Unpacking Cisco CX and the Partner Value Index

You're listening to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro, a place to learn about how to grow your business and stay ahead of technological advances before they've become mainstream. This episode is sponsored by Ingram Micro's Expantage, the next Level way to transform your business's potential and reshape how customers see you through advanced transactional data. Let's get into it. Welcome to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro.

I'm your host, Shelby Skirhawk, and our guests today are Chris Blackwell and John Calhoun. They're both category business managers for Ingram Micro. Chris and John Welcome, Thanks Shelby, thanks for having us. Yeah.

Well, you know today we are talking about Cisco CX and the partner program, but I want to give kind of a big picture here. So first off, you know, within the Cisco CX realm here, what are we talking about? What does what specifically does Cisco CX look like? What is it?

Well, Shelby, VX in general really talks about the customer experience and that really kind of pulls in everything that business does to really put their customers first, making sure that they are meeting their business outcomes and Cisco has really adopted that approach and the way that they approach CX by really focusing on those business outcomes, putting the end customer first and making sure that that life cycle is done so that when the renewals come around, they become a non event.

Got it? Got it? Well? So when you know, for the layman that's looking at this CX in a I guess, in an informal look at it, I mean, what what are we talking about?

What are those actions then that CX involve. Yeah, so CX really it starts a lot of folks think it starts after the sale is completed, but really you need to look at before the sale is complete, where you're looking with your end customer and finding out what their business objectives are and how the solution that they are purchasing is going to meet those business objectives. Then after that sale, it's really focusing on the life cycle of that solution, so making sure that it is installed in that end customer is onboarded, and that they're adopting the solution into their daily practice so that they are using it and it becomes ingrained in their everyday motion so that when the renewal does come around, They're like, absolutely, we have to renew because we are so ingrained with this solution, we can't see ourselves doing anything else.

With that. And I would also say, you know, definitely a very proactive motion versus a reactive motion. Personal story of mine, as I have competing internet companies in my area. I was with one internet company and I had a problem with them.

I called them multiple times and really didn't get the best service. After I canceled and the new provider was over at my house doing starting to install the new equipment, then the old company called and I called them, you need to be more proactive with this. That's really what it's about. Being proactive, as Chris said, making sure this is a motion not just for a customer success manager in your organization, but really getting the buy in from your whole team and getting the education out to your team of why CX is so important to your business.

Well, I'm glad you're able to kind of illustrate that, because it's true that making that renewal a non event, it does all of CX. I guess it really does begin early on, and so I'm glad you're able to kind of illustrate that. So within Cisco CX is it is a program for kind of partner partner customer success. Let's talk about then, the Cisco Partner program.

Now taking a step back, you know, Cisco has announced recently that there are some some big changes that are coming up to the program and that will affect some of the customers that are some of the partners that are within this Cisco CX. I guess realm here, so let me let me ask you first off. Okay, so tell me about the Cisco Partner program. So that Cisco is changing their partner program.

They announced it at this Partner summit that just passed at the end of October of twenty four and it's now called the Cisco three sixty program. Where traditionally Cisco had levels like your Registered Partner, your Select, your Premier, your Gold. Those are going away and they're revamping the way that they name their partners, the way that they score their partners, and this c three sixty program is what they're doing. And a lot of that is going to be based on the Partner Value Index, and we can talk about that a little later if you want to, but it's really a wholesale change and the way that CX is looked at now in the partner program.

It is of vital importance that partners have their Cisco SNY specialization in order to obtain specific levels where making sure that they are able to earn rebates and making sure that they get that preferred partner status within Cisco. So a lot of change is really happening around this let's go three sixty program. The good news is we've got time. We've got a twelve month runway because these changes do not officially occur until February of twenty twenty six.

But now is the time to start looking at how you're going to adapt to these changes within the new Cisco three to sixty partner program. So, Chris, you mentioned the Cisco ceor or CX. I guess those are. They're interchangeable, but for Cisco's purposes, we're calling this the Cisco CE specialization, right right, Okay, So John, let me turn to you, you know, tell us about the Cisco c CE specialization.

Yeah, So the CE specialization at the end of the day, right, is really a way for a partner to kind of set themselves apart from their peers and to be able to kind of showcase their aptitude in the CX space within CSCO, Cisco is going to incentivize and reward partners. So not only are you setting yourself apart on Partner Locator, but Cisco is also going to incentivize your good CX motions. Right, They're going to offer things, as Chris alluded to before, such as rebates on the back end and the life Cycle Incentive Journey, and also other programs like EA renew which is going to get you automatic deal registration on an EA renewal, and it's also going to give you discounts over your competitors.

We're alluding to this, you know, we're talking about this Partner three sixty program and essentially how there's going to be a score that's given to each partner. Well, the CE specialization is going to increase that score, so that's going to be a major part of this new program. That score, I'm sure is striking people with a little bit of fear. All right, So Chris John mentioned the Partner Value Index.

