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Important Cisco Resale Channel Program

Expanded Flexibility for the Cisco Channel Partner Program Role Sharing - Effective July 9, 2007

Cisco has expanded its role sharing requirements to give partners more flexibility in using individual employees to fill specialization roles. These enhancements reduce the number of unique individuals required to fill roles in Express, Advanced, and Master specializations, and enable partners to participate in multiple Value Incentive Programs (VIPs) with a fewer number of unique individuals.

The number of roles (account manager [AM], sales engineer [SE], field engineer [FE]) required for a specific specialization has not changed, but the number of roles a unique individual can fulfill across multiple specializations has been expanded:

  • 1 SE can fulfill an SE role in any 2 Express, Advanced, or Master Specializations (1x2)
  • 1 FE can fulfill an FE role in any 2 Express, Advanced, or Master Specializations (1x2)
  • 1 AM can fulfill an AM role in any 4 Express, Advanced, or Master Specializations (1x4)
  • AM, SE, or FE can only fill other AM, SE, or FE roles, respectively

Partners now have the additional flexibility to determine how they wish to utilize individuals across multiple specializations, based on their unique business model.

These program enhancements now provide more options for how partners utilize individual employees:

  • Option 1: Full role sharing to minimize the individual employee requirements to achieve multiple specializations and to access multiple VIP incentives
  • Option 2: Partial role sharing for some roles and specializations, but not for all
  • Option 3: Full role dedication across all roles and specializations to offer the maximum depth and breadth of skills across the organization
Benefits to Expanded Role Sharing
Benefits to Role Dedication

  • Accelerates profitability by minimizing the number of unique individuals required to achieve additional specializations and to access multiple VIPs

  • Added flexibility gives a partner more choices on how to utilize individuals across multiple specializations

  • For each individual: Increases skills breadth across multiple technologies to enable them to individually deliver broad, multi-technology solutions

  • Strengthens a partner’s overall sales, technical, and lifecycle services skills to create competitive advantage and differentiation

  • Spreads a partner’s knowledge base among a larger group of individuals, minimizing the risks associated with employee turnover

  • Increases skills coverage across a broader group of people to improve customer satisfaction


Please note that the total number of unique individuals needed for each certification level has not changed:

  • Gold Certification requires a minimum of 12 unique individuals
  • Silver Certification requires a minimum of 6 unique individuals
  • Premier Certification requires a minimum of 3 unique individuals
  • Select Certification requires a minimum of 1 unique individual

Background on Role Sharing

  • In each specialization, Cisco typically defines three roles: Account Manager (AM), Sales Engineer (SE), and Field Engineer (FE). Training and exam requirements are unique to each role
  • Predefined rules specify how many different roles an individual can fill, either within a specialization or across specializations
  • Role sharing enables partners to use one individual to fill roles across multiple specializations
  • The degree of role sharing directly impacts the total number of individuals required to achieve a specific specialization (and earn the associated incentives)

If you have any questions about these role sharing enhancements, please contact your Cisco Channel Account Manager or open a case in Partner Help.

Resources

  • Role Sharing Q&A (PDF - 883 KB)
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