Cisco Enhances Partner Program to Provide Additional Rewards

Cisco has announced new features, enhancements, and tools to its partner program, providing additional rewards for partners selling Cisco hardware, software, and as-a-service solutions. The San Jose-based company also plans to add up to six new Solution Specializations within the next nine months.

“The Cisco Partner Incentive is the biggest change we’ve made to partner incentives in more than a decade and is the capstone on the Cisco Partner Program evolution started in 2020,” said Marc Surplus, Vice President of Partner Strategy and Programs at Cisco. “In broadening Cisco’s suite of Solution Specializations, we are helping our partners differentiate in the market and demonstrate their expertise in the technologies and solutions sought by customers.”

The Cisco Partner Incentive will reward partners with rebates to drive predictable and profitable growth. The incentive will specifically support new logo acquisition, up-sell, and cross-sell opportunities. Implemented in a phased approach, the Cisco Partner Incentive is expected to begin in the second half of 2024.

Meanwhile, the Partner Experience Platform (PXP) has been augmented with AI/ML-powered predictive insights, providing information intended to help partners differentiate their offerings. PXP is also gaining a new Sustainability Estimator, exclusively available to Environmental Sustainability Specialized partners. This tool is designed to provide partners insight into the estimated energy savings, emissions reduction, cost reduction and environmental impact that a customer may realize by modernizing their IT hardware.

To enable Managed Services Providers (MSPs) to deliver a premium support experience, Cisco has launched Partner Advanced Support for MSPs with the added benefit of guided access to API integrations that build on MSPs’ existing services. Through this expansion, the company hopes to help MSPs offer faster, multi-product support, predictive insights, and issues resolution to scale an outcomes-based service model.

Cisco also plans to launch two new Internet of Things (IOT) Solution Specializations in the first half of 2024. These initiatives focus on the ruggedized industrial IOT segments and expanded recognition for partners working in non-industrial IOT spaces.

Channel Impact^®
The enhancements were rolled out at Cisco’s recent partner summit, and are intended to drive partner profitability and differentiation.