I have a confession: my End of Year is not December 31. It’s the last day of July, when Cisco closes the fiscal year. It’s become my version of New Year’s Eve: a real pause to reflect on what we accomplished, who made it happen, and where we still have work to do. FY26 was a big one. Before I turn the page to FY27, I want to walk through the moments that mattered most, and what I’m most excited about next.
WebexOne: Connected Intelligence Comes to Life
WebexOne 2025 in San Diego brought Cisco’s Connected Intelligence vision to life, with a dedicated partner track that gave our partner ecosystem direct access to the roadmap and the people building it. Beyond the keynotes, partners got to network with each other and Cisco leadership, and even met Ryan Reynolds, who headlined the event. It was one of those moments that reminded me why I love this community.
Partner Summit: A Focus on Partner Profitability
At Partner Summit 2025, we unveiled a new approach to the collaboration journey, mapping tools, incentives, and resources to every stage from awareness to adoption so partners have a clear, simplified path to profitable growth. It was all about making our partners work easier and their outcomes stronger, from that first customer conversation all the way through renewal.
A Wave of Collaboration Product Announcements
FY26 brought a wave of Collaboration innovation, but three stood out to me. Native Zoom interop on Cisco devices added to an interop story we’d already built with Microsoft, so customers no longer have to choose their hardware ecosystem based on which meeting platform they standardize on. RoomOS 26 brought real agentic AI into the room, live meeting notetaking, automatic camera framing, a digital twin of the space itself. And on the Contact Center side, the Webex AI Agent and expanded AI Assistant capabilities gave partners a real opening to build higher-margin CX practices around AI-driven resolution. Every one of these is a door partners can open with customers this year.
Cisco 360 Launch
Cisco 360 launched this year as the most significant evolution of our partner program in nearly three decades, built to reflect how customers are actually modernizing infrastructure and adopting AI, and to reward partners based on the real value they deliver rather than transaction size alone. For Collaboration, that meant tying earnings directly to the outcomes our partners drive for customers across the full lifecycle, not just the deals they close. In FY26, that shift gave our partners a clearer way to be recognized and rewarded for the depth of work they were already doing.
New Programs and Incentives to Drive Partner Profitability and Mindshare
This past fiscal year, we kept the momentum going with a continuous stream of new programs and incentives to strengthen partner profitability across our ecosystem. We launched the Cisco Powered Meeting Rooms as a Service designation, giving partners a new way to differentiate their value and get rewarded for it. We also launched two new assessment incentives, completing our full portfolio across workplace, suite, and contact center, paying partners to uncover new opportunities and expand existing customers. In February, we launched our New Logo sales promotion, empowering partners to hunt new opportunities, and making it highly profitable for them to win net-new customers. We continued to invest in Thrive 85 and NFR this year, because we know when partners run Cisco Collaboration in their own environments, they sell more.
Partner Enablement Highlights: 47,931 individuals during 713 events that touched across 9,513 companies
Ensuring our partners have the latest knowledge, tools, and messaging to win is core to what we do. Throughout the year, the Cisco Collaboration Partner team delivers enablement programs that help partner sellers and engineers stay ahead of our rapidly evolving portfolio. While there is Collaboration enablement happening somewhere in the world nearly every week, a few moments stood out in FY26.
One of the highlights was WebexOne on the Road. Recognizing that not every partner can attend WebexOne in person, we took the experience directly to them, bringing product updates, strategy, and best practices to partners across
FY26 also included a memorable personal milestone. At our APJC Partner Technical Exchange in Bangkok, my 12- and 14-year-old sons attended their first Cisco event, joining 300+ of our partners to see firsthand how Cisco is helping customers build the workplace of the future. It was a unique opportunity for them to experience the energy and innovation of our partner ecosystem.
Finally, our technical enablement reached a new level this year. Through Technical Bootcamps and Partner Virtual Team training with 1,139 attendees, we provided Partner Engineers with the hands on training needed to confidently deploy Cisco’s most advanced Collaboration solutions. It’s this ongoing investment in technical excellence that helps our partners deliver better outcomes for customers.
Collaboration Partner Councils: Listening and Acting on Partner Feedback
There is no better time, then the time spent listening to our partners to get better. We brought together our Collaboration Partner Councils across the globe, from Customer Experience sessions in Singapore, Amsterdam, and Chicago to our Employee Experience council in Oslo, to hear directly from partners on where we advance AI innovation and redefine the modern workplace together.
Looking Ahead to FY27
The opportunity in front of us right now is massive. The Contact Center market alone is on track to roughly quadruple by the early 2030s, and the vast majority of meeting rooms around the world are still waiting for the kind of AI-powered video experience we’re building. We’re putting real investment, real tools, and real profitability behind you to go win both. So here’s my ask heading into FY27: pick one of these motions and go all in. Don’t wait for the perfect account, start the conversation this week.
Happy Cisco New Year, partners. Here’s to an even bigger FY27.
