Cisco is preparing to launch the most significant overhaul of its partner ecosystem in more than thirty years with the introduction of the Cisco 360 Partner Program, a fully redesigned framework that will officially roll out in January 2026. Announced globally in late 2025, the program marks a decisive shift in Cisco’s channel strategy as the company positions itself to support the explosive rise of artificial intelligence, the evolution of modern data centers, and the growing regional demand for cybersecurity, observability, cloud services and collaboration technologies. With the Middle East accelerating investment in AI-driven transformation, Cisco 360 arrives at a pivotal moment. And at the center of this regional momentum is Cisco’s long-time global partner NTT Data, whose advisory-led services, technical scale and deep local experience make it one of the most strategically aligned partners to support the program’s goals across the Middle East and Africa.
According to Cisco, the new framework is nothing short of historic. While the partner program has evolved many times over the past three decades, it has never undergone a complete redesign. Cisco officials argue that the shift was necessary because the company has transformed beyond its identity as a networking vendor. Cisco today spans security, collaboration, observability, AI, cloud, managed services and lifecycle value, and the previous framework was no longer able to reflect the expanded capabilities of partners or help customers understand the differentiated strengths they bring. The Cisco 360 program aims to solve this by aligning partner competencies directly with Cisco’s strategic pillars, which include AI-ready data centers, digital resilience and the future-proof workplace.
For Osama Eldeeb, Cisco’s Regional Director for the Partner Organization across the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, Romania and the CIS region, the timing of the transformation is not only appropriate but essential. He describes Cisco 360 as the most important channel transformation the company has executed in three decades, explaining that customer expectations have changed dramatically and partners need a model that enables deeper specialization, stronger lifecycle engagement and clearer market differentiation. He notes that customers today are not just purchasing technologies; they require partners who can ensure adoption, drive value realization and deliver measurable business outcomes. These expectations are even more pronounced in the Middle East, where organizations are aggressively deploying AI-led initiatives but face challenges around infrastructure readiness, data fragmentation, cybersecurity and return on investment.
Eldeeb explains that one of the defining elements of the new program is its structural focus on specialization across Cisco’s technology domains. Instead of encouraging broad but shallow engagement, the program allows partners to build deep practices across key portfolios such as networking, security, cloud and AI, collaboration, observability and services. He emphasizes that the industry has moved away from transactional selling and toward lifecycle engagement, where delivering outcomes is more important than fulfilling hardware orders. In the context of AI adoption, this shift is particularly relevant. Cisco research shows that ninety-two percent of organizations in the Middle East plan to deploy AI agents, and forty percent expect to do so within the next year. At the same time, eighty-six percent require clear ROI before making large investments. The challenge, he says, is that many existing regional data centers were not designed for AI workloads. Running AI in traditional environments can degrade performance and disrupt business operations. As a result, customers need partners who understand how to build AI-ready architectures, and Cisco 360 provides the tools, frameworks and incentives to support these specialized engagements.
As Cisco evolves its ecosystem, its long-standing alliance with NTT Data stands out as a model of what the new program is designed to enable. The two companies have worked together for nearly thirty years, and their partnership has become one of the most strategic and mature alliances in the global technology landscape. Eldeeb describes the relationship as a “match made in heaven,” noting that one of the biggest challenges for any vendor is that technology often moves faster than the capability of its partners. In the case of NTT Data, he says this gap does not exist, and the partner operates at the same speed as Cisco, supported by more than fourteen thousand technical resources worldwide. He emphasizes that NTT Data brings deep expertise across every Cisco portfolio, from networking to security to collaboration and AI-ready infrastructure, allowing both companies to jointly deliver highly complex transformation projects with consistency, agility and strategic alignment.
This alignment is particularly evident in the Middle East, where both organizations see enormous potential for AI modernization, secure networking, observability and next-generation data center transformation. According to Eldeeb, NTT Data was among the earliest partners globally to embrace the pre-qualification phase of the Cisco 360 program and is already operating at the top tier of all portfolios, even before the program’s formal introduction in January. He highlights NTT’s contractual engagement model, which focuses on delivering business outcomes rather than simply deploying technology, as perfectly aligned with the lifecycle and value-driven philosophy of the new Cisco program.
From NTT Data’s perspective, the Cisco 360 redesign is both timely and necessary. Hani Nofal, Senior Vice President and Regional Head for the Middle East and Africa at NTT Data, explains that the former partner program was built for an era dominated by hardware sales and maintenance contracts. While it evolved over time, it did not reflect Cisco’s dramatic shift toward software, subscriptions, lifecycle engagement and services-led innovation. The new program, he says, rewards partners who deliver real outcomes, not those who focus solely on transactions. He points out that the nature of customer conversations has fundamentally changed. A security-led engagement requires a different approach than an AI-infrastructure conversation or an observability assessment, and clients prefer partners who can demonstrate deep specialization rather than broad generalist capabilities. The Cisco 360 framework formally recognizes and rewards that depth.
