This blog summarises the key updates from Cisco Partner Summit 2025 regarding the Cisco 360 Partner Program and its impact on partner profitability, customer value, cross-selling, AI specialisations, and new pathways. This new partner programme takes much inspiration from the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Programme, which has successfully aligned partner incentives with their strategic priorities like AI Adoption, Cloud Transformation and Customer Success (through growth of usage and adoption).
Both Cisco and Microsoft’s programmes now share a common philosophy: simply engagement, reward capability, reward cross selling and prioritise high-growth focus technology areas.
| Feature | Cisco 360 Partner Program | Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program |
|---|---|---|
| Launch Date | January 2026 | July 2022 (ongoing evolution) |
| Structure | 2 tiers: Cisco Partner & Cisco Preferred Partner | Capability-based scoring replacing legacy Gold/Silver |
| Focus Areas | Networking, Security, Cloud & AI Infrastructure, Splunk, Collaboration, Services | AI Business Solutions, Cloud & AI Platforms, Security |
| Profitability Model | Cisco Partner Incentive (CPI) + Partner Value Index (PVI) | Rebates tied to customer consumption & solution areas |
| Specialisations | Secure AI Infrastructure, Secure Networking (Feb 2026) | AI Solutions Partner designation + advanced specialisations |
| Cross-Sell Incentives | Yes – portfolio breadth bonus | Yes – solution area expansion incentives |
| Enablement Tools | Cisco AI Assistant, Cisco U., Demo Labs | Microsoft Learn, AI Skills Hub, Partner Centre |
| Goal | Predictable profitability & AI-driven growth | Accelerate cloud & AI adoption with partner-led success |
This means new opportunities to increase margins, differentiate through specialisations, and deliver integrated solutions that meet customer demands for AI-ready infrastructure and secure digital workplaces.
Key Highlights from Cisco 360
As we get close to the launch of the new Cisco 360 programme, this post aims to summarise the key changes to the programme which come into effect at the end of January 2026. These are:
Profitability Through Predictability
Cisco Partner Incentive (CPI): A unified incentive structure replacing legacy programs like VIP and Perform Plus.
- Partner Value Index (PVI): A new metric that measures partners across four pillars—foundational, capabilities, performance, and engagement—providing transparency and predictability in rewards.
- Eligible Offers List: Focused on high-growth areas such as AI, security, campus refresh, and premium services.
- Partners can model earnings using the Cisco Partner Incentive Estimator, available post-Summit, to plan rebate strategies effectively.
New Incentives and Bonuses
These are aimed to incentive and promote better partner seller behaviour by essentially driving sellers to cross sell other Cisco portfolio elements and reward partners for doing so- think “bingo card“. These include
- Cross-Sell Bonus: Rewards portfolio breadth – encouraging partners to deliver integrated solutions across Cisco’s ecosystem.
- Next Generation Specialisation Bonus: These recognises partners that exhibit “deep expertise” in advanced technologies – through certifications, proven install ability (via proof) which in turn will unlocking additional partner rebates.
These bonuses are designed to drive durable growth and ensure partners can earn as more by selling / cross selling more and therefore earning more than under the previous partner rebate programs.
AI-Centric Specialisations
Cisco also re-confirmed that from February 2026, Cisco Partners can earn two new AI focussed specialisations:
- Secure AI Infrastructure
- Secure Networking
These are designed to validate partner expertise in designing and deploying AI-ready architectures using Cisco’s integrated hardware, software, and services. Cisco have said that these will unlock “additional incentive bonuses”, making AI a critical profitability lever for partners and also providing revenue (through rebate) back to partners to continue to invest in people, skilling and labs to drive these solutions forward faster.
Enablement and Skills Development
Cisco has always invested heavily in skilling and partner enablement since their partners are key to Cisco growth and deployment capability. This investment has increased year on year and this year, they have announced a refresh to their training and learning paths with:
- Partner Learning Journeys: These are refreshed role-based training paths for technical, support and sales teams- with Cisco expressing the importance of continuous learning with the pace of digital and AI change.
- Cisco AI Assistant for Partners: AI-powered access to multilingual content and training resources which can be tailored for specific use cases, scenarios and learning levels.
- Cisco U. AI Skills Expansion: New investments and content to enhance “practical” hands-on training in AI, data analysis, and API integration to help partners better develop devops capabilities to drive greater value with customer solutions.
- Advanced Cloud Demo Labs: Updated virtual lab environments to enable partners to showcase Cisco solutions without physical hardware costs and software licencing.
Simplified Structure and New Pathways
The Cisco Partner Programme is now extremely mature and consolidates 22 unique specialisations across 15 different business units into six focused portfolios which make it easier for Cisco and their Partners to explain and market. These include:
- Networking
- Security
- Cloud & AI Infrastructure
- Splunk
- Collaboration
- Services
Cisco re-iterated how this works – with partners now being designated as Cisco Partner or Cisco Preferred Partner, replacing the traditional tiered system (no more Cisco Gold Partner status).
Cisco understand that is a major shift from before, but assured partners that it is still profitable and that overall rebate investment will remain flat or increase, ensuring partners are rewarded for value delivery rather than transactional volume. It’s also about (as Microsoft did back in 2023), ensuring the programme is more transparent and relevant in the world of Cloud Services – where adoption, upsell, renewals and cross sell is vital to both Cisco and their partners and to ensure they demonstrate value to their customer base. Partners that do what works best for Cisco and the customer are naturally rewarded.
What Cisco Partners need do now?
Cisco reminded partners that they can review the Cisco Partner Incentive Estimator which will be generally available from 10 November to model profitability under the new structure. They also advise that partners (with their PAM if they have one):
- They also advice that partners start looking at and planning for the new AI Specialisations, by aligning technical teams with Cisco Learning Journeys and allowing time for training, studying and alignment with Cisco.
- Review their own Sales Incentives (Sales and Client Success Teams) to start driving cross-sell opportunities across networking, security, observability and collaboration to ensure the best chance of maximising rebates.
- Engage with Cisco’s new enablement tools (AI Assistant, demo labs, marketing branding toolkit) to accelerate go-to-market readiness.
Summary
Cisco expects AI to drive the majority of partner revenue within five years. The Cisco 360 Partner Program positions partners like Cisilion to lead in this transformation – offering predictable profitability, streamlined incentives, and the tools to deliver AI-ready, secure, and resilient solutions for customers which leverage the latest technologies from Cisco.
For partners that work in both Cisco and Microsoft, this aligns well as both vendors partner programmes now share a common philosophy: simply engagement, reward capability, reward cross selling and prioritise high-growth focus technology areas.