Cisco Increases VIP Incentives for Channel Partners

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Moreno outlined the enhancements in a blog post. And in a call with The VAR Guy, Moreno discussed:

1. Cisco’s Teaming Incentive Program (TIP) is undergoing a global roll-out now. It will deliver higher margins to partners that work with Cisco on customer engagements.

2. Cisco’s Technology Migration Program (TMP) will have an expanded list of competitive products for partners to target. The VAR Guy assumes the list rewards partners for swapping out networking gear from Hewlett-Packard and Juniper, while also offering trade-in incentives for used Cisco gear.

3. Cisco’s Cloud Partner Program, which officially went online June 15, will receive new partner incentives — though The VAR Guy didn’t discuss specific incentives with Moreno.

4. Cisco’s Value Incentive Program (VIP), which is gaining three changes. Known as VIP version 18, the program has been upgraded twice annually for the past nine years. Changes for VIP 18 includes VIP Express, which brings more partners under the VIP umbrella. Plus, Gold Partners will receive a larger bonus for focusing on datacenter and architecture work. There are also enhancements for partners that focus on WebEx and TelePresence.

Admittedly, The VAR Guy glossed over many of the program enhancements. But the core takeaway is an important one: In recent weeks, some Cisco partners feared that Cisco would cut funding to VIP as part of the Fiscal 2012 plan, which started August 1, 2011. Instead, Cisco’s Moreno says the company is bolstering its overall partner incentive portfolio and increasing the partner dollars available through VIP.

As part of a reality check, The VAR Guy is checking in with a few partners that expressed potential concerns about VIP 18 before its official launch. Our resident blogger will be back if there’s anything new to report.