Highly Anticipated Cisco 360 Program Includes New Incentives, Bonuses, And Specializations for Partners: Execs
‘The work that’s being done in the Cisco 360 partner program is anchored in the trust that we’ve established with our partners who trust that we mean well, we have good intent, and that we will evolve and co-design and maybe occasionally, fail, but we’ll do that together with the basis of trust,’ Cisco’s Tim Coogan says of the new partner program at Cisco Partner Summit 2025.
Cisco Systems took to its flagship partner event to reveal long-awaited details about Cisco 360, the tech giant’s overhauled partner program that’s set to launch early next year.
Tim Coogan, senior vice president of global partner sales, at Cisco Partner Summit 2025 announced a smattering of new specializations, incentives, and bonuses to reward partners and help them move towards more “durable growth.”
“The work that’s being done in the Cisco 360 partner program is anchored in the trust that we’ve established with our partners who trust that we mean well, we have good intent, and that we will evolve and co-design and maybe occasionally, fail, but we’ll do that together with the basis of trust,” Coogan said of the new partner program at the event.
The idea is to simplify the complex previous partner structure with a focus on profitability and predictability. New features, such as the Partner Value Index (PVI) and the Cisco Partner Incentive (CPI), will measure and reward the investments that partners are making Cisco’s broad portfolio, Coogan said. It’s been a work in progress since Cisco 360 was first announced last year at Partner Summit and the new program has gone through many changes based on “thousands” of hours spent with partners collecting feedback on the new program.
“We have made probably near countless changes since the intent to launch a year ago. And I think we will continue to modify over these next 90 days [until the program’s launch date] and then moving forward,” said Coogan (pictured above).
The Cisco 360 program will eliminate separate partner programs and incentives such as VIP — the company’s flagship rebate incentive program — Perform Plus and the Cisco Services Partner Program, or CSPP. These will instead be folded into a single structure, the CPI, which will mirror the overall value index that will measure partners across four areas: foundational, capabilities, performance and engagement.
“Yes, we’re changing a lot, but there are certain things we’re not changing. The VIP logic is continuing in the new incentive … meaning, you book business, you get paid. You expand and you grow business, you get paid as well. You adopt, you get paid,” said Elisabeth De Dobbeleer, senior vice president of the Cisco Partner Program. “You will be able to earn just as much, if not more.”
Specifically, the CPI will include an Eligible Offers list and rebate rates designed to incentivize adoption in several innovation areas—campus refresh, AI, security and premium services, and adopt and renew. The Cisco partner incentive estimator, a way for partners to model their earnings, will be launching after Partner Summit on Nov. 10. Partners can use the Estimator to unlock two additional bonuses — the Cross Sell Bonus, which rewards portfolio breadth and a Next Generation Specialization Bonus that rewards deep expertise or greater value and predictable growth, according to Cisco.
While Cisco’s new Partner Incentive bonuses will reward portfolio breadth and depth of specialized expertise, the Partner Value Index and enhanced Partner Experience Platform will offer clearer visibility into performance, predictability, and progress, the tech giant said.
“We’re expanding our value exchange with partners, looking to enhance and recognize the expertise that our partners bring to the table and increase the visibility into performance and metrics that are important through our partner value indexes and the partner experience platform,” Coogan told reporters ahead of Partner Summit 2025.
Cisco has taken its partners’ feedback to heart and has made many positive adjustments to the program since it was first announced last year, said Lane Irvine, network business solutions director for Long View Systems, a Calgary, Alberta-based MSP and Cisco partner.
“Partners have been very clear on the feedback, and the positive thing is, they listen and they are making changes,” he said. “[Coogan] stepping in brings a brings a really good partner centric view. I’m excited about him in that role. He’s got the customer background. He’s got the partner background, and he actually understands what’s going on from the business perspective and is making logical decisions.”
The timing of some of the rebate and incentive information will continue to be critical to partners mapping out their plans for next year, Irvine added.
“They’ve got the [Cisco partner incentive estimator] and that’s going to be really important is helping us understand what rebates look like,” Irving said. “We’ve got very large deals that are closing, and we need to know what the rebates are so we can understand profitability and make sure we’re putting the most competitive bid out there.”
The sought-after Cisco Gold partner designation is also going away in the new program, and in its place will be Cisco Partner and Cisco Preferred Partner. Cisco partners will be able to earn these designations for each portfolio, such as security or networking. To that end, Cisco Preferred Partners can earn two new specializations – Secure AI Infrastructure and Secure Networking — beginning February 2026, the company revealed on Tuesday.
These new specializations will recognize partners who deliver full solutions from design through ongoing customer engagement using Cisco’s integrated hardware, software, and services, Cisco said.
Earning both specializations will unlock an additional Cisco Partner Incentive bonus, the company said.
“We know that partners bring expertise to our capabilities. They bring customer relationships and agility. So, our job is to give them the innovation and enablement and the economic model to win,” Coogan said.
This “next generation” of specializations, marketing investments, and AI certifications will help partners better differentiate and reach more customers, Cisco said.
Cisco 360 will go live on January 25, 2026, coinciding with the end of the company’s second fiscal quarter 2026, Coogan said, adding that close to 90 percent of Cisco’s revenue comes from the company’s global partner ecosystem.
“We are eager to show how the Cisco 360 partner program enhances the ability to see a return on that incredible partnership,” he said.