Cisco has announced the availability of its new Cisco 360 Partner Program for the general public after 15 months of co-design with partners.
Created to help make the lives of many users easier, Cisco is leaning towards developers, consultants, managed services providers, resellers, and other partner business models by giving them stronger support and clearer structures, so they can better deliver outcomes around AI-ready data centers, future-proofed workplaces, and digital resilience.
The 360 Partner Program also provides more ways to obtain clarity and predictable profitability for partners, while customers benefit through the Cisco Partner Locator tool, which lets them search for the right partner across portfolios like Security, Networking, Collaboration, Services, Splunk, and Cloud and AI Infrastructure, following the same principle of guided selection seen on platforms like writepaper.com, where users are matched with appropriate academic writing support based on their needs.
Cisco is also tying this move directly to the growing urgency around AI readiness, pointing to its recent AI Readiness Index that shows being AI-ready is now a competitive advantage, while arguing that meeting these needs depends heavily on expert partners delivering the right infrastructure, services, and AI-native capabilities. That’s why the new solution is designed to recognize partner expertise and reward value creation across the customer lifecycle, empowering partners to deliver secure and agile solutions that support customers through transformation.
On the other hand, the Cisco Partner Incentive (CPI) streamlines older program elements and offers clearer, more predictable earnings across the portfolio, while also helping partners align their sales focus and go-to-market strategies with Cisco’s roadmap. On top of that, new partner designations are meant to make it easier for customers to identify the right expertise, where all participants are recognized as registered Cisco Partners, Cisco Portfolio Partners demonstrate proven sales and technical capabilities, and Cisco Preferred Partners go further with advanced skills and the ability to deliver comprehensive end-to-end solutions.
They are also layering in additional resources to help partners grow, including CPI bonuses that boost earning potential around One Cisco and new Secure Networking and Secure AI Infrastructure specializations, expanding Partner Value Indexes (PVI) to now include dedicated indexes for Developers/Advisors, Mass-Scale Infrastructure, and Distributors, as well as a new Distributor Development Fund is being introduced to better align Cisco and distributors around partner growth and enablement. Rounding it out is an enhanced Cisco AI Assistant within the Partner Experience Platform (PXP), which the brand says will be more intuitive and help partners work smarter so they can focus more on delivering value to customers.
