When Cisco outlined major changes in its evolving partner program earlier this month, some service providers were already ready to qualify for the initiative’s preferred tier.
The networking and security provider signaled a shift last year, investing $80 million in partner support and training as part of the Cisco 360 Partner Program. Last week, the company introduced new financial incentives while partners wait for the complete program to roll out next year.
With Cisco 360, the company uses a Partner Value Index to determine which of two program tiers service providers qualify for: a Cisco partner tier and the top-level preferred tier. While the provisions don’t go into effect until Jan. 26, Cisco let partners get a jump on qualifying for the upper tier last summer.
Partners had an opportunity to hit a preferred-tier value index score in August that would be good for 18 months, according to Brandon Harris, VP of hybrid data center at Logicalis US.
“We are locked in at the preferred status across most of the architectures,” he said. “We are in a really good position.”
The Partner Value Index spans networking, security, cloud and AI infrastructure, Splunk, collaboration and services.
Vince Trama, Chief Revenue Officer at Presidio, a technology services and solutions provider, said the company's scores indicate that it will be locked into preferred tier status.
"It's definitely rigorous,” he said of the metrics.
Indeed, Cisco has indicated that partners must ramp up their education, training and certification efforts to earn preferred status.
Trama said Presidio was already “super invested” in its Cisco partnership and had achieved the right certification mix. But the revised metrics provided additional confirmation.
“For us, it’s validating,” he said.
A wave of changes
Cisco's program shifts are part of a broader partner program retooling trend among large tech providers, including Broadcom and Microsoft.
Most vendors are asking more from their partners, according to Harris. Twenty years ago, a partner might work with one tech provider. Over time, as those relationships have expanded to multiple vendors. Accordingly, the new partner programs aim to confirm a channel company's investment in a partnership.
“[Tech providers] are looking for whether the partner is as committed to them as they are to the channel,” he said. “Elements of that underline these new programs.”
Trama offered a similar view.
“I think they want further commitment from the partners that are invested, and they want to have a mechanism to have their priorities directly linked to the efforts of the partner community,” he said.
In Cisco's case, that linkage includes a partner's alignment to the tech company's high-growth areas, including cyber and observability offerings, as well as AI and AIOps.
“Where the market is moving, they are trying to further align the market and their partner community to drive on those things they feel are strategic in nature,” Trama said.
At the Cisco Partner Summit last week, product innovation was a key theme. The company was particularly focused on AI-ready infrastructure and running AI workloads at the edge.
“The innovation train is running, which is really great to see,” Trama said.
