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AFTER A STRATEGIC REORGANIZATION AT CISCO SYSTEMS, JAMES RICHARDSON MOVED FROM SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RUNNING THE NETWORKING HARDWARE VENDOR'S ENTERPRISE LINE OF BUSINESS, TO CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER. AT CISCO'S ANNUAL ANALYST CONFERENCE EARLIER THIS MONTH IN SANTA CLARA, CALIF., RICHARDSON TALKED WITH CRN INFRASTRUCTURE EDITOR LARRY HOOPER ABOUT HIS NEW ROLE AT CISCO AND HOW THE COMPANY'S REORGANIZATION WILL AFFECT SOLUTION PROVIDERS.
CRN_ In August, Cisco reorganized, switching from a business model focused on customer segments-service providers, enterprise and SMB-to one focused on specific technologies. What led to the change? RICHARDSON I don't think we reorganized the company to focus on technologies. We reorganized the company to get the appropriate technology to the appropriate market. The organization we had before August encouraged competition between the three line-of-business heads, and I was one of [them]. I was incented to sell my products to my target customer, the enterprise. [Even] if my colleague had a good product, I was not incented to sell his product to my customer. This was where the problem was, because it was not the best thing for the customer or the reseller.
If the reseller wanted to sell some service...