Partner Sales Guide
Cisco® Smart Net Total Care Service
Service Overview
Cisco Smart Net Total Care is a next-generation proactive support service. It is designed to improve the speed
and efficiency of critical tasks in supporting a customer’s Cisco network. With smart, comprehensive installed
base and contract information, you and your customers can manage Cisco service coverage, alerts, and product
lifecycles while streamlining Cisco TAC interactions. Integrated with Cisco award-winning Technical Services,
Smart Net Total Care improves risk management, increases operational efficiency, and helps resolve problems
quickly. Cisco Smart Net Total Care is a Cisco Branded Service that partners can resell to their customers.
Opportunity Snapshot
Customer Challenges
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Poor visibility into their Cisco installed base, including current location, configuration, and deployed IOS
versions
Difficulty in determining which Cisco alerts, such as PSIRTS and hardware alerts, apply to Cisco
hardware and software products in the network
Wants to better manage risks to network continuity by understanding which devices have service
coverage, and at what service level
Constantly changing installed base making it difficult to maintain an up-to-date inventory view
It takes too long to verify contracts and coverage or gather required information, such as serial number
or config files, when they call Cisco for support
Experiencing lifecycle planning issues and wants a “heads up” on EOS/EOL situations in order to plan
and budget for new equipment in a timely manner
Needs advance visibility into what service contracts are expiring in the near future
When deploying a new technology, wants to ensure proper support coverage for new equipment
Has support contract renewal issues - it is time consuming to renew support contracts because there
can be disagreements about what is installed and coverage levels
Has corporate compliance requirements and would benefit from better tracking and awareness of
current and unsupported inventory, service coverage, and security details
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This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Benefits
Partner Benefits
Customers can grant portal access to partners, enabling them to view reports that include installed base
information, and contract information associated with the partner. Contract details are visible only to the reseller
partner, and not to other partners your customer may have. Partners can help customers manage service
coverage, alerts, product lifecycle, and more while relying on Cisco to provide and deliver foundational technical
services to the customer.
Smart Net Total Care provides you with:
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The ability to expand service offerings without additional resources involved
Discovery of additional revenue opportunities from uncovered Cisco devices
Opportunities to sell replacement hardware as existing hardware reaches EoL
Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty
Customer Benefits
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Manage operational risk by improving visibility into Cisco installed base and service contracts
Ability to identify and track what is new, what has changed, what is covered and what is not covered to
improve risk management
Improved operational efficiency by automating the gathering of inventory details
Faster mean time to resolution because device details are readily available when needed
Improved efficiencies in support incidents, minimizing entitlement issues and providing faster problem
resolution
Streamline TAC interaction with auto-populated service request generation and easier entitlement
verification
Preempt network disruption by proactively and effectively identifying the installed devices impacted by
Cisco published security alerts and advisories, as well as hardware/software alerts and field notices
Proof Points
 Proactive Data Systems improved spares management and reduced the number of deployed IOS
versions
 Trimax: Realized 90% time savings for inventory management
 George Mason University: Reduced mean time to problem resolution by 30%
 Alestra: Saved 3-5 hours per week in installed base management
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Sales Process
Smart Net Total Care can be sold alongside a Cisco hardware sale or as part of a renewal or “true-up.”
Annualized pricing is based on the customers total Cisco installed base dollar value, and not on the value of the
renewal.
Prospect
Look for customers with…
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A large, complex or dynamically changing base of Cisco products
Rapid network growth, such as a recent acquisition
Network redesign and consolidation as the result of a corporate merger
New technology purchase plans and the need for an inventory of the systems currently in place
Recent participation in a Know the Network (KTN) service or Cisco Discovery Service (CDS)
Approaching contract renewal
Qualify
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Does the customer have a total Cisco installed base of approximately $5M or more? (this amount may
vary with geography)
Is the customer’s staff willing and able to invest the time and effort in maintaining an installed base and
contract management process?
Will the customer allow a collector to be deployed? Are they an existing Network Optimization Service
customer, sometimes referred to as NOS?
Does the customer understand the value of up-to-date asset information, but currently relies on manual
processes?
Position and Propose
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Talk with executives and business owners about the basic benefits and business value of Smart Net
Total Care.
