Cisco Unveils Partner Program Update at Partner Summit

The Cisco Systems Channel Partner Program is evolving again to further enable and reward partners for adopting and bringing to market new networking consumption models and seeking out new customers.

Edison Peres, senior vice president of Worldwide Channels at Cisco Systems (CSCO), outlined the changes to the partner program in a blog post following the official announcement at Cisco Partner Summit 2014 in Las Vegas March 25. Specifically, the updated partner program will reward partners who put an emphasis on solutions, hybrid IT and architectures.

The changes reach across the program and will include modifications to Cisco certifications, specializations and incentives. The changes are being rolled out quickly, but partners will have between 16 and 24 months to fully make the transition.

Breaking the changes down, let's start with what Cisco is doing with its certifications:

• Gold certifications will require partners to embrace a hybrid IT business model by actively selling in a minimum of four cloud/managed service areas, including Cisco Powered Cloud Services, Cisco Cloud Services, partner-created Cisco-based managed services or any of the 11 Cisco Powered Managed Service offerings. Gold certifications will also require businesses to have a Cisco Business Value Practitioner on staff.
• Premier certifications will follow suit in requiring a certain level of emphasis on hybrid IT. Partners will need to have one cloud or managed service offering in addition to a Cisco Express or Advanced Architecture Specialization.
• Cisco will retire the Silver designation as of April 1, 2016. The idea is that partners will be encouraged to either increase their breadth to become a Gold partner or increase their depth to become Master Specialized.
• Cisco has also simplified the deal registration process within the Global Partner Network.

As for specializations, here's the breakdown of the changes:

• Cisco is launching Master Specializations in both Enterprise Networks and Service Provider Technology.
• Also new are Solutions Specializations, which include Flexpod, VSPEX/Vblock, Desktop Virtualization, Enterprise Mobility and Cisco TeleHealth.
• The new specializations have been designed with a modular framework for simplification.

Cisco also announced new and updated incentives for partners:

• Deal registration programs are being collapsed into a single program that will launch in the second half of the year. Dubbed the Cisco Deal Registration Program, it should make things easier for partners to take advantage of the various incentives Cisco offers—something that has been more complicated in the past.

"As we have in the past, I'm confident our partners will make the necessary transitions to evolve their business models successfully, and together we’ll bring even more value to our customers," Peres wrote.