The "Moves Dial From Reactive, To Preventive, Predictive And Prescriptive instruction" Cisco CX Partner Framework for MSPs

 The "Moves Dial From Reactive, To Preventive, Predictive And Prescriptive instruction" Cisco CX Partner Framework for MSPs

At Cisco Partner Summit 2023, officials from Cisco told CRN that the company's partner managed services and customer experience (CX) teams are implementing improvements with the goal of simplifying and streamlining processes for MSPs expanding their business relationships with Cisco.

In addition to reworking its Partner Lifecycle Services (PLS) motion to reflect the expanded role partners would have in providing managed and support services to end customers, Cisco Systems unveiled its first-ever support offer for MSPs at collaborate Summit 2023.

Executives from Cisco told CRN that all of the modifications are being made in the spirit of simplicity.

According to San Jose, California-based Cisco, Partner Advanced Support for Providers offers MSPs more options and higher levels of support so they can help their customers achieve their goals more quickly with guided API support, proactive prevent disruptions, and speed up time to conclusion with faster access to the the Cisco Corporation the Technical Assistance Center (TAC).

Denzil Samuels, vice president of global CX partner success at Cisco, stated, "It's hard to imagine that as of 2021, the sole means by which we helped partners manage problems for their customers was by means of email and telephone calls, whereas here we are talking about digital transformation."

PLS, which will soon be called CX Partner Framework, now has hundreds of Cisco partners, according to Samuels. According to him, these partners have a digital link between their management of information technology services and ticketing system and Cisco's IT service management system, which enables Cisco to exchange data, automation, and artificial intelligence with partners in ways the firm was never able to accomplish previously.

Now, Cisco is able to see the customer's trouble ticket as soon as they open it and contact [a partner]. Additionally, it's a certain group of architects that are able to view it, not just any old TAC group. Thus, we can now assist them in real-time problem diagnosis and solution generation, which is a game-changer for us in the market, according to Samuels.

According to him, the branding offers MSPs access to more sophisticated help that extends beyond responding to issues. "The focus is truly shifting from reactive to proactive, predictive, and even prescriptive."

New Success Tracks or Partner Managed-Ready Offers

The IT giant is introducing three new Success Tracks, which are what Samuels called the "stepping stones" to the CX Partner Framework. These are Cisco's bundled offerings that link organizations with the appropriate knowledge, insight, learning, and support. Collaboration Equipment, Wide Area Network (WAN) including SD-WAN, and Cloud Networking have been the three new tracks.

Samuels expressed his belief that the couples would get along extremely well with them. This is because many Cisco partners aren't drawn to offers involving straightforward reselling. According to him, they want to brand their own goods and integrate their own services with Cisco's products.

The partners benefit greatly from reselling Cisco Success Tracks because they know how to position the sale, recognize its value, and gain insight into the situation by seeing the PX and CX cloud data as well as the results we're achieving for the customer. As a result, by the time the partner-branded version is prepared, their development teams are skilled at creating and developing new services, their delivery teams are aware of our methodology, and their sales teams are fully operational. Thus, we fervently advise that you "begin with Cisco Success Track." We recognize that you would want to get a customized version of that. However, you may get closer to being able to achieve that by observing, learning, and witnessing what we do. stated Samuels.

Campus Network, Cloud Network, Data Center Compute, as well as Integrated Secure Operations are the current four Success Tracks offered by Cisco.

The IT behemoth is introducing three new partner managed-ready offerings, including Managed Firewall and Managed XDR, as if that weren't enough. In order to assist partners in capitalizing on the expanding SMB market potential, Cisco is also introducing an MSP Expressway for SMB solution, according to Alexandra Zagury, vice president of partner managed services marketing as-a-service sales.

The managed full-stack observability, controlled intelligent workspaces, managed private 5G, and sovereign cloud are the current managed-ready offerings that have been introduced over the last year. The three new offerings will join these ones.

Solution provider Trace3, situated in Irvine, California, is a Cisco partner. While it develops its own managed services products, it may sometimes use Cisco's partner managed-ready options after assessing the requirements of the client.

"I believe Cisco's move to expand the line of these bundled, managed solutions is fantastic. Because, like businesses Trace3, we want to expand our managed services agreements and add additional products to our portfolio—especially considering the volume of business we do with Cisco—why? It can't be harmful. then we can put together more bits and pieces to get that ultimate answer," said Steve Wylie, Trace3's senior vice president and general manager of East Majors.

According to Samuels from Cisco, the goal of the adjustments being made by the company's partner managed services and customer experience (CX) teams is to simplify and streamline processes.

Cisco Lifecycle Advantage (CLA), a digital engagement program for companions that encourages adoption as well as making renewal and sales opportunities easier, is becoming a part of Cisco's Partner Expertise in Platform (PXP) as part of the work being done from Cisco's CX along with partner managed services teams, Samuels said. This will give partners one place to find information.

According to him, PX Cloud now allows them to oversee their partnership with Cisco, see lifecycle data, get insights into their clients' affairs, and even assist in the development of new services.

The changes demonstrate how the teams of Zagury and Samuels—partner-managed and CX motion—align, according to Zagury.

We ultimately want the same goal, so I think it is very crucial, she remarked. "Creating, selling, and differentiating is everything, and the services stack is key."