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Gold Certification

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Gold Certification offers the highest level of rewards and recognition. This designation rewards partners for their loyalty to Cisco, proven capabilities in providing value-added services, and a strong commitment to customer success. In addition, Gold Certified Partners have integrated Cisco Lifecycle Services into their offerings and demonstrated a high level of customer satisfaction.

» Apply for Gold Certification

Partner Benefits

Cisco Gold Certified Partners benefit from an increased level of support and economic incentives from Cisco, including access to best-in-class products and services, technical support, productivity tools, online training, marketing resources, and sales promotions. In addition to branding as a Cisco Gold Certified Partner, benefits of Cisco Gold Certification include:

Gold Certified Partners also enjoy access to many Cisco resources, including customer satisfaction best practices and tools, the Partner Education Connection, Marketing Resources , and restricted products (varies by geography).

Gold partners are eligible to participate in Cisco channel incentive programs, with higher economic incentives than all other certification levels.

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After you gain certification, you can:

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Certification and specialization are based on meeting all requirements within a given country, or country grouping where relevant. All applicants must agree to the Cisco Channel Partner Program terms and conditions.

Current Requirements for Gold Certification

Base requirements:

Specialization Requirements

To achieve Gold Certification, a partner must have the following specializations:

Role sharing allows a single individual to fulfill similar roles across two or more specializations, based upon the specialization and the role. Please note:

  • A single, qualified individual may fill only the account manager (AM) role in up to a total of four specializations.
  • A single, qualified individual may fill only the systems engineer (SE) role in up to a total of two specializations.
  • A single, qualified individual may fill only the field engineer (FE) role in up to a total of two specializations.
  • Individuals may not cross-populate between the AM, SE, and FE roles.

Certified Role Requirements

Title Account Manager System Engineer Field Engineer
Advanced Routing and Switching CSE CCDA CCNP
Advanced Unified Communications CSE CCDA CCNP-Voice
Advanced Security CSE CCDA CCNP-Security
Advanced Wireless LAN CSE CCDA CCNA
CCIE requirements for Certification: Gold equal four. CCIEs can satisfy any technical CCxx specialization role.

Support Requirements

Type Gold
Legal agreement Valid resale agreement or Cisco Indirect Channel Partner Agreement (ICPA) in place
Demo capabilities Ability to demonstrate one specialization technology at the time of audit
Customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Escalation process Required
Call Back One hour
Support lab Support lab equipment requirement for CSSP, SIS, and RSA partners only
Pre-Sales Support Required
Post-Sales Support Requirements based on Partner Support Agreement

Customer Satisfaction

Note: Participation in the Cisco partner customer satisfaction survey is required.
Type Gold
New Certification* Minimum of 15 responses,Partner CSAT is measured twice a year (**January and July) using results received in the 12 months previous to each measurement date

and

Must achieve the regional customer satisfaction target by either January** or July**, whichever comes first after annual certification anniversary
Recertification Minimum of 30 responses, measured twice a year (**January and July) using results received in the 12 months previous to each measurement date

and

Must achieve the regional customer satisfaction target by the end of both January** and July**
*The definition of "new" partner as it relates to the enforcement of the customer satisfaction requirement is a partner that has not been Premier, Silver, or Gold certified within the previous six months.

**The exact Cisco fiscal year measurement dates can be found in the Partner Access onLine (PAL) tool

Exceptions

  • Premier partners moving to either Silver or Gold must have a minimum of 15 valid responses and meet the theater Customer Satisfaction target.
  • Silver partners moving to Gold must have a minimum of 30 valid responses and meet the theater Customer Satisfaction target.

Service Requirements

Service Attach Rate
New and renewing Silver and Gold Certified Partners are required to have a minimum service attach rate of 40 percent during the four previous Cisco quarters.

For partners who have not previously been Gold or Silver Certified, the Service Attach Rate requirement may be met by achieving a rate of 40 percent within the past 12 months.
Revenue from Services
New and renewing Silver and Gold Partners must generate at least 15 percent of revenue from services during the two previous Cisco quarters.

