When Cisco unveiled its new look partner program in October 2024, nerves began to ripple across the industry. Described at the time as the “most significant evolution” of its program in three decades, the overhaul landed just as Broadcom’s VMware channel partner changes showed how quickly long-standing schemes can be upended overnight.

Standing in place of the long-running and aptly named "Partner Program" is Cisco 360, billed as a simpler, more cohesive framework covering the entire customer lifecycle rather than a one-and-done sales model.

But hearing words like consolidation and simplification in the wake of Broadcom’s bungled VMware Advantage Partner Program revamp certainly struck a nerve with a few already demoralized vendors.

Cisco's attempts to be more delicate were compounded when it came time to reveal arguably the most controversial change: vendors who worked hard to earn the highly coveted "Gold" partner designation would have to start again under an entirely new tiering system

One such partner that found itself losing its Gold badge was boxxe (formerly SBL). In its place, the York, U.K.-based firm secured "Preferred Partner" under 360, the top-tier designation, as well as "Expert" status in both "Customer Experience" and "Managed Services."

Boxxe’s Cisco business unit manager Paul Thompson spoke with SDxCentral about the overhaul. Rather than railing against a reset, he described Cisco 360 as if it had been “written specifically for us,” arguing that the revamped framework simply formalizes what boxxe has been doing for years: deep technical capability, customer intimacy, and lifecycle-led selling.

“From our perspective, we’ve always prided ourselves on technical capability, intimacy with our customers, and we’ve been lifecycle selling for the past 10 or 15 years – looking at end-of-life, proactive budgeting for refreshes, full end-to-end,” Thompson said. “So when [Cisco] started saying, right, you need to be technically capable, you need to have full lifecycle capabilities, you need to work closely with customers for adoption – tick, tick, tick. It was all really, really good stuff.”

The transition process & communication challenges

Instead of an overnight change, Cisco 360 came about following a runway of 15 months of back-and-forth with partners, with updates routinely drip-fed ahead of the overhaul in order to gather more feedback.

A partner profitability tool, for example, was showcased last July that allowed prospective partners to model their potential profitability within the revamped program structure.

Thompson told SDxCentral that the networking giant was “hand-in-hand” throughout the changes, with boxxe given the opportunity to give feedback “numerous times across multiple areas” such as profitability.

“Fifteen was enough for us. I'm not saying it's enough for everyone, but it was certainly enough for us,” Thompson said of that experience, adding that Cisco’s decision to give firms six months of pre-live runway allowed them to measure up their success under the revamped regime.

“Other vendors make a change in their program and look to maybe reduce [the number of partners], whereas Cisco, in this case, has looked to enhance the capability of their partners, not necessarily reduce or onboard many,” Thompson added. “From my perspective, it's more about ensuring capability and consistency across the partner landscape.”

Of course, not every revamp is perfect. For the shift to 360, Thompson admitted to SDxCentral that one opportunity for improvement from the networking giant would be communication, particularly what the new partner program means out in the market.

“The Gold brand was so iconic that everyone used the precious metals, but Cisco was the gold standard in that. But I think it’s really important to get that communication out to customers because the customer base still looks for that gold standard, which is that Gold badge from Cisco,” Thompson said. “Just communicate more awareness, more education within the customer base and the market.”

Simpler rebates but unclear upside for top scorers

The specter of simplification in the business world can often cast a very long and often times scary shadow. But with Cisco’s approach to 360, the vendor looks to have genuinely simplified things, at least from a partner's perspective.

“The VIP and the rebate scheme have always been ... complicated at times, you might have needed some advanced degrees to understand it,” Thompson admitted. “But that simplification piece, and merging most of them down into that one Cisco Partner Incentive (CPI), along with the marketing side – the demand-gen incentive – just means you can focus on what you want to do for your customers and the outcomes you want to deliver.”

For Thompson and the team at boxxe, Cisco 360 has so far reinforced an existing strategy. But for other partners still rebuilding status and explaining Preferred to customers who only remember Gold, the transition may feel far less seamless. He said Cisco was scoring “nines, 9.5 across the board” for its revamp, but noted that differentiation starts from a score of 7.5.

“What do you get for that extra kind of points above Preferred, really. Whether that's rebate, marketing funds, more one-to-one time with press? It’ll be interesting to see how that evolves," Thompson said.