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Didem Kindstrand - Navigating the Cisco–Splunk Partner Shift · Partnerships Unraveled

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Partnerships Underworld, the podcast where we underweld the mysteries about channel and partnerships on a weekly basis.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Effe and I'm excited to introduce our special guest, Didam.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Didam, how are you doing?
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: I am perfect, thank you.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've been up early, came in to this meeting with a lot of energy after my morning gym session.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: So all good.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing good as well.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I went to a gym yesterday, so it always makes me more energized.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Didam, for those who may not know you, could you give us a bit of an introduction of who you are, where you come from?
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: So my name is Didem Schinstand.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: I lead the Imianort channel team at Splunk, now a formerly Cisco company.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: I live in Stockholm, Sweden, with three kids, four, if you count in the little flurry, fluffy one that came into our family during springtime, a little Daoshan called Coco.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I've been at Splunk for three and a half years.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for the introduction, D Dem.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: We all know and heard about the uh Cisco Splunk uh integration.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really curious, I want to dive a bit into this integration and how you've been navigating it because I feel like focus becomes everything uh with these kind of integrations because Cisco is a really large giant uh in the space and they have a lot of partners.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I can imagine that when this integration starts happening, a lot of partners showed interest in Splunk.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: How did you make sure that you were focused on the right partners and didn't uh stretch your resources too thinly?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a that's a very interesting question to double down on, right?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I think I mean with an integration, it comes uh uncertainty for a lot of people.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh change is stressful.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, I mean, our first action was just to have a tighter flow of communication, to keep everyone in the team on board exactly about what changes and how.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I think also the fact that we have having a phased integration, it has really helped my team as well as the broader ecosystem.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I think, I mean, chat communities, you know, the always available type of approach as a leader to have everyone on board and that always-on kind of attitude to calm the organization down, that's really helpful in an integration scenario as I see it.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you mentioned that you know Cisco has much larger resources, they're a bigger company, and you said Splunk maybe has a fraction of that in terms of how big your team is.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have to make some uh changes in your team uh to make sure that you were focusing on the right things?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: But how did that transition look like for your team?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, something really interesting to happen is that a lot of partnerships that came along also our presence across the border.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: That actually helped my team to work closer together as a team because you had that group structure of partnerships coming in.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's been very fun to work closer aligned as a team.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we've also been helping each other out in a much better way from a day-to-day perspective.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: You also mentioned that uh I think that the partners are already seeing Splunk and Cisco as a united brand, as a one team, even while the integration is still going on, not things are not finalized yet.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what do you think draw that early alignment?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And how are you also ensuring that the Splunk identity and brand and the culture is also visible through the transition as well?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So a couple of things.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, the huge interest that came along already before the acquisition actually occurred, at I would say already at the announcement, um that became like a natural path for us to connect.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: When I say us, I mean the Cisco, the Cisco partner team and the Splunk team.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so we came along pretty early, I would say, and and kind of worked alongside each other, helping each other out.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um and on top of that, it's been what I call the city season.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of acquisition has happened since the day of the announcement days.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of our former Splunk boutique partners, as we call it, they are now part of big Cisco partners.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So our family is kind of brought into this new set of partners coming along.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I think one thing we we're still operating as a business entity within Cisco.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we we keep on running our splunkiness stream, if if I can call it that.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're a pretty small team, and we also work across the the organization as what we call the village.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we keep on running our stream focused to keep the momentum going in in the midst of uh integration.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I can also imagine that for Splunk partners, they might have a lot of questions, maybe some uncertainties.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that you have to make sure that uh you're still there for them and make sure that everything is clear for them.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: What is something that you would want Splunk partners to hear from you right now as this integration is still underway?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, be curious, you know, get along on the Cisco train, the opportunities ahead of you.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what they should be very proud of is that they have something very valuable within their organization, and that's the Splunk competency.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: So utilize it, you know, take the momentum, create new partnerships with you and your team.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, another thing is that everything that is valuable from a Splunk partner program perspective is also valuable in the new Cisco 360 partner program.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: So when it comes to that uncertainty about the partner tier, the the different eligibilities, Splunk has its own architecture in 360, which is more or less a lift and shift when it comes to what's valuable today versus January 25th when we go live in 360.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then protect your business.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: As always, your deal registrations are key.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: So keep your business protected and get the DRs in to protect your business.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that last piece is also really important.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: I we've previously interviewed Jason and Elzabeth, who are the masterminds behind the Cisco 360 program, and I can watch that and they've done some amazing things.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was really impressive how much kind of partner feedback, how partner focused that they have been during that uh process.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, I think all Splunk partners can be should be happy that you know they can also benefit from this very well-designed program.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Didan, we also talked about believing in lifetime relationships.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like especially during integration like this, as I mentioned, things can be uncertain and trust becomes even more important.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, how do you see those relationships, maybe internally, but also with partners, shaping success uh right now?
