Cisco’s upcoming partner program overhaul will have large financial shoes to fill, with the networking giant claiming the current – and last – iteration of its long-standing “Value Incentive Program” (VIP) is its most lucrative incentive cycle to date.

Elisabeth De Dobbeleer, SVP for Cisco’s Partner Program, explained in a blog post that with the current “VIP 46” program “we’re in the richest rebate period ever, rewarding partners for their investment in customer needs to build AI-ready data centers, a future proof workplace, and digital resilience.”

The VIP 46 cycle began in late July, kicking off the last of Cisco’s legacy incentive program cycles. It’s set to run through the end of January, when it will then give way to Cisco’s 360 Partner Program.

Cisco’s 360 Partner Program, which was initially unveiled in late 2024, will see the vendor streamline 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.

The new program consolidates multiple existing incentive programs – including VIP, Perform Plus, Lifecycle Incentive, and the Cisco Services Partner Program (CSPP) – into a single Cisco Partner Incentive (CPI) structure.

Central to the new-look Cisco 360 is the introduction of a Value Index that measures partners across four pillars: foundational, capabilities, performance, and engagement. De Dobbeleer explained that this new framework moves away from traditional transaction-based metrics toward a more holistic evaluation of partner value delivery.

“The Cisco Partner Incentive simplifies incentives into one framework that rewards partners across land, adopt, expand, and renew,” De Dobbeleer wrote. “We’re increasing transparency, predictability, and speed – delivering rebates earlier than ever.”

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 many partners have worked years to achieve – and are upset about losing.

De Dobbeleer attempted to soothe that pain, explaining that the new designation “can now reflect your true strength – your power, capabilities, and expertise – in a way customers can clearly understand and trust.”

Cisco’s partner program progress

Cisco has been rolling out updates to its partner program since the initial unveiling, including profitability estimation tools and retirement of legacy rebate models.

The program changes also align with Cisco’s ongoing push away from one-and-done sales to a partner-reliant subscription model. This is based on using its channel partners to run those managed offerings for customers.

Cisco executives had previously noted that partners managed more than 90% of its managed services, and that it forecast the total addressable market (TAM) for those services would exceed $113 billion by this year.

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins noted during an earnings call earlier this year that it was already seeing some of that progress for its Splunk cybersecurity operations.

“We are beginning to see that and we’ll continue to see it as we go forward,” Robbins said. “I think you’ll see as we get into the next couple of quarters, you’re going to see more and more cross-selling sales incentives that the teams are putting in place that I think will continue to accelerate that.”

Partner program overhaul frenzy

Cisco’s partner program overhaul is similar to ones being made by many of its rivals, including Broadcom, Citrix, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

Broadcom’s changes to VMware’s long-standing partner program is the most notable. Those changes have garnered considerable consternation from legacy partners, many of whom have been left by the wayside.

Broadcom initiated the program changes shortly after it closed on the VMware acquisition, which aligned legacy partner activities more with Broadcom’s own programs. Kris Prasad, SVP and GM for Broadcom’s VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) division, captured the essence of those changes in a blog post earlier this year in stating that the vendor expects “that our partners will go all-in with us on helping customers unlock the full value of VCF.”

“Partners that are not committed to investing in and evolving their businesses to help customers adopt and succeed with VCF will struggle to find a place in the Broadcom partner ecosystem,” Prasad wrote. “As we head into the second half of 2025, we intend to put greater emphasis and focus on these value-based solution providers. We believe this is the right path forward, not just for Broadcom, but for every customer who relies on VCF to run their digital infrastructure with speed, agility, and security.”

Broadcom made a concerted effort to tout partner success at the recent VMware Explore event, where it hosted a partner panel populated with participants that applauded the changes.

“What I love about it is the focus, one platform, one solution,” Stephen Moss, SVP of managed services at Insight and partner panel member, said of the new VMware platform structure, later noting that it was superior “versus the kluge, Band-Aid together 20 different products that were not built to work together.”

“And if you look at the partner program, the way it's structured, how you have a very clear goal-based system for certifications, if you're looking to build and become a VMware partner,” Moss added. “If you're not, it's a great opportunity because it's very well structured. There's great options for getting your team skilled up. If you're not, there's all this training available.”

Equity research firm William Blair noted in an “Enterprise Tracker” report earlier this year that some enterprises and go-to-market partners were continuing to look for ways to decouple themselves from Broadcom and VMware. The report stated that value-added resellers (VARs) had noted “customers are actively strategizing how to get off VMware, and the broader ecosystem (VARs, OEMs, ISVs) is moving away from VMware.”

That last point was bolstered by the research firm noting “newfound disillusionment from partners about Broadcom squeezing them on margins,” with a specific “partner that historically could expect to make 10 to 15 points of margin on reselling VMware is now making only five to six points.”

The VMware program partners on stage did not appear to be that specific partner.

Bill Grismore, co-founder of 27 Virtual, said during the panel that they had invested time in training its team to “get the most juice out of that platform,” a move that has resulted in a significant return.

“It's been amazing over the last year,” Grismore said. “I’m not going to talk about numbers, but it's pretty crazy how you can 10x a business in 12 months.”