Cisco360 in Asia: The opportunities for partners

For Kartika Prihadi, VP, Partner and Routes to Market Sales, Cisco APJC, the new partner program is actually pretty straightforward once partners get at the hang of it.

At the Cisco Partner Summit in San Diego, Cisco unveiled several new programs to boost partner capabilities and enablement as they approach the final stages of the launch of the new Cisco360 partner program next year. While partners have reacted positively to the new incentives and enablement, some partners in Asia are also in their final stages of understanding how they can best move forward with the program.

According to Ben Dawson, Cisco’s SVP and President for APJC, change is always challenging, especially when the network and security vendor has grown up with some of these partners in the region for the last two to three decades.

“The good news is we've been on a journey for a long time together and we'll work it out together. But I think the positive thing is it's emblematic of just the interdependence we have between Cisco and our partners in this space,” Dawson said.

For Kartika Prihadi, VP, Partner and Routes to Market Sales, Cisco APJC, the new program is actually pretty straightforward once partners get at the hang of it.

“What we found over the co-design period is that once they understood why we're doing it and they understood the mechanics, they actually get it. And a lot of them have made really good progress,” Prihadi said.

Prihadi also pointed out that the new program gives partners the opportunity to rethink how they want to partner with Cisco in the future to maximize what the program offers. This means partners would want to be aligned to Cisco’s strategy, especially with the pace of innovation increasing.

“In a way this program helps them to keep up. But yes, it does take time. Some partners could become Gold in the previous program with so many different specializations. There were many different ways to get to Gold tier but it wasn't very clear what you were really good at. So, the distinction this time is that we expect you to be good at each of the portfolio areas. Before, you could pick two or three and become a gold partner. So that's the difference,” Prihadi explained.

Looking at opportunities in the region, Dawson added that there seems to be general optimism about the market conditions from partners.

“We can't predict how the geopolitics and market conditions are going to play out in the medium term, generally speaking, but partners tell me they feel more optimistic about the year ahead than the one behind. I think that's good. We also received lots of good feedback on where we're at with our product portfolio and innovation, particularly in AI and automation and security areas. Yhere's a view that Cisco's portfolio is as strong as it's been for a long time. And they see the opportunity to do more of that together. It's a big growth opportunity for both of us because the market is there and because our customers need guidance,” Dawson said.

Given the diversity in the APJC market, Dawson also highlighted that the job of partners is to help Cisco take a global strategy and a global product portfolio and localize it in some way.

“That localization will be different in every market. But that ability to do that in particular areas like security and AI infrastructure, I think you're going to be really important and it's been generally overwhelmingly positive from the partners,” he added.

The final stages

Given that Cisco has had a qualification period for the new program, Prihadi believes the final three months before Cisco360 goes live is seeing good progress among the partners, especially the larger ones. For the smaller partners, Prihadi pointed out that they are still going through the process but are supported by distributors and such as getting them ready.

“We are in a pretty good place. And looking at the recent announcements here, especially around the incentive rates, partners now understand that and will see how they can maximize that moving forward. And we will be going out to our partners to help them think through what it is and prepare, making sure that the offers, the solutions that they go after, just the lifecycle motion to maximize what they can get from the program. So that's kind of the stage we are at so that they are well prepared for launch,” said Prihadi.

In conversations with partners, Prihadi explained that Cisco asks them which areas to they want to actually focus on now because the new partner program gives them the ability to have that choice on which areas they want to specialize in or even just go for all of it.

“You could choose to be specialized in one area, or you go for all preferred. And a lot of them want to be all preferred. But some of them just want to do specific programs like security. So, it's all about aligning in the business area. Once that is clear, then they should work with our partner team to really show that commitment to the Cisco business. And then we obviously have to work with them and show our commitment back if they are committed to the business. That's where we're working with the sales teams to make sure that they are aware of the partners that are the most committed, the most capable,” he said.

“It does present a real opportunity for partners to think, and not just to be aligned to our strategy, but also be aligned to their strategy,” he concluded.