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've I've been in this industry almost three decades.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: That tells a little bit about my age.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: But when you have strong relationships, it it creates that trust, that trust and the trust in the communication itself.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: It also creates an opportunity or a situation where we we are just a phone call away.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: If there is something that feels strange or uncertain, you have that you know natural move of just picking up the phone and talk to each other.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that that the trust can come along with those relationships over time.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: So you feel that you have your extended family in a way.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: So it's so much easier to communicate and handle the time of change.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I fully agree with you.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think as I mentioned, I think trust is built in hard times, during challenging times.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like when things could go wrong and you're still there for your partners, I think it really builds trust over time.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because when things are easy, when things are doing when things are going well, it's not hard to be there for each other.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I think during these times you can really prove that uh we are there for our partners.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Iram, you mentioned earlier that you know you woke up earlier today, you went to the gym.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: You you talked about this, that you lifting is a way that you reset yourself and also you're a certified personal trainer as well.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious, how does that routine do you think help you also navigate these kind of tough periods as well?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: How does it affect your personal life or your professional life?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think that everybody should have a um a mojo to get the reset done.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how do you clear all that adult thoughts, the frustration, the stress out of your system?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what lifting heavy weights do for me.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the interest came from a lifestyle change around seven years ago, where where I found this passion for putting my body through um through the the weight lifting uh motion.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel that do the undoable type of motion within my system when I add those extra weights.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: And and it gives you that energy, and you come out of there and and you feel I call it didness.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a state of of feeling within you.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I mean that's that's my way of resetting, you know, my personal stage, so to say, and get me ready, get me energized, uh, especially when I do it in the morning.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: I come back, I have my morning coffee, and then I'm ready for those back-to-back streams that come along during the day.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I agree with what you said about you have to find your mojo because I really like going to the gym, but I usually don't recommend it to other people because not everyone likes it.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: But just find something that works for you.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: For me, that's also been uh the gym.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I think like everyone, I think it helps a lot to do something physical, something uh sports, whether you're a runner.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of runners here at Chen X, uh, whether you're lifting, whether you're doing any kind of other support, but I think it really helps you a lot to kind of be more mindful and calm, maybe during times of stress.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've also seen that help me a lot personally as well.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yan, before I let you go, I have one last question for you, which is we always ask our guests to recommend the next guest on the podcast.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Who do you think we should have next?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: I think you should invite my manager, Alexandra Turbit.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: She's the group vice president of IMIA Channel and Alliances.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: She's navigating this integration, you know, also from a decision-making perspective.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I would say that she keeps the calm in the storm.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: She has that open door policy, even though you know she's a topic sec, you're always welcome to reach out and double down on questions and different scenarios.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think she also, as a leader, makes me a better person.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a very so, and on top of that, she's a fantastic person.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that will be an interesting individual to sit down with.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to talk to Alexandra more in detail about this integration.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's super interesting, and I'm sure that a lot of our audience has a lot of questions and wants to know more about as well.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you, Didn't, for joining us.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Alexandra, I'll make sure to reach out to you and see you in the next episode.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Effet, for having me.