How Does Cisco SMARTnet Help Solve Your Problems?

In addition, technology changes quickly, and keeping your IT staff up to date on the latest developments and security problems can be challenging.

Cisco SMARTnet can help you:

• Quickly fix problems: Detect and fix issues rapidly before they cause a significant adverse impact on your business operations and return to day to day continuity.

• Empower your IT team: Enhance operational effectiveness by keeping your IT staff up to date on the latest technology developments and security threats.

• Minimize Risk: Find security issues that can have a negative impact on network availability, performance, and dependability of the network.

Cisco SMARTnet Service Features

Cisco SMARTnet gives you an abundance of Cisco support tools and know how, giving you more stable greater IT infrastructure and network availability and performance while reducing operating costs.

Cisco SMARTnet Service provides:

• Immediate support from Cisco Professionals: Connect directly with the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC), worked by thousands of certified Cisco professionals with experience identifying the hardest issues in your network and data center.

• Online self-help support: Get widespread support resources 24 hours a day, 365 days a year via Cisco’s online knowledge base, communities, resources, and tools.

• Intelligent, hands-on diagnostics: Get critical understanding with the entrenched Cisco Smart Call Home feature, which offers comprehensive diagnostics and instant updates on enabled equipment.

• Continuous operating system upgrades: Gain access to updated OS features, like both minor and major OS releases, with the most current operating system software upgrades contained in your licensed feature set.

For more information on how Cisco SMARTnet can benefit you please speak to our SMARTnet specialists for expert advice.

Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC)

Case Statuses

CE-Pend— The Cisco TAC engineer allocated to your case is presently looking into the issue. No solution has been found at this time.

Close-Pend— The Cisco TAC engineer has given you a solution that will resolve your problem. You can still contact the allocated engineer if you believe the issue has not been fixed to your satisfaction.

Cust-Pend—The Cisco TAC engineer allocated to your issue has asked for further information from you and is awaiting your feedback. No solution has been found at this time.

DE-Pend— The Cisco TAC engineer has filed a request to Cisco Development Engineering for investigation.

Case Priorities

Priority 1 (P1)— A present network is “down” or there is a serious effect on your business processes. You and Cisco will pledge all essential resources around the clock to fix the issue.

Priority 2 (P2)— The functioning of a present network is highly degraded, or substantial facets of your business processes are negatively affected by poor performance of Cisco equipment. You and Cisco will pledge full-time resources during usual business hours to fix the issue.

Priority 3 (P3)— Operative performance of the network is diminished while most business processes remain efficient. You and Cisco are willing to pledge resources during usual business hours to reinstate service to acceptable levels.

Priority 4 (P4)— You require info or support with Cisco product abilities, setting up, or configuration. There is little to no effect on your business processes.

To find out more about CISCO SMARTnet and TAC, pls speak to our SMARTnet professionals today!

Find a SMARTnet contract customized to maximize your ROI

It is wise to always buy SMARTnet, is this true?

Let’s be realistic, as we discussed above most of us get SMARTnet to ‘’extinguish sudden fires’’. We want an insurance plan for any equipment failures, problems, errors, queries etc. We want to get the maximum out of our Cisco equipment. Due to this tendency, we usually buy SMARTnet for mission-critical equipment. This is understandable. Downtime is to be avoided at all costs so we have to invest in a sure defense. The software updates and other features of SMARTnet can also benefit mission-critical equipment. The equipment replacement options include Next Business Day (NBD), 8x5x4, 24x7x4 and 24x7x2, so we can buy the insurance we need as per our urgency in case of downtime. So its settled then: When you buy a Cisco switch, get SMARTnet too. Done.

On the other hand, investing in SMARTnet for non-mission critical equipment may not be as beneficial or cost effective. Many of us might still have older Cisco hardware like switches and routers installed which fulfill our operational needs perfectly well. But with the passage of time, the support for old equipment will be phased out by Cisco as the hardware becomes obsolete. That is just the way Cisco works! You need to consider the reality that SMARTnet is a recurrent yearly or bi yearly cost, but at which stage does this repetitive cost become greater than the benefits? As your equipment becomes older, does SMARTnet still give you the same level of benefits? Support will be limited and most of us just want to have at least the peace of mind that we will be given an expedited equipment replacement option in case anything goes bad. In a nutshell, if your old equipment is still working well for you, you need to take into account that Cisco feels the opposite and you might need to take a glance at your other options.

How SMARTnet may not be a wise investment in certain instances

Each of us experiences a service in different ways depending on our situation. The same goes for SMARTnet. It might be very helpful to some of us in many situations, however sometimes you will need to look at other options that will better serve your requirements. Yes, we do have some other options. Many famous and proven companies are offering their own equipment replacement services. However, you will not get access to Cisco’s resources. The cost may be less to go with these companies, however you will have to get spares and the new hardware costs will be very costly. Regardless, in certain instances a combination of alternative equipment replacement services and spares will be the wisest investment if SMARTnet is not the ideal solution for you. But you will need to think long and hard with all stake holders on board to find the best solution for your organization. You will not regret the time you invest in this!

Conclusion

Study what adverse impact, in terms of money, any unplanned downtime could have on your network. Then you can identify the ideal SMARTnet offering (from NBD, 4 hour, 2 hour or on-site) which will give you the best ROI. You have to do your homework right. This much is obvious. Then why don’t most of us do this, even though we have seen that this is not a matter to be taken lightly. Some of us don’t really extract the maximum advantages from our SMARTnet contract, even though we are investing good money for this great service. Others don’t make an honest effort to identify if they are getting their money’s worth from their SMARTnet, but they still keep paying the recurring cost of it just in case they need to get a hardware replacement suddenly in the future. SMARTnet is a solution for businesses, hence we must ensure we are getting the most out of it in a manner beneficial to our organization by choosing the correct service level.

