Vendor Program Manager Customer Success EMEA

Center of Excellence (CoE) Vendor Program Manager Lifecycle Customer Success is responsible for developing, managing, and maintaining the playbook for Cisco's Lifecycle Incentives & Adopt program. This role focuses on enabling Cisco partners to build robust Lifecycle Selling practices, achieve CS certification, and earn Lifecycle Incentive (LCI) rebates. The CoE manager will design and implement strategies to drive adoption of solutions, integrate with Westcon-Comstor Services and is fully responsible for ensuring profitability from Cisco's Lifecycle/Adopt programs. This central role collaborates with regional CoEs to support and enhance Lifecycle activities across EMEA, ensuring alignment between local execution and Cisco's global Lifecycle Selling strategies. The CoE Leader will also work with internal teams such as Sales, Marketing, Operations, and IT to optimize processes and drive partner increased engagement. Playbook Development and Management:

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive playbook for the LCI/Adopt, outlining best practices, processes, and strategies for partners to build successful Lifecycle Selling practices and including WC services to create more profitability.
• Ensure alignment of the playbook with Cisco's Lifecycle strategy, incorporating enhancements based on partner feedback and market trends.
• Drive the adoption of recurring revenue models, supporting partners in transitioning from traditional sales to software and services-based engagements.
• Manage Cisco's Lifecycle rebate programs and drive activities linked to our invest and OBF programs.

Partner Enablement and Certification:

• Guide partners through achieving Customer Success certification, providing resources, training, and structured support to develop their Lifecycle Selling capabilities.
• Assist partners in maximizing Lifecycle Incentive (LCI) / Adopt rebates by implementing effective Lifecycle practices.
• Support regional teams in training and enabling partners on renewal strategies, cross-sell, and upsell opportunities. LCI Program Management:
• Manage payouts and rebates from Cisco for us ensuring they go into the right country results.
• Collaborate internally to help automate everything we can in our internal systems to best identify deals possible for LC engagements.
• Collaborate with the Customer Success teams to establish best-in-class customer retention processes.
• Do the operational work while we get the automation in the system identify further opportunities. Collaboration with Regional CoEs:
• Act as the central coordinator for Lifecycle Selling across regional Centers of Excellence, ensuring effective execution of strategies and best practice sharing.
• Provide regional teams with structured enablement tools, training materials, and engagement frameworks to drive Lifecycle Selling adoption.
• Maintain regular engagement with regional stakeholders, including Country Managers, Partner Success Managers, Vendor Program Managers & Vendor Success Managers. Performance Monitoring and Reporting:
• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess Lifecycle Selling adoption, CS certification rates and LCI rebate utilization.
• Regularly analyze and report on regional and country-level performance, providing insights to internal stakeholders and Cisco on our agreed invest and OBF plans.
• Drive the use of data analytics tools such as Power BI and Microsoft Dynamics CRM to track Lifecycle engagement and renewal trends.

Operational Efficiency & Process Optimization:

• Collaborate with Operations & IT teams to ensure a seamless adoption process, optimizing tools and workflows to support Lifecycle Selling initiatives.
• Work closely with Cisco's Partner Success and Lifecycle Services teams to align Comstor's strategies with Cisco's customer success objectives. Tools & Technology
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM (MD)
• Workspan
• Power BI Reporting
• Cisco Partner Success Platforms - DMP, Tableau, PXP
• 1View Quoting Tool
• Comstor Bot
• Cisco CCW & CCW-R
• Webex for collaboration and business reviews Required Knowledge & Skills:
• Strong understanding of Cisco's Lifecycle program, Lifecycle Incentives, and Enterprise Agreements.
• Experience in driving Lifecycle Selling adoption, partner enablement, and recurring revenue strategies.
• Strong analytical skills to assess performance metrics and identify growth opportunities.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with internal teams, regional CoEs, and external partners.
• Ability to manage complex stakeholder relationships across multiple geographies and business units.

Desired Attributes:

• Strategic thinker with the ability to develop and execute scalable programs.
• Proactive and results-driven, with a focus on measurable outcomes.
• Leadership mindset, with the ability to influence and support both internal and external teams.
• Passion for customer success and an ability to translate insights into actionable strategies. Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in business administration, Marketing, IT, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in partner enablement, customer success, or Lifecycle Selling within the IT industry.
• Experience working with Cisco's partner ecosystem is highly desirable. Operating Environment
• Central role with frequent interaction across EMEA teams.
• Remote based with occasional travel to meet with Cisco stakeholders and regional CoE teams.
• Regular engagement with Sales, Marketing, Renewals, and Vendor Management teams. Measures of Succes
• Increased number of partners achieving CS certification.
• Growth in Lifecycle Incentive (LCI) rebate earnings for Westcon-Comstor.
• Growth in Adopt rebate earnings among partners.
• Growth in Lifecycle Services sales within Westcon-Comstor Services
• Improved partner engagement in Lifecycle Selling activities and renewal programs.
• Effective execution of strategies driving upsell and cross-sell motions into EAs.
• Strong alignment and collaboration with regional CoEs, ensuring local execution of central initiatives.
• Maintain and increase our levels on renewals on both software and services Sales: Good understanding of the sales cycle Customer Service: Principles and processes for providing excellent customer service. Values Demonstrate and embraces Westcon-Comstor values of:
• Ambition
• Integrity
• Partnership
• Accountability : The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees with this job title. This job description is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, tasks and/or skills required of employees with this title. An employee may be required to perform other related duties not listed on this job description provided that such duties are characteristic of such classification. In addition, job descriptions may be altered to accommodate the needs of the company and new responsibilities may be added to this current job description. Join a growing global business Westcon-Comstor is a leading name in IT distribution with US$4.35 billion in global revenues. Our job is to link technology vendors to our distribution partners who resell software and solutions to business and other customers. This is an exciting time to join our expanding UK and Ireland operation, which serves the EMEA region. We have ambitious plans and huge future potential - you will be ideally placed to grow your career in a dynamic yet supportive culture.