Cisco is expanding its partner incentive strategy to reward more of the companies involved in customer sales and ongoing services, including advisors and developers that influence purchasing decisions without directly handling transactions.
Speaking with Channel Insider at Cisco Partner Summit in Vancouver, Tim Coogan, Cisco’s SVP of Global Partner Sales, outlined how the company’s evolving compensation model, Ecosystem Deal Registration program, and Cisco IQ platform could create additional revenue opportunities for channel partners.
“We are actively looking at opportunities to blend or bring more balance to the way we compensate our partners across the entire model,” Coogan said. “I want to be clear, the transaction will always be pivotally important to us. It begins the process, but we have rewarded less on the Adopt, Expand, and Renewal. We will reward those more over time.”
Cisco expands incentives beyond transactional partners
Cisco’s new Ecosystem Deal Registration recognizes advisors and developers who influence customer purchasing decisions without directly transacting sales.
Coogan explained that the program initially offers non-commission benefits, including marketing funds, equipment, and training credits. A planned phase in spring will introduce referral bonuses paid in cash.
Cisco intends to make these incentives additive, preserving the existing benefits for transactional partners rather than dividing the same incentive pool among multiple parties.
“We view this as additive to the sales process. So we’re actually increasing the envelope of incentives that we’re making available to our partners, for both transacting and for non-transacting,” said Coogan. “They won’t be paid the same as a transacting partner, and what they get paid doesn’t detract from what a transacting partner gets.”
“We don’t just say we’re partner first. We put real action, real dollars, and real effort behind those things, and I think it’s something that separates us,” said Coogan. “I think the idea here is that it’s easy to say something and it’s much harder to prove it. We prove it every single day.”
Cisco IQ opens infrastructure and managed services opportunities
Cisco IQ will provide customers and partners with greater visibility into installed infrastructure, including where equipment is located, its condition, and the software code it is running.
Coogan said this information can help partners identify customer needs and develop strategies for migration, refresh, and managed services. By making infrastructure data more accessible, Cisco expects partners to use this information to build proposals and services tailored to customers’ environments.
“What Cisco IQ does is not only tell me what I have or tells me where it is, but also tells me the state of it. What code level we’re running. Is it out of the last day of support? So it gives me a democratized view of my franchise,” said Coogan. “And then, if I know what I have, and I know what shape it’s in, or where it’s been, I can then build a migration strategy, a refresh strategy, a managed services strategy around that”
AI and security remain top partner priorities
There are a number of customer problems that will create immediate demand for AI-driven infrastructure management and network intelligence.
Coogan identified several potential areas, including AI inference, employee training and onboarding, security posture improvements, and agentic security operations.
He also cited industry-specific applications, including clinical protocols in healthcare, retail shrinkage, transmission efficiency, and load management in energy and financial services.
“We talked about inference as a use case that’s used a great deal relative to AI. I think training – not training models – but training people, onboarding people. The security posture that our customers are taking is something that’s an immediate opportunity and agentic SOC is another opportunity area,” said Coogan.
Looking ahead to the next year, Coogan identified AI and security as the two most important capabilities for channel providers to prioritize.
“AI and security, whether you go one-two, or two-one, those are the two things that matter most,” said Coogan. “Whether you’re building AI, it’s got to be secure, and if you’ve got security, that’s the first step towards AI. So I think it’s an easy answer because I think it’s just universally true.
AI-enabled tools and improved access to customer information can change how partner sellers prepare for customer engagements. Rather than relying on basic discovery questions, sellers can use available information to understand customers’ infrastructure needs and business objectives before a meeting.
“I think the tools that we’re putting in the hands of our own sellers and our partner sellers, changes the way we use information to be prepared to deliver value for our customers,” said Coogan. “If I know what they have, I know what they need. I know what their objectives are as a company. I’m able to craft solutions in a much more material way than going in and asking how many employees do you have? What are the things most important to you?”
Cisco emphasizes faster innovation across its partner ecosystem
Coogan outlined three priorities underpinning Cisco’s agile partner ecosystem: continuous innovation, faster response, and efficient scaling.
He said that innovation can no longer be limited to scheduled cycles and that Cisco must avoid allowing its size to slow its response to partners and customers. Coogan also emphasized distribution and the importance of getting solutions into partners’ hands in real time.
“The agile partner ecosystem is based on three things: continuous innovation, reacting faster, and scaling efficiently,” said Coogan. “I think the days of innovating on a cycle are gone. I think innovation has to happen in a near continuous virtuous cycle. I think that the ability to react fast, and again, we’re a large company. We can’t let large be an excuse for slow.”