Cisco 360 represents a structural shift in Cisco’s partner programme, introducing changes to how the company structures and supports its partner ecosystem. Rather than focusing on product categories and hardware-led transactions, the programme is built around outcomes, aligning architectures to three core business results: the AI-ready data centre, future-proofed workplaces and digital resilience. The programme aims to move away from traditional ‘box selling’ toward a more consultative, solution-driven approach that centres on customer outcomes. Heinsius states that, “the 360 programme really allows partners to focus on a solution, on an outcome, on a vertical or a segment.”
Cisco 360 is designed to shift the focus toward measurable outcomes, enabling smaller and specialist partners to compete alongside larger global players by emphasising niche expertise and clear differentiation. The programme centres on understanding what customers are ultimately trying to achieve: why they invest in specific solutions, what success looks like for their business and how technology can support those priorities. It creates a framework that aligns partner capabilities with defined business outcomes and supports a more structured approach to engagement and value creation.
At Comstor, support for partners extends beyond distribution into enablement and operational guidance to help them navigate the structure and requirements of the new programme. The team has developed practical tools and playbooks that break down the different pillars of the framework and clarify what progression looks like. A key example is the Partner Value Accelerator, which evolved from an internal tracking spreadsheet into a live platform that integrates data from Cisco’s Partner Experience Platform and provides visibility into status, install base and growth opportunities. The tool helps partners understand where they stand within the programme, where they may want to specialise and what actions are needed to advance.
Alongside programme enablement, Comstor supports partners building managed service capabilities through structured pathways. Partners can develop their own model with guidance, or leverage a white label Managed SOC built on Cisco XDR. As Heinsius notes, “our partners can use our white-label Managed SOC if the partner has customers that are big enough to care about a SOC, but are too small to have their own.” The offering is designed for organisations that need enterprise grade security but lack the scale to operate their own security operations centre. Partners retain their programme benefits under Cisco 360 while accessing infrastructure that helps them scale services more efficiently. Heinsius describes the approach as “really giving flexibility and options and choice to help partners be successful, both in the world of managed services and in the 360 programme.”
Security everywhere, AI-ready infrastructure & absorbing complexity
Looking ahead to 2026, Heinsius identified three major trends shaping the MSP landscape:
Security everywhere
For MSPs, security can no longer be treated as a standalone product or add-on service. It is embedded across infrastructure, devices and applications and must be managed as a unified model. As Heinsius emphasises, “security is a process, not a product.” That shift requires unified policy control, integrated visibility and consistent enforcement through a centralised management layer. He adds that “security is truly embedded in the entire infrastructure. Each part of the network has their own security elements in there, and they need to work completely together as one, with one policy, one contract, one dashboard, single pane of glass.” For MSPs, the opportunity lies in delivering that unified view for customers while simplifying complexity and ensuring consistent protection across environments.
AI-ready infrastructure
As organisations move beyond experimentation and into real AI deployment, infrastructure readiness becomes critical. AI workloads demand programmability, seamless integration and reliable data flow across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Partners that can build and manage platforms designed for interoperability and scalability will be better positioned to support this transition. In Heinsius’ words, “we're entering the AI era and moving from hype to reality.” For MSPs, that means focusing on infrastructure foundations that support real production use cases, not just proof of concepts, and ensuring customers can operationalise AI in a controlled and repeatable way.
Managing complexity through services
Growing regulatory pressure, licensing challenges and increasingly fragmented technology stacks are making environments more difficult for customers to manage internally. This creates a clear opening for MSPs to step in and deliver structured operational support. Heinsius argues that successful partners are those who “absorb complexity” and turn it into predictable, managed outcomes. He also notes that “the regulation and skills shortages that we see is, infrastructures are becoming more and more complex.” For MSPs, this reinforces the value of packaging expertise into managed services that simplify operations, reduce risk and allow customers to focus on their core business while partners handle the complexity behind the scenes.
Practical implications for MSPs
Speaking about the programme, Heinsius said, “Cisco 360 marks a major moment for partners, opening the door to simpler engagement, stronger differentiation and new paths to growth.” He emphasised that the framework streamlines how partners interact with Cisco and aligns incentives more closely with outcomes and lifecycle engagement. For partners, this means clearer visibility into progression and more structured alignment around specialisation and services.
For MSPs, the practical takeaway is less about programme positioning and more about operational readiness. Those that succeed will focus on building differentiated capabilities, leveraging marketplace opportunities where relevant and embedding services across the customer lifecycle. In an environment where margins on hardware are tightening and recurring revenue models dominate, growth increasingly depends on expertise, execution and specialisation rather than programme participation alone.
