Cisco rewards advisors for deals they influence but never transact
Cisco 360 changes announced in Vancouver raise growth and adoption rewards, add a cross-sell top-up for its top two tiers and make Cisco IQ generally available to partners
- Advisor and Developer Partner Value Indexes are available now, with a unified Distributor PVI due by spring 2027
- Preferred and Portfolio partners get an extra 2% on top of the existing Cross Sell Bonus for moving a customer into a new Cisco architecture, including Splunk
- Cisco IQ for Partners is generally available, with a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, expanded APIs and role-based access control
- Cisco says Cisco IQ has more than 16,000 customers and visibility across close to 20 million devices since April 2026
The new money is weighted toward what happens after the sale, so partners with adoption, renewal and managed services practices stand to gain more than those that only resell. Consultants and developers who shape a buying decision without holding the contract now have a formal claim on Cisco incentives, which may mean more partners sharing credit on a single deal. Distributors are left waiting on their own measure while advisors and developers are scored now, and branded support on Cisco IQ gives resellers and MSPs a recurring line carrying their name rather than Cisco's.
“By combining the strength of the Cisco 360 Partner Program with Cisco IQ and Cisco Cloud Control, we're giving every type of partner new ways to deliver that and be rewarded for it, from the advisor who shapes a decision to the partner who delivers and supports it.”Tim Coogan, senior vice-president, global partner sales, Cisco
Cisco added Ecosystem Deal Registration to its Cisco 360 Partner Program at Cisco Partner Summit 2026 in Vancouver on 26 October, crediting advisors and developers for deals they influence but don't transact, according to its release. It also raised the annual contract value (ACV) growth reward by 50%, and its release puts the increase in Adopt rewards at 2x across all use cases.
Cisco 360 went live in January 2026 after what Cisco described as about 15 months of co-design with partners. That launch brought incentives under the Cisco Partner Incentive (CPI) and made the Partner Value Index (PVI) the main measure of partner performance.
In a blog post the same day, Tim Coogan, senior vice-president of global partner sales, framed the update as an answer to two partner requests: more money and more time. On the time side, Cisco is adding deal registration visibility in its Partner Experience Platform, PVI APIs, a CPI Deal Estimator and an AI content agent in beta.
Support sold under the partner's name
A new Cisco IQ Partner Support Standard lets partners deliver Cisco's support intelligence under their own brand, according to Liz Centoni, executive vice-president and chief customer experience officer. IT Channel Oxygen reports a 6% deal registration for partners selling Cisco's Standard and Signature support offerings.
Vikas Butaney, who leads product management and marketing for Cisco's customer experience organization, said partners following Cisco's five-step Cisco IQ playbook could earn twice the profitability over five years against Cisco's baseline, as reported by IT Europa. The assumptions behind that figure were not disclosed.
Sources
- Cisco, “Cisco Expands Partner Opportunity with New Cisco 360 Program Updates, High Yield Customer Experience Offerings, and AI-Ready Innovations”, press release, 26 October 2026. https://investor.cisco.com/news/news-details/2026/Cisco-Expands-Partner-Opportunity-with-New-Cisco-360-Program-Updates-High-Yield-Customer-Experience-Offerings-and-AI-Ready-Innovations/default.aspx
- Tim Coogan, “You Asked for More Money and More Time. Here's Both.”, Cisco Blogs, 26 October 2026. https://blogs.cisco.com/partner/you-asked-for-more-money-and-more-time-heres-both
- Cisco, “Cisco Launches New Cisco 360 Partner Program, Built with Partners for the AI Era”, press release, 26 January 2026. https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2026/m01/cisco-launches-new-cisco-360-partner-program-built-with-partners-for-the-ai-era.html
- IT Europa, “Cisco to reward partners who influence deals without making the sale”, 26 October 2026. https://www.iteuropa.com/news/cisco-reward-partners-who-influence-deals-without-making-sale
- IT Channel Oxygen, “Cisco announces general availability of 'really, really powerful' partner tool”, 27 October 2026. https://itchanneloxygen.com/cisco-announces-general-availability-of-really-really-powerful-partner-tool/
