The two chief choices available for this are between Cisco SMARTnet or the Cisco Small Business Support Service (SBSS). The latter is much more reasonably priced for smaller operations, but fetches a condensed set of services.

Given below is a quick summary of the key differences between Cisco SMARTnet support services and Cisco Small Business Support Service (SBSS).

Selecting Amongst Cisco SMARTnet or Small Business Support Service (SBSS)

Cisco Small Business Support Service (SBSS) is just available for specific Cisco products.

For starters, the Cisco Small Business Support Service (SBSS) is only an available choicce if you have products in Cisco’s Small Business range. This page on Cisco’s site lists all the supported hardware.

If your Cisco product is not hailing from the Small Business range, it’s just a choice amongst Cisco SMARTnet or the standard warranty which comes with all Cisco products out of the box. If it is from Cisco’s Small Business line of products, you have got your options of either Cisco SBSS or Cisco SMARTnet (in particular scenarios).

Cisco SMARTnet gives you quicker parts replacement

One of the principal restrictions on Cisco SBSS is that the majority of the parts replacement occurs on a next-day or two-day basis, while Cisco SMARTnet provides for a 4-hour or even 2-hour replacement time, for an added cost of course.

That being said, in case you are a small or medium sized enterprise or business that still imagines that you would have a requirement for 4-hour replacement times, you also possess the choice to upgrade to the Cisco Small Business Support Rapid Response Service (SBSRRS), which is otherwise indistinguishable from the regular Cisco Small Business Support Service(SBSS).

We would recommend having a cost to benefit analysis done to identify precisely how much you would lose per hour/day in case your corporate network went down due to any possible outages. The quicker parts choices are primarily insurance against such a scenario.

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Cisco SMARTnet has the Smart Call Home feature for specific products

In case your Cisco hardware is listed on this page, Cisco SMARTnet brings you even more benefits over Cisco Small Business Support Service(SBSS). Cisco Smart Call Home is a groundbreaking new method of proactive technical support and assistance. When subscribed, your vital network appliances and devices constantly ‘phone home’ to Cisco with statistics for tracking, analyzing, and proactive corporate network optimization and enhancment.

This permits Cisco’s smart systems -or their support engineers and technicians- to identify issues with an absolute smallest of delays. Many a time, they identify issues before they become problems for your corporate network. If not, the Cisco Smart Call Home system can be sanctioned to spontaneously alert a Cisco engineer at the same time that it alerts you about the problem or network fault/s.

Cisco SMARTnet brings you a Dedicated Case Manager

Unlike Cisco Small Business Support Service(SBSS), which just grants you 24/7/365 access to support services, Cisco SMARTnet users get a dedicated case manager, as well as greater access to online web based tools connected to their service problems.

Cisco SMARTnet can give you On-site Assistance

At the ultimate level, Cisco SMARTnet can give you direct dispatch of certified Cisco engineers to deploy, install and verify your hardware/equipment, including any replacements which may have to be done. This kind of support is not available via Cisco Small Business Support Service(SBSS). This can also be pooled with the Cisco Advanced Replacement Parts system to ensure you keep spare parts on-site, waiting for an engineer or technician to deploy and install them.

Most smaller companies perhaps don’t need the hands-on support, unless you are concentrating on high-end equipment or cloud services.

Cisco Gives You Really Top-Notch Support

While there is a plethora of other brands with more inexpensive support service products, Cisco is still the leading name in networking because they utilize many of the best technicians/engineers in the industry. Via Cisco Small Business Support Services (SBSS), they can now provide top-notch support to even smaller sized organizations.

Or, Cisco SMARTnet can take you from your very initial stages all the way to an international-scale corporate network, with service offerings which are able to scale upward to meet your requirements as you continue to grow and evolve your business.

Need more guidance? Just contact us today. We are a 100% Cisco-Certified partner and can assist you with all of your Cisco support questions.