As we stride confidently into 2024, Cisco’s commitment to fostering a mutually beneficial partnership with our esteemed global partners remains unwavering. The past year witnessed the remarkable prowess of our robust partner ecosystem, impressively contributing an approximate 90 percent to Cisco’s sales and delivering an unparalleled customer experience. This momentum serves as the cornerstone upon which we are poised to build greater success.
For Cisco and its Global Partner Engineering (GPE) team, the success of our partners and customers is synonymous with our own success. In a dynamic landscape marked by technological evolution and shifting customer expectations, GPE champions a resolute approach to accelerating transformation and promptly addressing customer needs. We aim to empower partners and customers alike, enabling them to achieve business outcomes with unprecedented speed.
Momentum that Drives Success
Guided by the vision of enhancing customer experiences through the world’s premier partner technology community, Cisco and the GPE team are on a mission to expedite customer technology adoption. Our team of experts and digital transformation architects is dedicated to collaborating with our partners every step of the way. This involves proactively preparing partners for the future by upskilling and reskilling at a pace that outpaces industry norms. Crucially, it necessitates mindfully delving into the heart of partners’ experiences and providing the support needed to accelerate sales.
Greater Together
In our journey, the ethos of “Greater Together” is not just a tagline but a guiding principle. Every initiative we undertake is a collaborative effort with our partners, shaping Cisco’s technology strategy, responding to industry demands, and aligning with customer expectations. Our partner technical community, a powerhouse of technology and technologists, is the driving force behind this collaborative approach. Embracing this philosophy, we persist in generating momentum that fosters the precise kind of success essential for our team, partners, and customers. Our aim is not only to address their challenges but to empower them to thrive.
The Power of Listening
Partner listening and feedback are fundamental to our collaborative culture and permeate every phase of the development lifecycle, enriching advancements and outcomes. Our commitment to partnering early with both partners and customers in their lifecycle journey, coupled with the creation of programs and processes centered around intensive listening, enables us to generate superior outcomes that transform possibilities into realities.
Our approach goes beyond merely creating opportunities to hear partners’ voices; it involves actively responding to their feedback. From Technical Advisory Groups (TAG) and the Demos Reimagined Pilot Program to Shogun and Black Belt Academy—and everything in between—partner input serves as the bedrock that informs Cisco’s investment decisions and in particular GPE’s activities and investment decisions. It ensures a laser focus on areas that demand the most attention and programs that lead to partner success. Furthermore, this feedback directly influences the enhancement of product quality, contributing to a continuous cycle of improvement and innovation.
Among the many achievements of the marquee programs within GPE, a handful stand out which set the stage for a successful 2024:
- Partner Product Pulse Surveys: The semi-annual surveys achieved record participation from partners, attributed in part to the expansion into eight languages. This inclusive approach garnered insights from a broader spectrum of partners worldwide, showcasing their invaluable perspectives. The latest survey marked a significant milestone with a 43 percent increase in global responses and a notable 25 percent increase in product ratings. This enhanced understanding of product sentiment enables us to delve deeper into the heart of the partner experience, facilitating the acceleration of their sales.
- Global Partner Technical Executive Council (PTEC): Each of these events, featuring around 30 of Cisco’s top global partners, offered valuable insights, questions, and commentary focused on Security, Collaboration, and Enterprise Networking. The active engagement showcased the immense value that our partner ecosystem contributes to shaping Cisco’s strategic trajectory and, in turn, the success of our partner community.
- Partner Innovation Challenge (PIC): The sixth annual PIC witnessed a significant upswing in submissions, enrollments, and team participation. The astounding 198 percent surge in enrollments showcases the profound creativity, expertise, and unwavering passion that characterize our partner technical community on our open platform. Going beyond delivering substantial value to customers and carving out their distinctive presence in the market, partners’ enthusiastic engagement with the new award category, Partnering for Purpose, reaffirms their dedication to supporting social and environmental causes.
- Global Partner Solution Advisors (GPSA): Our high-touch technical and service support empowers partners with the knowledge and tools essential for successful customer engagements. In the fiscal year 2023, with over 100 partner engagements, GPSA played a pivotal role in influencing $200M in pipeline bookings, creating lucrative opportunities in collaboration with our partners.
As we embark on the journey of 2024, we remain committed to the principles of partnership, collaboration, and responsiveness. Together with our partners, we will continue to pave the way for success, leveraging innovation, strategy, and agile implementation to create a future that is truly “Greater Together.”
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