For example:
  • Total product revenue (from the networking products division) for the past two Cisco quarters
  • Total services revenue (from all services sold, including Cisco SMARTnet and professional services)
Revenue from services must meet the following requirements:
  • The percentage of revenue from all services (includes all vendors, and does not have to be 100 percent Cisco-specific) against the product revenue must be at least 15 percent
  • Partners must provide documented evidence that they have met or exceeded this requirement
Measurement must be specific to the division engaged in providing networking services or solutions in the country applying for certification.

The service requirements apply to both Cisco branded services (CBR, packaged services, pay-for-performance, and Partner branded services (CSSP, SIS, Co-Brand, Collaborative Technical Services).

Additional details on how to calculate the Service Attach Rate and Revenue from Services can be found in the Audit Policies Document.

Before Silver or Gold Certification or re-certification is awarded, an independent firm will conduct an audit in order to ensure that your company has met all program requirements.

Additional information and requirements may be found in the Audit Policies Document

Note: If a partner does not remain in compliance with the applicable specialization or certification requirements, Cisco reserves the right to revoke the specialization or certification. Partners must notify Cisco of non-compliance promptly, but in no event more than 30 days after the partner first becomes aware of its non-compliance.

Upon receipt of such notice, the partner may qualify for an extension of time in which to renew its compliance with the applicable specialization or certification requirements. The Partner's failure to provide such notice may disqualify the partner from receiving such an extension. If no extension is granted or if the partner fails to comply with the certification or specialization requirements by the end of the extension period, Cisco reserves the right to revoke the applicable specialization or certification immediately. Additional information regarding non-compliance may be found in the Audit Policies Document listed above.

Certification and specialization are based on meeting all requirements within a given country, or country grouping where relevant. All applicants must agree to the Cisco Channel Partner Program terms and conditions.

Gold Certification Requirements including Architecture Specializations
(effective Aug 1, 2012)


Base requirements:

Specialization Requirements

To achieve Gold Certification, a partner must have three architecture specializations:

Certified Role Requirements

Title Account Manager Arch System Engineer Field Engineer
Collaboration Architecture CSE CCDA CCNP-Voice
Title Account Manager Arch System Engineer Field Engineer (R&S) Field Engineer (Security) Field Engineer (Mobility)
Borderless Networks Architecture CSE CCDP CCNP R&S CCSP/CCNP-Securty CCNA Wireless
or
Adv WLAN Field Specialist
CCNP Exams 642-731, 642-741
Title Account Manager Arch System Engineer Field Engineer (UCS) Field Engineer (Unified Fabric) Field Engineer (App Services)
Data Center Architecture CSE N/A N/A CCNP CCNA
CCIE requirements for Certification: Gold equal four. CCIEs can satisfy any technical CCxx specialization role.

Certification Transition

Certification transition begins in FY12. From August 2011 through July 2012 partners may submit certification applications for both technologies and architectures.

Effective August 2012, partners will be required to meet the new certification requirements at their next certification anniversary date.

Support Requirements

Type Gold
Legal agreement Valid resale agreement or Cisco Indirect Channel Partner Agreement (ICPA) in place
Demo capabilities Ability to demonstrate one specialization technology/solutions at the time of audit
Customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Escalation process Required
Call Back One hour
Support lab Support lab equipment requirement for CSSP, SIS, and RSA partners only
Pre-Sales Support Required
Post-Sales Support Requirements based on Partner Support Agreement

Customer Satisfaction

Note: Participation in the Cisco partner customer satisfaction survey is required.
Type Gold
New Certification*
  • Minimum of 15 responses, Partner CSAT is measured twice a year (**January and July) using results received in the 12 months previous to each measurement date.
    and
  • Must achieve the regional customer satisfaction target by either January ** or July**, whichever comes first after annual certification anniversary
Recertification
  • Minimum of 30 responses, measured twice a year (January and July**) using results received in the 12 months previous to each measurement date
    and
  • Must achieve the regional customer satisfaction target by the end of both January ** and July**
*The definition of "new" partner as it relates to the enforcement of the customer satisfaction requirement is a partner that has not been Premier, Silver, or Gold certified within the previous six months.

