program around cloud and managed services,” says Girouard. “Cisco now
compensates its field sales force, no matter how the technology is sold, and that
shows a huge commitment to the cloud. Not many manufacturers have implemented
a program to this extent.”
TekLinks’ sales people are using the Cloud Builder and Cloud Provider designations
as an additional reason to have expanded conversations around the Cloud. The
company is considering hosting a series of events to promote the benefits of cloud
technology, and is also planning to implement the Cloud Readiness Assessment to
better qualify cloud opportunities.
The strategy seems to be paying off. In 2011, TekLinks’ cloud and managed
services grew more than 52 percent over the previous year, with Cisco representing
over 43 percent of the company’s overall revenue. “Cisco supports our unified
message around certification, quality, and differentiation by excellence,” says Powell.
“Coupled with increasing customer demand, we’ve created an offering that meets
the needs of the market.”
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 2 of 3
Partner Case Study
Considering how quickly the company was able to get its certifications, the
investment was well worth the effort. “We achieved our Cloud Builder and Cloud
Provider certifications within two months and are planning to offer Cloud Readiness
Assessments as part of our 2012 plans,” says Girouard. “We anticipate the
assessment program to have an accretive effect on our positioning of TekLinks’
cloud services moving forward.”
Next Steps
From a technology point of view, TekLinks plans to focus on what Powell calls the
intersection of the cloud and consumerization of IT. “The nexus of those two points
is where the growth is and where we want to live,” says Powell. “We’re looking
for cloud-delivered solutions that empower the mobile worker and add real value
and greater efficiencies on the backside of the cloud.” TekLinks is offering highavailability solutions for customers, making staff more efficient and simplifying
application delivery.
For More Information
•To learn more about Cisco Collaborative Professional Services, visit:
www.cisco.com/go/cps.
Services List
•Cisco Collaborative Professional Services Cloud Builder
•Cisco Cloud Provider
Product List
• Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)
Americas Headquarters
Cisco Systems, Inc.
San Jose, CA
Asia Pacific Headquarters
Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd.
Singapore
Europe Headquarters
Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices.
Cisco and the Cisco Logo are trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco’s trademarks can be found at
www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a
partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1005R)
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 3 of 3