Now that's the score and that probably sounds a little bit daunting. Tell us what is then this partner value index? Yeah, the Partner Value Index is the new way that Cisco is looking at the partners and their expertise in specific levels. It's really broken out into four different sections.

The first section it's looking at their CX capabilities, whether or not they have their CE specialization. It also looks at their managed Service provider status and takes that into account. The second section is actually looking at their certifications. How many ccies do they have on staff, how many cc nas, how many ccdas do they have.

Plus it looks at black belt trainings that are available through Cisco and how many of those they have currently. The third section actually looks at their overall sales numbers. It's looking at their arr around software sales and enterprise agreements and how well they're doing there. It looks at their NRR and really helping pull in that renewal revenue.

And so that's the third section. And then the fourth section lies back into the overall CX conversation because it looks at how you as a partner have done with getting your customers through the Cisco life cycle. So it measures how many of your partners have you onboarded, and then it looks at a separate one that how many have you gotten through the adoption stage? And so it really combines all four of those areas to get you that aggregate score.

And in order to start earning the rebates within the Partner Value Index, you need to be at a minimum score of five. If you want to start getting into that preferred partner status, you need to be at a score of seven point five. And the way that Cisco is looking at this, it's not just an overall number. They have it for each individual architecture.

So you could be a seven point five as a preferred partner in security that may not in networking, or maybe you could be a collab preferred partner and not in the data center space. So it really while it seems to be more daunting than the old partner program just because it's new to partners, it really does offer extra areas where you, as a partner can really show your expertise. Because if you only focus on security and you don't really care about collaboration, you can be that preferred security partner and not have to worry about any of the other stuff.

And so I think it's really going to help partners in the long run by moving to this Partner Value Index. Well, so let me ask then, for the beginner, what if what if I'm a partner that's really just starting in their Cisco c EX journey, what kind of help does Ingram micro offer John. Yeah, and that's just a great question because I hear that from partners all the time. And listen, this is what I like to tell our partners who asked that.

I say, that's fantastic, because I'm going to applaud you for you know, investing back into your business in such a key area. So starting now, starting from scratch, it doesn't matter. Chris and I we like to tell our partners that, you know, we have more developed partners who come to us and say, hey, we need to tweak some key areas of our big business. Can you help us maximize efficiency in our CX practice?

And that's great. We can do that. And we can take you from scratch from start too, and we can take you all the way through. We can teach you how to build your CX practice, take you through any you know, trainings that some people on your staff may need to get.

We can actually work with your sales team on showing them the importance of CX and you know kind of selling to business outcomes to help your CX practice and really at the end of the day, we can help you monetize your practice, right and that's some of the things that that Chris and I help with. On the partners side, we also have a team specifically that is CX as a service. So we have partners that say that sounds great, we're starting from scratch, but we don't have the resources to you know, invest right now into our CX practice.

Well, that's great because at Ingram Micro we have a team of those resources that can really work as the arm or the CX branch of your company and kind of do that for you, do the CX for you. On top of doing the CX for you, they can teach your team while they're doing that. It's sort of a mentorship program to show them what they're doing and what they're finding success with. And we also have, you know, a digital team that is more of a low touch team that if you need more of a low touch digital motion, we can help you build out that practice as well.

So, like I said before, if you're developed partner and want to tweak some things, that's great. If you're a partner that's starting from scratch, you know, and you're a blank canvas, that's fine with us too. We're here to help with any step of the journey and we can really kind of hold your hand throughout the entire thing. Chris and I have a lot of experience and or experts in the CX field, and we love when our partners leverage our expertise and our knowledge in order to you know, bring in, you know, help monetize and bring us into the practice to really make it the best CX practice that they possibly can.

Yeah, let me ask idtly ask you this, Chris kind of put plainly, is there a lot of trepidation about the score? I mean because this is new, This is something that that Cisco hasn't there hasn't been a formal system like this where there's actual grades and scores. I mean, I imagine that that's kind of that's a little bit concerning to some partners, right. Yeah, it is because traditionally, you know, the only thing that they had to worry about was, you know, maintaining their specific certifications.

You know, like I have my Advanced Networking specialization? How do I maintain that? And so now everything is just new and unknown, and really, I mean that's human nature, if you know, we don't know something. So you know, we're like, Okay, it's the devil I know versus the devil I don't know.

So I want to stick with what we've got right, And so what that trepidation is there. But the thing that we like to tell partners is Cisco has given a huge runway on this. You know, we still have twelve months to fully wrap our heads around this, and in that twelve months to provide feedback. I know, as a distributor, ingram Micro was already providing feedback from a lot of the partners that we have begun working this partner Value Index discussion with We've always started providing feedback to Cisco.