The exact Cisco fiscal year measurement dates can be found in the Partner Access onLine (PAL) tool

Exceptions

  • Premier partners moving to either Silver or Gold must have a minimum of 15 valid responses and meet the theater Customer Satisfaction target.
  • Silver partners moving to Gold must have a minimum of 30 valid responses and meet the theater Customer Satisfaction target.

Service Requirements

Service Attach Rate
New and renewing Silver and Gold Certified Partners are required to have a minimum service attach rate of 40 percent during the four previous Cisco quarters.

For partners who have not previously been Gold or Silver Certified, the Service Attach Rate requirement may be met by achieving a rate of 40 percent within the past 12 months.
Revenue from Services
New and renewing Silver and Gold Partners must generate at least 15 percent of revenue from services during the two previous Cisco quarters.

For example:
  • Total product revenue (from the networking products division) for the past two Cisco quarters

Support Requirements

Type Gold
Legal agreement Valid resale agreement or Cisco Indirect Channel Partner Agreement (ICPA) in place
Demo capabilities Ability to demonstrate one specialization technology/solutions at the time of audit
Customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Escalation process Required
Call Back One hour
Support lab Support lab equipment requirement for CSSP, SIS, and RSA partners only
Pre-Sales Support Required
Post-Sales Support Requirements based on Partner Support Agreement
  • Total services revenue (from all services sold, including Cisco SMARTnet and professional services)
Revenue from services must meet the following requirements:
  • The percentage of revenue from all services (includes all vendors, and does not have to be 100 percent Cisco-specific) against the product revenue must be at least 15 percent
  • Partners must provide documented evidence that they have met or exceeded this requirement
Measurement must be specific to the division engaged in providing networking services or solutions in the country applying for certification.

The service requirements apply to both Cisco branded services (CBR, packaged services, pay-for-performance, and Partner branded services (CSSP, SIS, Co-Brand, Collaborative Technical Services).

Additional details on how to calculate the Service Attach Rate and Revenue from Services can be found in the Audit and Policies Document.

Before Silver or Gold Certification or re-certification is awarded, an independent firm will conduct an audit in order to ensure that your company has met all program requirements.

Additional information and requirements may be found in the Audit Policies Document

Note: If a partner does not remain in compliance with the applicable specialization or certification requirements, Cisco reserves the right to revoke the specialization or certification. Partners must notify Cisco of non-compliance promptly, but in no event more than 30 days after the partner first becomes aware of its non-compliance.

Upon receipt of such notice, the partner may qualify for an extension of time in which to renew its compliance with the applicable specialization or certification requirements. The Partner's failure to provide such notice may disqualify the partner from receiving such an extension. If no extension is granted or if the partner fails to comply with the certification or specialization requirements by the end of the extension period, Cisco reserves the right to revoke the applicable specialization or certification immediately. Additional information regarding non-compliance may be found in the Audit Policies Document listed above.

Your company must be a Registered Partner before applying for any specializations or certifications. Visit the Become a Registered Partner page if you have not registered for the Cisco Channel Partner Program.

How to Apply

  1. Your company must be a Registered Partner before applying for any specializations or certifications. Visit the Become a Registered Partner page if you have not registered for the Cisco Channel Partner Program.
  2. Verify that certified individuals fulfilling job roles are allocated to your company with their Cisco (CSCO) testing number.*
  3. Partner administrators and Cisco employees will verify this information using the Partner Self Service tool.
  4. Complete and submit the certification application.
    If you encounter any issues in the application or renewal process, please open a case with the Partner Relationship Team.

*Cisco typically receives exam results within five to 10 days from its respective testing agencies.

How to Renew Your Certification

You have 90 days prior to your certification anniversary date to begin the re-certification process. In the 90 days prior to your anniversary date, your status will change from Approved to Re-Cert in the Certification and Specialization Application (CSApp) online tool and you will receive a notification by e-mail. Once you verify that you are in compliance with current specialization requirements, please submit your application in the CSApp tool. You will not be able to submit your application unless all requirements are met.

If you encounter any issues in the application or renewal process, please open a case with the Partner Relationship Team.

Failure to submit a re-certification application 30 days after your anniversary date will result in loss of the certification.

Gold Certification Resources