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The Cisco Cloud Partner Program continues to attract a range of VARs, MSPs and cloud services providers. But what exactly is the cloud partner program — and how does it help channel partners to focus their cloud strategies? Cisco executives answer those questions — and more — in this MSPmentor FastChat Video.

The Cisco Cloud Partner Program is designed to help partners become cloud services resellers, cloud builders and cloud services resellers and cloud services providers. Cisco’s Mohammad Abdel-Khaliq, Susheel Chitre and Steven Sanderson cover the higher-level points in this FastChat Video:

The bottom line for Cisco and its ecosystem of partners and customers: “We are seeing that cloud is a very exciting place,” said Suscheel Chitre, director of cloud and OEM business development, Worldwide Partner Organization, Cisco. “On one hand we’re seeing customers want some clarity and help on guiding them in the journey to the cloud.  On the other hand we’re seeing partners seeking clarity on what roles they play with the vendors in the cloud marketplace, and how the vendors can help them get their.”

To meet those needs, Cisco launched the Cloud Partner Program for:

On the cloud builder front, Cisco helps partners to master cloud infrastructure, cloud management and cloud professional services. “Once a partner meets those competencies then we designate them as a Cisco Cloud Builder,” said Steven Sanderson, senior manager, Cloud Go-To-Market, Worldwide Partner Organization, Cisco. “We promote that heavily to customers, partner sand our own salesforce. Basically, we’re telling the world this partner has what it takes to stand up an end-to-end Cisco-centric cloud solution.”

Meanwhile, the cloud provider area focuses on partners that have built a multi-tenant public cloud environment for customers, and cloud services resellers own the customer relationship but they leverage services from a Cisco-powered cloud provider, said Mohammad Abdel-Khaliq. He notes that partners can leverage special financing, demand generation and guidance from Cisco’s sales team to push forward into the cloud.

For more information, Cisco directs partners to the following portal: http://www.cisco.com/go/cloudpartner