Show the specific value to the customer by reviewing sample portal reports or scheduling a demo.
Speak with senior managers who are responsible for acquiring and provisioning Cisco devices to
discuss deployment and on-going asset management processes.
Questions to Start the Conversation
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“How do you identify and manage your Cisco inventory today?”
“How do you know when a device you own reaches end of support?”
“How do you track changes in your Cisco network?”
The Pitch
“Sounds like you have a lot of manual, error-prone, and time consuming work in that process. What if you
could have direct access to that information and view that in actionable reports?”
“Cisco’s Smart Net Total Care will identify your Cisco inventory and analyze that against our Cisco knowledge
base – contract, security, TAC, and manufacturing databases – giving a comprehensive view of your installed
base, service contracts, and device specific alerts. With greater insight into your infrastructure, you have the
visibility you need to become more efficient in managing your inventory and contracts, while ensuring the
stability of your network.
Can we schedule some time to better understand the impact this could have on your operation?”
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
This document is Cisco Public Information.
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What Customers Get with Smart Net Total Care
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Smart Service capabilities plus portal access to reports for:
o Installed base details
o Cisco support contract details
o Relevant Cisco alerts
World-Class Foundational Technical Support
o 24x7x365 access to dedicated technical experts
o Extensive self-help support through Cisco’s online resources
o Rapid fulfillment of hardware replacement in as little as 2 hours
o Anytime access to eligible software updates
The right to use Smart Net Total Care collector software
Standard Cisco collector deployment assistance
What Reports and Features are Available…and why they are useful
Use Smart Net Total Care information to start a strategic business conversation with your customers:
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Discuss proper support coverage levels to ensure devices are covered at the appropriate level for their
criticality in the network with Contracts reports, including Expiring Contracts, Covered and Not Covered.
Help IT administrators mitigate risks to service availability by reviewing Cisco OS information,
installation address, and support contract number in the Inventory reports.
Show your customer all the changes to their network on a regular basis, and ensure they know what is
happening in their environment with Inventory Collection Delta report.
Identify devices that are near or past last day of support to assist customers with forecasting and budget
planning for replacement equipment with the LDoS report.
Preempt network disruptions by proactively identifying and notifying users of installed devices impacted
by Cisco published hardware, software, and security alerts with the All Alerts report.
Develop a migration plan with the customer to remove the risk of network disruption, allow timely
replacement, and accurate budgeting of cost with end-of-sale and last day of support information from
the Expiring Device Coverage report.
Show how easy it is to find and access information in the portal:
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Consolidated dashboards, customized to individuals and job roles, give a high level summary view with
quick drill down to detailed information.
Automatically schedule reports to be run at regular intervals so they are ready and waiting in the portal
for you to view.
Easily search, sort and filter within a screen view to quickly find the data you’re looking for.
Handling Objections
I have a good handle on my Cisco Inventory.
Smart Net Total Care installations have 90+ percent visibility, with smart capabilities that correlate
installed base, contracts, and alerts into actionable information. Customers can benefit from this
comprehensive information to plan and budget contracts and device lifecycles, manage alerts, and
improve incident management. For example, Smart Net Total Care provides up-to-date reports that
show current, accurate contract status for each device in your network, and moves, adds, and
changes in your network.
Will my data be secure?
Cisco understands that the protection of customer data is of paramount importance to its customers
and partners. The Smart Net Total Care security architecture provides an end-to-end secure solution
for the collection, transmission, processing, storing and reporting of customer data.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
This document is Cisco Public Information.
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We don’t allow network collectors on our network.
Smart Net Total Care currently has hundreds of customers globally, including a majority of the
Fortune 500. Many of those customers had similar concerns until they read the security whitepaper
that discusses in detail how security is implemented. Would you like a copy?
Why is the installed base inventory process necessary? Don’t you already know what is
covered and not covered?
Customers have complete freedom to purchase equipment and services through any number of
channel partners, or they may have obtained equipment through acquisitions. Network devices are
constantly moved to different locations, or reconfigured to meet changing business needs. The
inventory collection process helps to reconcile equipment with contract records and invoicing,
providing an up-to-date baseline from which contract status and coverage can be managed more
effectively.
Doesn’t Cisco publish product and security alerts for free?