Partners are providing feed back to Cisco. And so you know, what Partner Value Index looks like today may not be the final product in February of twenty twenty six. And that's a good thing because that shows that Cisco is willing to listen to the partner community, willing to listen to us as the distributor, to say, hey, this may not make the most sense. What these partners are saying, that makes a little better sense.

So let's go with that. And so while the trepidation is there, and it's completely understandable. At the same time, just know that Ingram is here to support you through this journey and we have Cisco's ear. You as the partner, have Cisco's ear, and so just know that we're all going to work through this together to make it as seamless a transition as possible.

It's good to tell, is there so the score when that does finally happen. You know, I'm kind of picturing this as like an SAT. Is there a pre SAT? Is there something that you guys are talking with?

That's a great question, and so the answer is yes, we do have some pre score work that we can do with partners in the PXP tool. Right now, partners can already see their security score, their Security Partner Value Index. Cisco recently said they have just turned on the Networking Partner Value Index score and so partners can see that and the nice thing is they can share it with us at distribution. They can give us the distribution view of that and we can walk through these with them Internally.

We have created a tool that basically pulls all of those sections into a spreadsheet and we can start manipulating the numbers to help the partner understand what levers do we need to pull to get to a specific score. If we don't have the CE specialization today. If we get that, how does that affect our over all score? Well, we plug that in and we show them how that moves their score up and they're like, oh, great, that's something that we can do.

And that's where John and I can really assist with that. This is not just a Chris and John thing that we're doing around the Partner Value Index. This is an Ingram wide motion that we're doing. We have resources from all of our different areas, from our technical enablement folks, to our technical consultants, to our sales team, to our market development team, to our CX team.

We have lots of folks that are focused on this and really helping with that. And so getting that pre score is going to be important for partners to know, especially over these next twelve months, what do I need to do before the actual go live date to make sure that I am at the best point possible for this new Partner Value Index? Got it? That makes sense?

That makes sense. Well, so as as we do start to wrap up, let me make sure you know, John, is there anything else that you would you would add to this or you know, I guess if you were to kind of summarize or or have have a listener take away a key point from this episode. You know, what would you say? Yeah, I guess what what I would say is that the new partner program is coming.

It's the C specialization is going to play an immense role in that partner score. Overall. In a world of technology where we have so many resources available to us, it's a great thing, but it's it can also be you know, sometimes tough for partners to say, I want to get the CEE specialization. Let me go in and dig through all these resources to figure out how to actually achieve that specialization.

And so I would I would want the listener to know that this is what Chris and I do on an everyday basis. We help our partners achieve these specializations. It's not like an advanced specialization for a basic ce specialization, right, It's that base E specialization is you know, relatively you know, simple to achieve as long as you know what you're doing and going about it the right way. So let Chris and I hold your hand and walk you through the process.

We've done this plenty of times. Let us show you exactly the resources that you need to gather, help you with the application process, give you access to the training that you're going to need, and you know, really let us be the experts and walk you through that and make your life simpler and easier as far as the CE specialization goes, because as Chris mentioned, you know, this isn't just an US thing. This is an Ingram wide change. This is a Cisco wide change.

So you may not only just be focusing on the CE specialization, but you're also focused on other parts of your business in order to increase your core. So I guess that's what I would say to take away from this. It's just to leverage us in our team and our resources to try to make this piece of the three sixty program and this, you know, the new way that we're doing things. Let us make your life easier and just involve us in the process because we can really help you in a lot of ways.

Excellent. How can a partner get started, you know, if they if they're already within you know the Cisco c X, you know REALM or platform here, what do they need to do to start working on their score to get their pre score. I guess how how how do you? How do you get started?

Well, they need to reach out to us to get that conversation started the easiest way because it's a very short email address. Instead of bringing me directly or pinging John directly, send send us an email that care C A R E at ingram micro dot com, and that will get you started down that path. That's our that's our c X team. We're going to be able to help you guys from that.

If nothing else, just say hey, Chris or John heard you guys on the podcast. Want to talk about CX, want to talk about the new three to sixty program. Let's get started. It's easy and straightforward.

They can reach out to us there. Excellent. Well, guys, I appreciate the time and the insight today. Thank you so much for joining me.

Thank you it was a pleasure being here. Yeah, it was great. Thank you for having us, and. Thank you listeners for tuning in.

Subscribing to B to B Tech Talk with Ingram Micro. If you haven't subscribed, be sure to do so and don't forget. You can find all of these episodes on the Ingram Micro Expantage platform. Until next time, I'm Shelby Skirhawk.

You've been listening to B to B tech Talk by ingram Micro. This episode was sponsored by ingram Micro Exvantage. B to B tech Talk is a joint production between Sweetfish Media and ingram Micro. To listen to this episode and many others, visit ingrammicro dot com.