Cisco unveils ‘Small is Big’ contest-09

Cisco Systems Nigeria has given a boost to the nation’s small businesses with the introduction of its ‘Small is Big’ contest.

This, the company said, would provide small business the relevant stepping stone for one of such businesses in the country to gain a heightened programme support from Cisco.

The Marketing Manager, Cisco Systems Nigeria, Ms Owen Nwelih, informed that through this initiative, Cisco aims to help small businesses in Nigeria to gain greater agility and efficiency in working with customers who are increasingly expecting to do business on the move, on the Internet and via video.

The programme, she said, which is on-line, six-week contest entitled ‘Small is Big’, where the winning business would be entitled to receive Cisco small business products comprising routing/switching, wireless, security and voice solution.

She explained that the programme is built on the $100 million global strategic initiative launched earlier in the year by the company, which focuses on small business networking and communications solutions for companies with fewer than 100 employees.

“The number one priority for small-business owners in Nigeria is to grow their companies, not become technology experts. Small businesses learn about and implement technology in a very different way from large enterprises. Recognising this, Cisco has transformed the way we communicate with small-business customers with a customized SME-specific website and marketing campaigns that focus increasingly on business capabilities and benefits of complete solutions rather than on products and technologies,” she said.

As said by her, it is incredible to know that for as little as $2,000 depending on their basic infrastructure and information technology (IT) equipment, a small medium enterprise (SME) could acquire a full suite of equipment to enable mobilization of their workforce, no matter where employees are using a wireless connection, extend full communications to home workers with secure access to the company network and also afford them the use of their laptops or PCs as full-featured office phones.
Cisco, she said, plans to give away this equipment to one lucky SME in just about six weeks.

The ‘Small is Big’ contest, she said is open to all small businesses in Nigeria with between 10 and 250 employees.

Entrants, she said, could enter by logging onto http://www.cisco.com/web/EA/index.html. The business selected at random after the closing date will be entitled to receive Cisco small business products comprising routing or switching, wireless, security and voice solutions worth $5,000 USD.

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