cisco is looking to its channel partners to help it meet its goal of becoming a $50 billion by 2010 and hiring skilled workers is top of the agenda.
ITWorld.com cites Edison Peres, Cisco VP of worldwude channels as saying that Cisco and its channel would need a total of 410,000 IT workers, 95,000 of whom would hold at least one certification. That number compares to the current 220,000 individuals in the Cisco partner community, 57,000 of whom are certified.
In addition to meeting with education policy makers to change the perception of IT and to encourage more youngsters to study IT, Cisco will also promote its Networking Academies to partners.
In his blog, Cisco Subnet’s Channelguy says Cisco should tread carefully when dealing with partners and their hiring plans.
On the one hand, anything that helps partners deliver quality to the end user has got to be a good thing. On the other hand, I believe Cisco should avoid situations where they might be perceived as holding down prices for skilled experts. I’m sure there are people out there who would disagree with me. But if we live in a market where people get laid off to protect shareholder value, then those people who run that risk of getting laid off deserve to use those same market conditions to get paid what the market will bear.
Is Cisco’s approach to boost the channel’s hiring plans a good one? Jump into the debate here.
Go to Cisco Subnet for more Cisco news, blogs, discussion forums, security alerts, book giveaways, and more.
Recent Cisconet blog entries
Subscribe to Network World’s Cisco News Alert, which includes a weekly digest of all Cisco Subnet items
