Our client, a leading distributorof hardware products has a challenging and rewarding position available for a Business Unit Manager(CISCO)Purpose ofposition:
The Business Unit Manager reports directly to the Executive of AdvancedTechnologies. The function will be the profitable management of the business unit. Must enjoyspending time in the market to understand resellers and their challenges, and help find innovativesolutions in order to compete with the broader market. Work with marketing communications to giveinput the go-to-market strategy, helping them and the product managers understand the productpositioning, key benefits, value proposition and target customers. Assist in writingproduct-marketing plans with key events and activities to achieve both the organization andvendor’s sales demand creation. The incumbent will be required to package products and serviceofferings in order to support the reseller sales channel and key customers with understanding thecommercial rationale, key features, business rules and high level operating functionality.
Key Responsibility Areas:
1. Business Development
• Gather market research and market intelligence from the sales force and other sources
• Gather and assimilate business requirements from sales/distribution entities in theGroup
• Research for new products and business unit
• Develop solutions whererequired (product & technology combinations)
• Give input to Advanced Technologiesdivision for new products and go to market strategies
• Give input to Group Marketing fornew products
• Specific to new products in their early phase of roll-out:
–Support sales team and product managers with product info to sell and input to marketing materialsfor lead generation and sales demand
– Give input into pricing and margins
–Responsible for overall reporting to the vendors, including forecasting and sales out (POS) /inventory reports where applicable
2. Product Planning
• Marketresearch and intelligence
• Idea screening, for activities, events and demandgeneration
• Prioritization
• Analysis of business and technology requirementsand processes
• Input to product marketing & press releases / thought leadership
• Full control of all working capital within the company’s metrics (rebates; inventoryand ageing; obsolescence)
• Vendor alignment
3. Communication
• Sales
• Finance
• Marketing (internal & external)
4.Business Case
• Determine annual budgets
• Input to development ofbusiness case spreadsheet (Income Statement; Balance Sheet; funding requirements; new heads andequipment; market share, vendor reporting, serial number reporting; MBO’s)
• Salesperformance to budget
5. Measuring Products
• Monitor daily salesreports
• Monitor gross profit from daily sales and contribution reports
•Measure profitability and return metrics of products
6. Give Input to Resellersthrough
• Product roadmaps
• Product high level timing andmilestones
• Input to detail recording of all product related activities
7.Channel Development
• Identify suitable channel partners per product andservice
• Supply enablement services to channel
• Grow the unit’s channelpartners by numbers and revenue
• Develop technical sales and marketing assistancetraining for partners
• Ensure C-level engagement with vendors and channel partners
Job Requirements:
Education & Experience

Minimum of 5 years’ experience in management or Product Marketing Management;
Tertiary education such as Bachelor's commerce degree, MAP or MBA;
Microsoft OfficeSoftware
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Excel – Advanced skills useful
Demonstrated success defining and launching products and services;
5+ years ofexperience in a job in the IT networking and/or channel segment
Excellent writing andverbal communication skills;
Skills in preparing budgets and forecasts;
Ability toperform market opportunity analysis; size, profitability, competitor analysis;
3+ years ofsoftware marketing/product management experience;
Excellent teamwork skills;
Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority;
Must beable to travel locally and internationally

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