The company adds that the specialisation offers further differentiation, growth opportunities and economic incentives, including higher Value Incentive Program rebates as a reward for building sophisticated security capabilities and for being committed to customer success.
The Master Specialization was created to support the enhanced Channel Partner Program launched at the Cisco Partner Summit earlier this year. The program continues to be value-based, with Cisco Certifications at the gold, silver and premier levels representing integrated technology skills breadth and Cisco Specializations representing technology skills depth. Cisco offers three specialisation levels, allowing its channel partners to develop different business models while addressing the wide range of customer needs. At each specialisation level (Express, Advanced and Master) a partner must demonstrate greater sales, technical and service capabilities.
“Network security continues to be a business-critical technology and top-ranked concern of business leaders. As more customers require increasingly sophisticated security solutions, effective architectural design and implementation is paramount for success,” said Edison Peres, vice president and chief go-to-market officer for Worldwide Channels at Cisco. “We evolved our channel program so customers can identify the type of channel partner to best meet their needs. Adding a third tier to our specialization offering allows us to address the full spectrum of customer requirements and creates channel partner opportunities for growth and differentiation, two critical elements of partner profitability.”
As a prerequisite to becoming a Master Security Specialized Partner, channel partners must first meet the Advanced Security Specialization requirements.