Cisco's SVP Vijoy Pandey reframes the company's core identity as enabling horizontal 'scale-out' through distributed systems. This directly contrasts with the dominant AI trend of 'scaling up' by creating ever-larger, monolithic models, positioning Cisco to power a future of collaborative, distributed AI.

When each employee has a personal AI agent, the agents naturally adopt the specializations of their human counterparts. The head of growth's agent becomes the go-to expert on growth metrics, creating a parallel organization of specialized bots that mirrors the human org chart.

Cognizant frames AI adoption across three maturing vectors: 1) Hyper-productivity for automating tasks, 2) Industrializing AI by embedding it in core workflows, and 3) Re-identifying the Enterprise, where AI agents become collaborative partners for complex, cross-functional work.

Cisco moved beyond traditional geographic customization in its new partner program. It now prioritizes accommodating different partner sizes ('t-shirt sizing') and diverse business models (like managed services or advisors). This modern approach favors a globally consistent framework that adapts to business function rather than location.

To manage feedback from its large co-design community, Cisco used multiple channels (webinars, 1-on-1s) and AI to synthesize the input. This revealed highly consistent themes across diverse groups, giving them confidence they were addressing the core "reality" of partner needs, not just anecdotes.

Cisco orchestrated a large-scale co-design process involving hundreds of internal stakeholders and partners. This "for partners by partners" approach fostered deep buy-in and ensured the program addressed real-world needs, moving beyond simple feedback collection to create a collaborative movement.

The paradigm for employees shifts from being an individual contributor to being a manager of AI agents. Success is no longer just direct output, but the ability to effectively set up, direct, and manage a team of autonomous agents to achieve goals.

AI agents create new, high-skill roles focused on managing and optimizing AI conversations. This provides a compelling career path within support, similar to how DevOps professionalized system administration, helping retain top talent.

Similar to how "born in the cloud" MSPs disrupted the channel ecosystem, a new category of "born in AI" partners is now emerging. These specialized firms are built from the ground up to deliver AI solutions. Legacy partners must adapt by building or acquiring AI practices to compete with these new, highly focused players.