As organizations across the region confront an exponential rise in data volume, Nofal notes that the shortage of specialized skills has become a significant barrier to progress. He emphasizes that artificial intelligence cannot succeed without a mature and integrated data foundation, making domain expertise increasingly important. NTT Data invests significantly in technical capabilities, with more than 2,700 Cisco-certified engineers globally and hundreds across the Middle East and Africa. The company holds more than 2,400 Black Belt certifications across the region, underscoring its commitment to staying at the forefront of Cisco technologies. However, Nofal stresses that certifications alone are not enough; customers need partners who understand how data behaves in highly regulated sectors such as banking, healthcare, government and manufacturing. This is where NTT Data’s advisory-led approach, combined with Cisco’s technology leadership, allows the two companies to deliver transformation programs that are both secure and industry-aligned.
The joint Cisco–NTT approach, according to both executives, helps customers move beyond the buzzwords surrounding AI and into real-world use cases that deliver measurable business value. Eldeeb explains that when vendor and partner operate with complete alignment, customers experience differentiated value, clearer guidance and faster time-to-outcome. This collaboration model allows organizations to monetize their AI investments more effectively, adopt new architectures with greater confidence and accelerate their overall digital transformation journey.
Another major element of the Cisco 360 program is its revamped incentive structure, which significantly shifts the economics for partners. Eldeeb notes that ninety-eight percent of Cisco partners today offer value beyond resale, and sixty-seven percent deliver managed services, yet the previous program did not adequately reward these higher-value motions. Cisco 360 changes this by aligning incentives with lifecycle practices such as adoption, value realization, managed services and outcome delivery. He explains that partners who focus solely on resale will not see profitability improvements, but those who invest in specialized practices will experience significantly higher incentives and long-term revenue opportunities. When asked whether this will translate into better margins, Eldeeb states emphatically that partners who build the right expertise will absolutely see profitability gains.
Looking ahead, NTT Data sees significant opportunities to expand its collaboration with Cisco across three major strategic domains that align closely with the Cisco 360 vision. The first is infrastructure modernization, which Nofal describes as essential for preparing organizations for AI workloads. He notes that modernization is no longer about replacing equipment but about building tailored, service-led architectures aligned with industry needs and AI ambitions. The second opportunity lies in the development of secure AI factories—next-generation data centers capable of supporting AI-driven innovation at scale. NTT Data is already working with Cisco on major initiatives across Europe, the Middle East and Africa to build these AI-ready environments. The third focus area is the evolution of AI-led services and software-defined infrastructure. NTT Data recently launched offerings that automate and optimize customer environments using AI-driven intelligence, fully aligned with Cisco’s lifecycle philosophy and designed to guarantee business outcomes rather than traditional uptime metrics. Nofal believes these three domains represent the future of enterprise transformation, and Cisco 360 provides the perfect foundation for delivering them at scale.
Nofal further added that they are already putting all the plans into action and “it’s not just talk.” He noted that NTT Data has around 6,000 data scientists globally and seven data and AI innovation centers. Together with Cisco, the company has co-invested in a new state-of-the-art showcase that will be launched next month in Munich during a joint event.
He also revealed that NTT Data is building an AI capability pod in France, and that he and Osama are working closely to bring a similar pod to the region. “Hopefully, in the next few months, we’ll be able to share more details,” he said. “This is a real example of how we’re combining our global experience with Cisco’s investment in the new program to bring meaningful value to customers here.”
As Cisco prepares to officially launch Cisco 360 in January 2026, the channel industry is watching closely. The Middle East, in particular, is at the center of the program’s early momentum. The region’s rapid digitalization, national AI strategies, hyperscaler investments and enterprise modernization initiatives make it one of the most exciting markets for AI-driven transformation. With Cisco 360, the company is not only redefining how partners are recognized and incentivized but also reshaping how customer value will be delivered for the next decade. And with NTT Data as a strategically aligned global partner, Cisco enters 2026 with an ecosystem built for depth, specialization and lifecycle excellence—qualities that regional customers increasingly demand as they navigate the complexities of the AI era.
Cisco 360 is not a cosmetic update but a fundamental reimagining of how the channel operates. For customers, it promises faster time to value, stronger ROI and clearer pathways to AI adoption. For partners, it offers new economic opportunities—but only for those prepared to embrace specialization and services-led engagement. As the technology landscape continues to shift at a rapid pace, Cisco’s latest transformation may well set a new benchmark for what partner programs must deliver in the age of artificial intelligence.
