Services Portfolio Guide

Enterprise Agreement Services Portfolio Guide

Get more value from your Cisco Enterprise Agreement with Cisco Services

Simplify contract management by converging your software licenses, support for software, and support for hardware into one agreement, one renewal date, and one set of terms. How? By pairing Services Portfolios with your Software Portfolios in your Enterprise Agreement.

Introduction

Managing contract complexity

Buying, managing, and renewing your software licenses and basic support for that software is made easy with the Cisco® Enterprise Agreement.

Still, you’re only halfway to contract simplicity.

What about support for the hardware that complements your software? How many separate hardware support contracts are you managing? Does this look like your situation today?

Cisco Enterprise Agreement and separate hardware support contracts

How Cisco Services help you

Achieve contract simplicity with Cisco Services

Complete your Enterprise Agreement by pairing services portfolios with your software portfolios. Adding Cisco Services to your Enterprise Agreement:

  • Upgrades your support to address software and hardware across a software portfolio.
  • Converges software and support contracts to one agreement, one renewal date, and one set of terms.
  • Eliminates separate hardware support contracts.
Cisco Enterprise Agreement including Cisco Services for both software and hardware support


Services benefits across the organization
Less complexity across your organization protects time, budget, and technology
Procurement
Unified
Contract purchasing for software and comprehensive support
Operations
Simplified
Contract management by eliminating hardware support contracts
Finance
Predictable
and normalized costs through Cisco Enterprise Agreement price protection
IT
Streamlined
Support experience through a primary point of contact engineer across software and hardware

Services features

What’s inside the services portfolio?
Cisco Success Tracks

Experience a 96% improvement in asset management efficiency1 through a combination of Cisco Solution Support, expert resources, insights and analytics, and learning as a packaged offer delivered through the Cisco CX Cloud unified digital platform.

Cisco Solution Support

Get complex issues resolved up to 55% percent faster than with single-product-focused support2 and a streamlined, centralized support experience across software, hardware, and Solution Support Alliance Partner (third-party) products3 through a Cisco primary point of contact engineer.

Note: Solution Support is available with Success Tracks and as a standalone service.

Cisco Software Support

Experience a faster journey and smarter management for security in the cloud with Cisco Software Support. Rely on Cisco expert guidance to help you plan, onboard, implement, adopt, optimize, and support your Cisco security products.

Cisco Software Support Premium: A Cisco-expert guided journey to security in the cloud.

Virtually embed a Cisco expert in your IT team

Your assigned Cisco Designated Service Manager works with you side-by-side to accumulate deep knowledge of your IT and business.

Stay focused on your priorities

Your Designated Service Manager takes the lead in orchestrating your cloud collaboration journey, your way.

De-risk your cloud journey with lock-step alignment

Collaborate weekly with your Designated Service Manager, who proactively analyzes, advises, and course corrects your path to success.

Streamlined support plus case oversight

A primary point of contact engineer focuses across products and providers, and your Designated Service Manager delivers incident and escalation management.

Cisco Software Support Enhanced: A self-guided journey to security in the cloud.

Access Cisco expertise on demand

Engage your assigned, on call Cisco Designated Service Manager at any time for technical questions and deep-dive guidance.

Get set up for success

Follow your customized business and technical plans, developed through the leadership of your Cisco Designated Service Manager.

Stay on track to meet your KPIs

Participate in quarterly meetings focused on plan execution reviews and plan adjustments led by your Cisco Designated Service Manager.

Get fast complex issue resolution

Experience streamlined support across products and providers by a primary point of contact on the dedicated Webex support team.

Enterprise Agreement management support

Stay on track with your Enterprise Agreement by participating in onboarding and quarterly sessions.

Onboarding
  • Revisit your contract and get any questions answered.
Quarterly sessions
  • Review software consumption and services coverage.
  • Make plans for change and growth.
  • Hear about program updates.

Services outcomes

See how customers are achieving quantifiable results

Customers using Success Tracks and CX Cloud have experienced these results:

Source: Forrester, The Total Economic Impact of Cisco Success Tracks, October 2022




“The top benefit of CX Cloud has been the visibility and immediate access to the data that we’ve always wanted to better manage our business. The impact and opportunities for innovation ... are endless.”

Kunal Dhingra, IT Infrastructure Head, LTI Limited




Customers using Solution Support have experienced these results:

Faster
complex issue
resolution
Less
unplanned
downtime
More
efficient
IT teams
Source: IDC, The Business Value of Cisco Customer Experience Services Portfolio, November 2021




“The direct line to Cisco with Solution Support is key. I estimate that has improved resolution time by 40%, and we can learn to prevent network issues.”

U.S.-based utility company participant in IDC study




Customers using Software Support have experienced these results:

Faster
completion of
software updates
Fewer
help desk tickets
escalated to level 2 or 3
Fewer
productivity losses,
less unplanned downtime
Source: IDC, The Business Value of Cisco Customer Experience Services Portfolio, November 2021




“Cisco Software Support solves for our business requirements.... It ensures that the software runs, is up to date, and is optimized for the network systems we are using.”

Technology organization participant in IDC study




Where you can add Cisco Services

Add Cisco Services across the Enterprise Agreement

Your Cisco representative will review your support options as you plan your Enterprise Agreement.


Eligibility requirements

Services portfolio requirements and guidelines

Note the following when planning to include Cisco Services in your Enterprise Agreement:

  • Services contribute to the $100K minimum Enterprise Agreement total contract value.
  • Services must be attached to all products in the purchased suite.

Financial benefits

Experience predictable, normalized costs and savings

In addition to delivering on technology, support, and business needs, the Enterprise Agreement offers financial benefits designed for the needs of enterprises. The following are a few examples:

Financial flexibility

As with technology, financing increasingly needs to be more dynamic. The Enterprise Agreement delivers new levels of flexibility for financing, such as flexible terms and volume ramp options.

Financial predictability with True Forward

The financial predictability of True Forward makes the Enterprise Agreement stand out from other agreements.

Unlike other enterprise license agreements that require you to true up every year, the Enterprise Agreement doesn't retroactively charge for a year’s extra usage, up to 15 percent.

This saves you from potentially having a large, unexpected bill at your contract anniversary—as frequently happens with other vendors. Instead, we work with you to update your next year’s contract to bring it closer in line with your actual usage.

Read the True Forward FAQ


Cisco Capital

Flexible payment solutions to help you achieve your objectives

Cisco Capital® makes it easier to get the right technology to achieve your objectives, enable business transformation and help you stay competitive. We can help you reduce the total cost of ownership, conserve capital, and accelerate growth. In more than 100 countries, our flexible payment solutions can help you acquire hardware, software, services and complementary third-party equipment in easy, predictable payments. Learn more.


Learn more about services

A deeper dive into Cisco Services features and outcomes



1 Forrester, The Total Economic Impact of Cisco Success Tracks, October 2022.
2 IDC, The Business Value of Cisco Customer Experience Services Portfolio, November 2021.
3 Active product support contracts for Solution Support Alliance Partner products purchased directly from those technology providers are required for Solution Support engineers to efficiently coordinate multivendor issue resolution.