Co-authored by: Alex Pujols, Director of Systems Engineering, Cisco 

Our Partners make everything possible, especially when it comes to innovation. This past year, our conversations with our partner community have been focused on how we can innovate in many areas, from evolving routes to market to the important role of developers to cross-architecture opportunities. We need bold innovation.

From Cisco's Global Systems Engineering teams to our Emerging Technologies & Incubation team, we are putting our collective expertise to ignite boldness from all aspects of our partner landscape. Our goal is for these efforts to drive innovation and incubation of the future. With so many areas changing across the technology industry, it's more important than ever to beBOLDin our approach to innovation.

That's why earlier this year Cisco launched our very first Partner Bold Bets, an opportunity to clear the path for extraordinary partner ideas. A Bold Bet is about a transformational new business idea. Think of a customer pain point solved through a new technology or novel approach with a sustainable business model and the potential to generate large net new revenue.

When it comes to innovation, the old saying is true: a rising tide lifts all ships. We are seeing a rising need for partnerships and co-innovation to grow the next generation of business.  Innovation is the rising tide. With Bold Bets, Cisco is expanding how we support innovation, and the big ideas partners have. And that work will continue to benefit more partners as well as our customers.

Cisco Congratulates HCL:  Partner Bold Bets 2021 Winner

In this first Partner Bold Bets cycle, we invited 25 partners to participate. With a$120,000 prize at stake, HCL took home the very first Partner Bold Bets title for their Autonomous Data Center solution. The HCL Autonomous Data Center solution brings seamless distributed AI governance coupled with predictive analytics and maintenance to improve infrastructure availability and reduce unplanned downtime. In a world where data is exploding, the future is autonomous, and we are excited to continue co-innovating with HCL to make this data-driven future a reality.

This is an incredible achievement from the HCL team, which truly exemplified how innovation is the lifeblood of our partnerships and a strategic force for good that benefits our mutual customers. Thank you to the HCL team for the investments you are making to achieve innovative success with Cisco.

Coming in 2022

Partner Bold Bets to all the Partners with more prizes and incentives. Be sure to check out our Partner Bold Bets on SalesConnect and stay tuned for the next cycle/challenge.

Check out our Partner Innovation Challenge

for other Innovative Partner Incentive Programs.

Please reach out to us here if you want to learn more about Bold Bets or the Partner Innovation Challenge.

We'd love to hear what you think. Ask a Question, Comment Below, and Stay Connected with#CiscoPartners on social!

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