Cisco's long-awaited overhaul of its go-to-market partner program has arrived.

As anticipated by SDxCentral last year, the relaunch of Cisco 360 relies heavily on the vendor’s ongoing AI push, while phasing out the two-decade-strong Value Incentive Program (VIP). That program is bowing out after what was claimed to be Cisco's "richest rebate period ever."

The Cisco 360 Partner Program comes after a 15-month consultation with partners, with a view toward delivering customer outcomes in the areas of "AI-ready data centers, future-proofed workplaces, and digital resilience."

With the new program, Cisco streamlines its partner evaluation from 22 specializations across 15 business units down to six focused portfolios: networking, security, cloud and AI infrastructure, Splunk, collaboration, and services.

Included in the launch is a Cisco Partner Incentive (CPI), promising bonuses to increase partner earning potential with a focus on secure networking and secure AI. Partner Value Indexes (PVI) bring tailored measurement frameworks and learning paths for developers/advisors, mass-scale infrastructure, and distributors.

In addition, a Distributor Development Fund is designed to drive alignment and success between Cisco and distributors, with a drive toward "growth and enablement."

A couple of tools also come under the hood, with an Enhanced Cisco AI Assistant for the Partner Experience Platform (PXP), and a Cisco Partner Locator search function, aiming to network those in the ecosystem across Cisco's six new vertical focuses.

The road to 360

In September, Elisabeth De Dobbeleer, SVP for Cisco’s Partner Program, explained the new framework moved away from the transaction-based metrics of yore toward a more holistic evaluation of partner value delivery.

Partners will be designated as either "Cisco Partner" or "Cisco Preferred Partner" within specific portfolios, replacing the current tiered system that includes the "Gold" designation achieved with the VIP iteration (to the chagrin of some customers.)

Tim Coogan, SVP of global partner sales at Cisco, recently outlined to SDxCentral that Cisco was still evaluating as of late last year the exact number of partners that would qualify for the new tiers and what investment the vendor had planned for 360. That number appeared yet to be finalized with the launch this week.

“We are targeting essentially a flat to growing rebate and incentive overall,” Coogan said in November. “While we recognize there could be [a] shift between which partners based on their investment see rewards and benefits of the new program, the intent of the program is not to diminish the amount that we invest in our partners through their investments, but to at least level-set or increase.”

Upon launching 360 this week, Cisco aimed to quell any misgiving by quoting happy partners.

One was Lane Irvine, director for strategic alliances at Long View Systems, who said: "We've already actively engaged in the Cisco 360 Partner Program leading up to the launch and are already seeing the benefits of the Cisco Partner Incentive Estimator for planning. This insight plays a critical role in ensuring we deliver the most competitive solutions to our customers."

"While there was understandable hesitation at the start, it's clear that the refinements made along the way have strengthened the overall approach," added Alex Schank, senior partner for operations at Pomeroy Technologies. "I especially appreciate that partner feedback was actively listened to and thoughtfully actioned throughout the process."