Business Manager

Job Description

Job Description: Cisco Business Manager
Location – Johannesburg, South Africa
Experience
10+ years in IT channel sales, vendor management, or business development.
Job Summary
The Cisco Business Manager is responsible for driving the overall Cisco business within the organization by developing strategic partnerships, managing vendor relationships, enabling sales teams, and achieving revenue and profitability targets. The role focuses on business planning, pipeline growth, partner engagement, and ensuring successful execution of Cisco programs and initiatives.
Key Responsibilities
•    Own and drive the business strategy to achieve revenue, margin, and growth objectives.
•    Develop and maintain a strong relationship with Cisco account teams, distribution partners, and internal stakeholders.
•    Create and execute quarterly and annual business plans aligned with organizational goals.
•    Identify new business opportunities across enterprise, commercial, SMB, and public sector customers.
•    Collaborate with sales teams to build qualified pipelines and support large opportunities.
•    Drive Cisco product portfolio growth, including Networking, Security, Collaboration, Data Center, Cloud, and Software solutions.
•    Conduct regular pipeline reviews, forecasting, and business performance analysis.
•    Coordinate with marketing teams to execute Cisco-focused demand generation campaigns, events, webinars, and customer engagement initiatives.
•    Work closely with pre-sales, technical, and delivery teams to ensure successful customer engagements.
•    Monitor market trends, competitor activities, and emerging Cisco technologies to identify growth opportunities.

Required Qualifications
•    Bachelor’s degree in business, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field.
•    10+ years of experience in IT sales, vendor management, channel management, or business development.
•    Proven experience managing Cisco business within a systems integrator, value-added reseller (VAR), distributor, or technology partner.
•    Strong understanding of Cisco product portfolio and partner ecosystem.
•    Experience with sales forecasting, pipeline management, and business planning.
•    Excellent relationship management and stakeholder engagement skills.
•    Strong analytical, presentation, negotiation, and communication skills.
•    Proficiency in CRM tools (Salesforce, Dynamics, or similar) and Microsoft Office Suite.
Preferred Qualifications
•    Cisco Sales Expert (CSE) or Cisco Black Belt certifications.
•    Knowledge of Cisco Partner Program and Cisco lifecycle incentives.
•    Experience with enterprise networking, cybersecurity, cloud, collaboration, and data center technologies.