Some partners in the “fat middle” of Cisco’s partner pyramid will experience a sudden rebate shortfall because they “didn’t get the memo” on Cisco 360.
That’s the prediction of a VP at Cisco distributor Comstor after the networking giant’s new programme finally went live yesterday.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Steven Heinsius characterised 360 – which Cisco first trailed in November 2024 – as “very, very good” for partners.
“Why do I say that? Because now a small partner, let’s say with ten employees, can compete in their area, their specialty, with the biggest partners out there – with NTT, WWT, SHI – you name it,” said Heinsius, who is VP of Product Management and Marketing EMEA at Comstor and previously spent 14 years at Cisco.
“Cisco spent a lot of time on the concept of what they call ‘t-shirt sizing’, so a partner with ten employees can have the same certification level or status in Cisco as a big tier-one with 300 employees.
“Thanks to 360, partners can really decide what they’re good at. What do they want to focus on? Do you want to be a networking company? Do you want to be a security company? Do you want to be a data centre company? An AI company? Do you want to focus on sustainability?”
“Where’s the rebate?”
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen in November, Cisco’s UK&I channel leader Joachim Mason said he was “feeling happy” about the progress UK&I partners had made towards the newly introduced Partner Value Incentive (PVI) scores.
“If they have any concerns about what the estimator is telling them, there’s still time to put that right,” he said.
But Heinsius predicted there will be “increased noise” in the Cisco channel as unmanaged partners in the “fat middle layer” of its partner pyramid suddenly twig they’ve not bagged the required PVI scores.
Partners must have a PVI score of above one to continue to be able to register deals, and above five to continue to receive rebates, Heinsius explained, adding that Comstor has two programmes named ‘Be the One’ and ‘Drive to Five’ designed to help bridge the gap.
“This is where the noise comes from,” he said.
“We mostly interact with the sales people and the engineers, and we did inform all our contacts that this programme is changing, and that they need to make sure they have their PVI score in place,” he said.
“A big chunk were like, ‘I don’t know how to convey this message [to the business], so I’m going to park it for now’.
“The result of that is that by the end of the next quarter, there will be quite a few partners that all of a sudden won’t see that rebate coming in any more. And we’re talking 50k, 60k, 70k, per order. And then management will be like, ‘we always get that money, and we did great business – where’s the rebate’?
“I do think that’s going to create some noise, at least in the coming two months, when that middle layer of partners starts to realise, ‘holy cow, we missed the memo’.”
“Cisco will never say it”
Cisco partners we spoke to in November harboured mixed views on whether 360 will boost or dent profits, with some acknowledging it could cause short-term pain.
Launched on a Sunday to coincide with the start of the networking giant’s fiscal Q3, it spells the end of Cisco’s historic Gold badge – held up by some as the standard bearer for all partner accreditations.
Which partners will win and which will lose under the new regime?
Heinsius said he sees it as a test of partners’ commitment to the £57bn-revenue vendor.
“Which partners are just putting the logo on their website, and which ones want to grow the business?,” he said.
“Those are the partners we want to focus on as a distributor and those are the partners Cisco wants to focus the rebate and funding pot on.
“Those partners that are more focused and specialised are actually going to make more money. They will have higher rebates and more deal registrations allocated to them.
“And those partners who were always in waiting mode, those are the ones that will say, ‘do you know what, it’s too much hassle; I’m going to another vendor’.
“Cisco will never say that, but I think we’re all okay with that.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
