The new Cisco 360 Partner Program has been praised by a number of companies in the local industry as providing clarity for what sort of partners the vendor will reward going forward, as well as opening up opportunities to delve into new specialisations.
The program, introduced late last month, eschews the traditional 'metal tiers' approach, which primarily rewarded sales volume, in favour of rewarding partners for full lifecycle performance in specialised areas.
Mark McSherry, director of Brisbane-based networking firm IpTel Solutions, said the new 360 Program means “a focus on being a real partner” in the Cisco ecosystem.
“For us that has meant ensuring have the right qualified people, along with the correct Cisco Blackbelt training,” he stated.
“I think it’s an opportunity for partners to demonstrate they connect with the technology and our customers. The new Partner Value Index places a lot of emphasis in the way in which we partner – and valuing that has to be a good thing for our clients.”
Rob Russell, MD of technology solution provider Architech - who themselves have been a Cisco partner for close to two decades - said that the 360 Program provides the Victorian-based company with a ‘north star’ for what the ideal Cisco Partner looks like.
“It provides a clear and comprehensive framework for what Cisco wants from its partners with rebates and rewards tied to clear and measurable metrics,” he told techpartner.news.
That shift away from purely rewarding transactions and transaction volumes to instead rewarding partners for delivering value and outcomes to customers throughout the full lifecycle is something that Architech’s Russell said will require more effort from the whole of the business "to understand and administer the program to ensure full value from the program is realised”.
“Our business processes and activities need to be fully aligned to the program,” he said.
Lifecycle focus takes centre stage
John Tan, chief customer officer of Data#3, said that the program’s focus on lifecycle and adoption strongly supports the lifecycle approach Data#3 has already invested in.
“This program strongly supports that [approach] by reinforcing the role of data-driven activities in helping customers realise greater value from their technology investment,” he said.
“We’ve also been an active participant in the co-design process. Our ongoing involvement in advisory engagements means we’re well positioned to share insight on how proposed changes work in the field, what it means for customers and the outcomes they are trying to achieve.”
Although Architech has been a full lifecycle systems integrator since its inception, as well as being a Cisco Customer Success specialised partner for “quite a few years”, Russell said that the new requirements for being an Advanced Customer Success partner is "a challenge for a business of our size".
"Cisco are listening and adapting the program to suit partners of all sizes [though],” he noted.
IpTel have completed five Cisco Powered Services designations, allowing the company to show customers that it has been independently audited by Cisco to support their Cisco and Meraki environments – something that McSherry said has “real power” to provide confidence for customers.
“The lifecycle approach is a little more challenging [however]; not every customer wants the pre-determined use cases, [but] having a framework which helps us advise customers on best practice deployments is a good thing overall,” he explained.
Partners are expanding their offerings
Cisco 360 is split into seven pillars - networking, cloud and AI infrastructure, security, Splunk, collaboration, services and mass-scale infrastructure - to allow partners to gain recognition in their area of focus.
This was a change welcomed by Tan, who said that the new program showcases a partner's breadth of portfolio coverage and depth in capability by showing a Preferred Status across the Cisco solutions for those partners who have achieved such.
“Under the old model, that wasn't always obvious,” he said.
Within Cisco 360, partners that reach a value index of 5.0 in a given portfolio will be able to add the portfolio name to their designation (e.g. Cisco Security Partner), while partners that reach a value index of 7.5 in a given portfolio can use the new Cisco Preferred Partner designation (e.g. Cisco Preferred Security Partner).
With Cisco now aiming to drive a unified product approach and recognising partners who are taking the breadth of Cisco offerings out to the market, the Cisco 360 partner program will also reward partners who cross-sell technology architectures.
As a result, McSherry said he is looking forward to doing “a lot more” with Splunk, Webex as a Service and ThousandEyes.
“All these lend themselves to our MSP and allow IpTel to develop long term, mutually beneficial relationships with our clients,” he told techpartner.news.
“Data#3 has invested in areas where we already have success, while also continuing to build on our capability in Networking, Cloud and AI, Security, Collaboration, Splunk and Services for future growth,” Tan said.
Russell echoed these sentiments, saying that Architech is on its way to being a Preferred Partner in all portfolios.
“We are very excited with the opportunity to formally recognise the unique skills, talent and experience we have in our business via the new specialisations, such as Secure Network and Secure AI Infrastructure,” he explained.
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