Yes. Hardware, software and security alerts are published by Cisco, along with field notices. But
understanding which of these apply to devices in your network can be very time consuming. Smart
Net Total Care provides Alerts Management, which helps you manage the alerts and field notices
that apply to devices in your network.
We have SMARTnet currently. Why do we need Smart Net Total Care?
Smart Net Total Care includes all the important technical support capabilities of SMARTnet, plus
additional smart capabilities that provide better visibility into the state of your Cisco devices to create
actionable intelligence that helps you make better business decisions. Only Smart Net Total Care
provides a comprehensive view of your Cisco installed base and contracts, which is essential to
managing risk to business continuity. Having up-to-date inventory information correlated with Cisco’s
deep knowledge base can help ensure the proper service contracts are in place to streamline TAC
interaction and speed problem resolution. Relevant hardware, software, and security alerts and
device diagnostics help prevent service disruptions and notify you of the latest important information
about your Cisco products thus conserving valuable staff time and improving availability.
I don’t understand why I have to pay a price premium for Smart Net Total Care. Where’s the
added value?
Points to emphasize:
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Consider the trade-offs between Smart Net Total Care’s minimal cost and the risk of service
coverage gaps.
Look at the cost of manual contract administration, inventory auditing, and the cost of inventory
collection errors.
Manage alerts and service coverage, and streamline TAC interaction.
Quickly and easily access device details, like serial number and location, to help ensure rapid
replacement in case of failure.
Manage your equipment inventory efficiently, including moves and changes in network devices.
Optimize the use of IT resources for strategic projects, not network maintenance and manual
asset and contract tracking.
Measureable Outcomes
Outcomes for Smart Net Total Care can be very tangible, and can create a constructive and productive sales
conversation.
Outcomes can measure reduction in the time and the people required for a renewal, elimination of uncovered
devices, wholesale consolidation of the absolute number of contracts for easier contract administration, and timeto-resolution improvements.
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Customer Quotes:
“By having Smart Net Total Care, we have reduced the risks of an outage or a failure and not having service
contract coverage to remediate it quickly. Now we can be proactive and know whether or not something is
covered, which all adds up to increased reliability and availability for our users and clients.” - Sr. Network
Systems Engineer, Quintiles
“We found numerous devices that were off the radar using our prior inventory management process and
quickly updated their service coverage with the information uncovered by Smart Net Total Care.” - IT Director,
9 Kings
“Our previous manual inventory methods couldn’t effectively scale to meet the growth of iYogi’s network
maintenance requirements. With Smart Net Total Care, we have the ability to scale efficiently around the
world, which is especially important when providing quality service to remote customers in the United States
during peak usage times. Cisco’s solution gives us peace of mind that we are acting proactively to prevent
network downtime.” - IT Network Operations Manager, iYogi, Inc.
“With our business rapidly growing, ensuring the smooth operation of our network was a challenge. Our prior
‘break/fix’ approach to network issues was time-consuming and inefficient. Cisco Smart Net Total Care is the
proactive solution we needed. It gives us the visibility into our network that was previously missing.” - Network
Operations Manager, Perfect World
Best Practices / Lessons Learned
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Successful deployments are dependent on the customer’s full understanding and investment in the
deployment process.
Most Cisco customers will allow the installation of a collector on their network once they understand the
details. Use the security whitepaper for an in-depth discussion with the customer, if necessary.
Partners can have access to the Smart Net Total Care portal if their customer gives them access. This
is a great benefit when working a renewal, true-up, or contract reconciliation opportunity, as well as
providing valuable EOL/ EOS data for account planning. This can help further a “trusted advisor”
relationship with the customer.
Positioning Smart Net Total Care and selling it to your customer 4-6 months prior to a service renewal
will allow the customer to benefit from the report contract data and can streamline the renewal process.
Position Smart Net Total Care even if the customer already has NOS, as they are complementary
services. Current NOS customers are great prospects since they already have deployed the collector.
Resources
Smart Net Total Care Partner Resource Library
Smart Net Total Care Partner Central Website
Smart Net Total Care Cisco.com Website
For more information, contact your local Cisco Partner Services Development Manager.
Printed in USA
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
01/15
This document is Cisco Public Information.
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