Updated: 06 Jan 2026
Cisco is changing how it evaluates and recognises its partners worldwide. This is not a cosmetic update to titles or badges. Under the Cisco 360 Partner Program, Cisco is moving away from legacy, role-based partner tiers such as Gold and Premier and replacing them with a performance-led, portfolio-specific model.
From January 2026, Cisco Preferred Partner becomes the highest customer-facing designation in this new framework. The shift reflects Cisco’s intent to recognise partners not by size or legacy alone, but by their ability to deliver measurable customer outcomes within specific technology portfolios.
For Indian enterprises, this change has direct implications for how Cisco partners should be evaluated, shortlisted, and engaged going forward.
A Cisco Preferred Partner is a partner that has demonstrated advanced capability, consistent execution, and sustained customer outcomes within a defined Cisco technology portfolio.
Unlike earlier partner titles, Cisco Preferred status is:
This means a partner may be recognised as a Cisco Preferred Partner in Networking, Security, Collaboration, or Cloud & AI based on proven delivery strength in that domain, without implying the same depth across all Cisco technologies.
In simple terms, Cisco Preferred Partner status tells customers where a partner’s real strengths lie.
Under the Cisco 360 Partner Program, Cisco evaluates partners using a value-based framework that goes beyond sales volumes or headcount metrics.
Assessment focuses on areas that directly affect customer success, including:
Performance is tracked continuously, and Preferred status is awarded only when partners demonstrate repeatable excellence within a specific portfolio. This marks a fundamental departure from earlier models, where a single title often masked uneven capability across domains.
The distinction between Cisco Gold Partner and Cisco Preferred Partner is structural, not hierarchical.
Cisco Gold Partner status historically signalled overall partner maturity, investment, and scale. While valuable, it did not always reflect where a partner excelled in real-world delivery.
Cisco Preferred Partner introduces portfolio-level validation. Instead of assuming capability across the board, Cisco now verifies performance where it matters most: within the technology being deployed.
For customers, this reduces ambiguity. For partners, it raises the bar from broad qualification to proven execution. As Cisco transitions fully to the 360 Partner Program in 2026, Cisco Preferred Partner becomes the more relevant indicator for evaluating portfolio-specific capability, while legacy Gold status increasingly serves as historical context.
Indian enterprises operate in environments that are complex, distributed, and fast-evolving. Network modernisation, security transformation, cloud adoption, and hybrid work initiatives often run in parallel.
In this context, selecting a partner based on a generic title is no longer sufficient.
Cisco Preferred Partner status matters because it:
For CIOs, CISOs, and IT leaders, portfolio-specific validation provides a clearer signal than legacy, one-size-fits-all partner tiers.
Cisco awards Preferred Partner status independently across its core technology portfolios, including:
Each designation reflects validated capability within that portfolio alone. Customers should verify Preferred status against the specific technology and geography relevant to their deployment.
Cisco publishes partner designations through official, customer-facing tools such as the Cisco Partner Locator.
When verifying a Cisco Preferred Partner, customers should confirm:
Verification ensures alignment between stated capability and actual delivery strength.
As Cisco Gold and other legacy titles are phased out, partner selection criteria will need to evolve. For enterprises updating RFPs, procurement frameworks, or vendor evaluation processes, the Cisco Preferred Partner designation becomes the most relevant reference point for Cisco-led initiatives from 2026 onward.
It shifts the conversation from who qualifies broadly to who delivers consistently in the domain that matters.
Proactive Data Systems is a Cisco Preferred Partner in India across multiple Cisco technology portfolios, including Networking, Security, Cloud & AI, and Collaboration.
With a long-standing Cisco practice and delivery teams across Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, and Hyderabad, Proactive supports Indian enterprises through the full technology lifecycle, from architecture and deployment to optimisation and managed services.
Cisco Preferred Partner status reflects validated, portfolio-level capability, but it is Proactive’s execution discipline, governance, and India-focused delivery model that translates this validation into outcomes for customers.