Please click here to talk to our SMARTnet Account Manager to better guide and inform you on the ideal SMARTnet solution for your business.

Why Cisco Smartnet Service is a Must-Have

1. What is Cisco SMARTnet Service?

Cisco SMARTnet Service gives you direct access at all times to dedicated specialists in the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC). Wide-ranging self-help support via Cisco’s online knowledge base, communities, resources, and tools.

2. What is included with Cisco SMARTnet Service?

Cisco SMARTnet service gives you the below device-level support:

Immediate access to Cisco experts 24 hours a day and throughout the year via the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC)
Comprehensive self-help support via the Cisco Online Knowledge Base, assorted communities, resources and tools
Intelligent, proactive diagnostics and immediate alerts on devices having the Cisco Smart Call Home feature
Software upgrades for your Operating System (OS) encompassing both minor and major releases covered by your licensed feature set
Expedited hardware replacement options i.e including 2-hour, 4-hour, and next-business-day (NBD) replacement, as well as return for repair (RFR).
You can also get the optional onsite service which will ensure a Cisco field engineer will install the replacement parts at your premises

3. Why should you purchase Cisco SMARTnet Service?

Purchasing a Cisco SMARTnet contract will give you:

Direct access to Cisco networking engineers which will enhance your network availability, reliability, stability, and security
Utilize Cisco’s expertise, knowledge and availability to reduce your network ownership costs
Take advantage of Cisco OS software upgrades to increase your ROI by up to 192 percent
Resolve issues in the minimum timeframe with the right parts at the right time
Reduce the burden on scarce internal IT resources at all sites with access to proactive diagnostics and real-time alerts available with Smart Call Home, on select devices
Enhance self-sufficiency and technical knowledge of your IT staff to maximize employee productivity and revenue generation

Click here for more information on benefits and how to buy a SMARTNET contract today.

4. Is Cisco SMARTnet Service only limited to break/fix insurance?

No, the Cisco SMARTnet service helps in tackling complicated day to day network management i.e.

Advanced software configuration
Interoperability and upgrade questions
Hardware and software information

5. Is support for Cisco application software products, such as security, IP telephony, and network management, included in the Cisco SMARTnet Service?

No, SMARTnet does not include application support. However, Cisco offers these services separately as per the below support offers:

Cisco Software Application Support Service (SAS)— includes maintenance and minor releases
Cisco Software Application Support Service with Upgrades (SASU)—includes all components of SAS plus upgrades
Cisco UC Essential Operate Service (ESW)—includes maintenance and minor releases
Cisco UC Software Subscription Service

For further information on any of the above, please click here to reach out to an account manager.

6. What is included in a Cisco warranty?

Cisco warranties give you only short term limited liability for Cisco to repair or replace defective products. Most warranties also do not include Cisco TAC Support, software upgrades, etc. Cisco warranties only cover the below:

Hardware: This guarantees that the piece of hardware is free of manufacturing/operational defects under standard use, or it will be replaced by Cisco in the designated time period.
Software: This guarantees that the physical media is free from defects or they will be replaced by Cisco. The warranty is explicitly on an “as is,” basis and no new releases are included.

7. My hardware is already covered via the included standard Cisco warranty; why would I need to purchase a Cisco SMARTnet contract during this warranty period?

Cisco SMARTnet service gives you more secure levels of support than the standard Cisco warranty. For example, the standard Cisco warranty is limited in duration, also it does not include the below benefits which you get from a Smartnet contract:

Expedited replacement of hardware in Next Business Day, 4-hours, or 2-hours dispatch
Round the clock tech assistance via Cisco TAC
Latest Operating System upgrades, including small and important upgrades
Access to online self-help resources/tools
Troubleshooting and alerts for Call Home – enabled devices

8. What is Cisco Smart Call Home?

Cisco Smart Call Home is a feature of Cisco SMARTnet which gives you proactive, detailed diagnostics and real-time alerts on many products to identify and fix issues quickly, saving valuable staff time and improving network availability.
It dynamically and securely gathers device data, giving alerts in case any issues are detected. It enables early problem diagnosis and remedies any device issues via proactive, rules based problem solving. This will allow users to hugely streamline device maintenance, accelerate issues resolution and reduce costs of network maintenance.
As soon as an issue is detected, Cisco Smart Call Home enabled devices will immediately generate a Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) service request to resolve the issue. This enables hardware to continuously monitor its own health and automatically alert you of any potential issues using secure communications.
It also gives you access to a web portal which contains personalized Call Home alerts, recommendations, and more for all your Call Home devices.

9. What extra benefits can I get with the Cisco SMARTnet ONSITE service?

Cisco SMARTnet OnSite comes with all the advanced hardware replacement levels and gives you all the benefits of Cisco SMARTnet plus the additional benefit of an onsite Cisco technician for parts replacement/installation.

SMARTnet Onsite Service Levels

SMARTnet Description & Service Levels

10. How do I buy SMARTnet?

The majority of SMARTnets are sold on a 1-year duration contract, however it makes more sense to go with a 3-year contract as this will give you bigger discounts per year. We highly recommend you request an RFQ for a 3-year contract versus a 1-year contract and our sales team will be happy to send you some pricing and provide expert advice to help you maximize your investment and ROI. Please click here for further information.