Making Life Easier
Cisco Systems has already exceeded its goal of generating 30 percent of its revenue from software and is on its way to growing subscriptions to half of its revenue by fiscal year 2025, but that’s not stopping the vendor from making it even easier for partners to sell more software and subscriptions.
Partner-led Cisco at Partner Summit 2021 unveiled its highly anticipated, simplified enterprise agreement (EA) licensing model, Cisco EA 3.0. Met with a lot of fanfare from the channel, the new EA will be critical for customers wanting an easy way to purchase Cisco solutions across the entire portfolio, on one contract. Not to mention the legwork it will take off partners’ plates who have to manage their customers’ licenses. The San Jose, Calif.-based tech giant also grew its newly simplified partner program by two new “roles” for partners and is evolving its Specialization track to focus on cross-architectural solution specializations.
Cisco Channel Chief Oliver Tuszik sat down with CRN to talk about the value of the new EA and how Cisco is working hand-in-hand with partners to address their clients’ new needs and buying habits, all while decreasing complexity for the channel. What follows is excerpts from the conversation.
