The tech giant believes that now is the time for a new partner program because of the massive shift that AI has brought to the tech industry – the largest transition that the IT world has seen, according to Cisco executives. Partners need to be prepared to capitalize on AI particularly when it comes to infrastructure, such as data center builds and edge computing, and security. But they’ll need the right resources and incentives from a partnerprogram to help them go after the ample opportunities that are emerging as their customers modernize their infrastructure.
Cisco’s top leaders, including CEO Chuck Robbins and other members of the C-suite sat down with CRN to talk about Cisco 360, the mark AI is making on the world, and how partners can take advantage.
Here’s what the executive leadership team and the company’s new channel leader had to say at Cisco Partner Summit 2025.
Chuck Robbins, chair and CEO, on Cisco 360
We just have to get it right. I think the balance we have to strike is rewarding those partners who build businesses across our portfolio, who really represent the platform approach to our customers, but also recognizing that you’re going to have partners that are going to go super deep in a certain area, and you need them to be successful as well. So, you’ve got partners who are going to roll across the portfolio, you have partners who are going to go deep with [something like] security, for example, and the program has to recognize both of those are valuable without creating conflict. That’s part of the magic of what [channel leadership is] trying to accomplish. I think the message to the partners is the same thing we’ve always said: We will probably not get it perfect, but we will listen and we’ll adapt, and we’ll modify [the program] to the extent we need to.
Tim Coogan, senior vice president of global partner sales, on his new role as channel chief
I have worked with partners. I’ve won deals and lost deals. I’ve seen what gets in the way and what assists. And I think I bring that perspective to this role. But I also recognize I do have much to learn. People often ask me, why did I take this role, or what’s the most important thing to me in this role? And it’s trust. I’m deeply, deeply proud of the relationship that Cisco has had with our partner ecosystem. And ultimately, the two greatest currencies that you can be given in this world are trust and time.
Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer, on AI’s impact
Right now, this is the most exciting time to be alive in tech in human history. We are all so lucky to be in this era right now and we should make the most of it because the kind of problems we will be able to solve because of technology will affect all of humanity in some pretty big ways. The way that we cure diseases, the way that we actually live our lives, the way that we are able to go out and collaborate between different countries — this is going to be a very, very exciting time if we do it right.
Liz Centoni, executive vice president and chief customer experience officer, on customer experience in the age of AI
I’ve been at Cisco for a little bit more than 25 years. There have been so many technology transitions, but nothing like what we’ve seen with AI, especially generative AI and agentic. There’s, I would say, consensus around the fact that this is unlike anything that we’ve seen before and enables us to think about the future of our business — no matter what business we’re in — that seemed like vision before. And why do I say that? When I joined Cisco, we used to talk about self-healing networks, but that was more of a vision. I do believe that the technology is here that enables us to deliver it. I think the market and our customers are demanding that. This is completely new in terms of how [partners] are going to deliver experiences to their end customer, and how even the workflows and how their own teams do their work is going to change. It’s not just building automation on top of automation. It’s changing the way my team is doing their work, from professional services all the way to customer support. Our customers are demanding a very different experience.
Fran Katsoudas, executive vice president and chief people, policy and purpose officer, on AI skilling
The amazing thing is that last year we announced that we were investing $80 million to really help our partners get skilled, and we launched the Ladder Up program. The nice thing is, we are helping to curate the training and the focus for our partners on what’s most important at this moment. What I would say is, just lean in, join us, and ladder up. Start taking some of the courses, join us for some of the quarterly spotlights. I think that’s a great place to start. I also think that for our partners to remember that as they’re hiring talent, it’s really important for talent today to feel like they can get better, that they can become more marketable, and training is a big part of how we do that as well.
