Cisco's revamped partner programmes, unveiled at the firm's Partner Summit, signal a push towards the recurring revenue model and reward partners who drive the strategy.
The three key programme changes focus on building and recognising capabilities, refreshing to digital, and moving to lifecycle and recurring revenue.
"To keep pace with the changing technology landscape, Cisco needs to be in lockstep with our partners if they are to operate effectively," said Marc Surplus, Vice President of Strategy, Planning and Programmes, Cisco Global Partner Organisation.
These changes will see a simplification of Cisco's specialisations portfolio. In August 2017, Cisco began the simplification process by reducing the 10 express-level specialisations to one Express Specialisation with tracks that cover all Cisco architectures.
Advanced Specialisations are also being reduced from 13 down to five Advanced Architecture Specialisations.
Cisco is retiring all Advanced Technology Specialisations (except Advanced Video) and embedding technical adoption capabilities throughout the remaining Advanced Architecture Specialisations.
The new Master Networking Specialisation is designed to help Cisco partners enhance their networking capabilities.
The Cisco Master Networking Specialisation will be available in March 2018 and will include new software and services skill development, which other Master Specialisations will later look to model.
Cisco is also ramping up its industry expertise recognition to allow partners to demonstrate their knowledge in specific areas starting with retail, healthcare and manufacturing.
Furthermore, Cisco is introducing new incentives and simplifying deal registration to assist partners in enabling their customers to refresh to the digital ready networks of the future.