As 2012 comes to a close, we at Cisco want to thank you for your loyalty, commitment, and hard work. It truly is partners like you who have made all the difference this past year.

But before you ring in 2013, watch this video—our partner leadership team has a special message just for you.

So what did we accomplish, together with our partners, in 2012? Here’s a summary of the top Cisco partner news.

Change of WWPO Leadership
Bruce Klein became Cisco’s new Worldwide Partner Organization leader, as Keith Goodwin announced his well-earned retirement.

The Year of the ‘Cloud’
It was a busy year in the cloud space. We launched the Cloud and Managed Services program to simplify partner engagement and drive opportunity. In addition, you now have access to a new Master Cloud Builder Specialization to ramp up your skills—and your value to customers.

New Branding to Drive Business
2012 saw the launch of our new Cisco Partner logos. Hope you’re loving them! Plus, corporate had a huge splash earlier this month with our global Tomorrow Starts Here brand campaign, which shares how we’re connecting the unconnected.

Partner Opportunities for Growth and Profit
Our partners’ success continued to be our focus in 2012. We introduced several opportunities for your increased growth, including:

• Cisco Services Partner Program: Focused on growing both your top and bottom lines
• Jabber for Everyone: Free on-premise licenses were announced at Partner Summit—now how sweet is that?
• Partner Plus: Provides incremental incentives, virtual engineering support, customer intelligence, and more to partners who commit to a highly collaborative selling approach with Cisco
• Smart Solutions: Focused on helping you increase sales, while enabling ‘Your Way’ experiences for customers
• VIP 20 : VIP celebrated its 10th anniversary this year; VIP is your pathway for increasing profitability, technology architecture growth, and operating profits

Awards and Recognition
CRN announced Cisco as the best company to partner with in 2012 and a 2012 Channel Champion. Plus, partners voted Cisco as the big winner of the ARC awards. Thank you, partners!

Congratulations to our Partners for their Success

• ABS achieved Cisco Master UC Specialization
• Cisco Master Partners turned to the ‘clouds’ to expand their business
• Cisco partner MCPc shared ‘five key pillars’ for creating the ‘anyplace workspace’
• Master Unified Communications Partner Alliant came to the rescue with a new phone system
• Presidio voice engineer saved the day as fire raged, showing the ‘human element’ behind the customer relationship

Thank you, partners, for a wonderful year! We wish you all the best in 2013.

Want to share your own successes from the past year? Please add your comments below.