Cisco Smart Net Total Care Service Data Sheet

Overview

With so much depending on your network, even a routine issue can have a major effect on your customers, your employees, and your business profitability. Cisco^® Customer Experience (CX) provides the support you need—from the first purchase of your Cisco products with our foundational services through technology refresh and beyond with our high-value services.

Your IT infrastructure is the lifeline that connects your business to customers and suppliers. Business success requires maintaining high service levels for your network while reducing costs and expanding your network as your business grows. Cisco Smart Net Total Care^® and our other foundational services can help you meet these objectives.

Manage risks to business continuity

Cisco Smart Net Total Care (SNTC) helps reduce downtime with fast, expert technical support and flexible hardware coverage provided by the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC). It also offers integrated smart capabilities, providing current information about your installed base, contracts, and security alerts to enhance the efficiency of your support workflows.

●      Resolve problems faster by identifying issues quickly and streamlining your incident management processes to improve IT service levels.

●      Reduce risk with access to Cisco technical experts and smart tools that improve visibility into the state of your IT infrastructure 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

●      Increase operational efficiency through proactive management tools and automated processes that make network administrators and managers more productive.

What’s included

●      Award-winning technical support from the Cisco TAC

●      Advance hardware replacement, in as little as two hours

●      Operating System (OS) software updates

●      Access to online resources

●      Entitlement to Cisco installed base insights through smart capabilities

Cisco services provide choices for all types of companies, from basic service for commercial-grade products with Support Essentials to 24-hour assistance for all your Cisco devices with Smart Net Total Care.

The TAC is staffed by Cisco experts and is accessible 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Technical service available through the TAC is backed by advance hardware replacement with fast response times, including onsite support options and access to the latest OS software for your licensed feature set. Online self-help tools include our extensive knowledge library, software downloads, and support tools designed to help you resolve network issues quickly, often without opening a case.

Smart-entitled capabilities

All support customers are entitled to smart capabilities^[1], including access to the portal and the collector software. Smart capabilities are delivered through the Cisco Services Connection portal, providing actionable information and automation to support your Cisco products. Customizable screens show you up-to-date information about the service coverage, product lifecycles, and security and product alerts that apply to your network.

Our collector automatically gathers device support information for Cisco products, including serial numbers, installed cards and modules, product IDs, and more. This saves time and provides a more current view compared with manual efforts. The collector can also identify hardware or software versions and configuration files for your Cisco network devices.

The portal provides interactive workflows that simplify support management processes. Altogether, the foundational technical services and smart capabilities work to provide the visibility and insight you need to improve the efficiency of your support operations, resolve problems more quickly, and mitigate risk.

SNTC benefits

Table 1.        SNTC benefits and outcomes

Technical service and incident management

Get the support you need when and how you need it

When a network problem affects business-critical systems, it requires fast response and a deep understanding of the technology to resolve the incident quickly. Smart Net Total Care offers award-winning technical support from the TAC combined with advance hardware replacement, onsite support options, online tools, and self-help documentation for device-level support to help you reduce the risk of business interruptions caused by network issues. These capabilities help ensure that you get rapid response and can quickly identify your devices and their service coverage information in order to streamline your interaction with TAC support representatives.

Security and product alerts

Know the security and product alerts that affect your network

Staying current with Cisco alerts regarding security recommendations, hardware updates, and software releases can be challenging. Smart capabilities help preempt network disruption by allowing you to identify and manage relevant alerts for your devices. They proactively identify which devices are affected by Cisco published product alerts and security advisories and enable you to document alert-related activity.

Alert information is available for hardware, software and security alerts, and field notices. An alert management workflow allows you to assign status information to alerts. It then filters future alerts so that you receive only those that still require your attention. If you close an alert or change its status to “action taken”, you will not be distracted by that alert in the future. Alert status information also makes it easy for supervisors to monitor your team's progress toward desired goals as they work on reviewing alerts and performing the required actions.

Service coverage management

Identify what’s covered and what’s not

Without good visibility into your installed base and service contract status, there is a risk that an uncovered device will have an outage, and then you will be scrambling to find a solution while your network is compromised. The portal reports help ensure that your business-critical assets have the necessary service coverage to meet business needs and comply with corporate policies.

The portal provides automated installed base and contract management functionality to assist you in determining the proper coverage for your Cisco devices. Whereas manual methods of tracking service coverage for large or complex networks can be time-consuming and prone to error, SNTC uses automation to save time and reduce risk. Regular data collection and flexible reporting capabilities help you manage your Cisco installed base and service contracts, identifying and tracking what’s new, what’s changed, what’s covered, and what’s not.

Product lifecycle management

Obtain the information to plan for product replacements and upgrades

Using up-to-date data from the portal can provide dramatic efficiencies over maintaining labor-intensive spreadsheets while also reducing the risk of errors. The portal reports can help you maintain a current view of your Cisco installed base, including device and configuration details such as serial number, product ID, Cisco IOS^® version, installed memory and firmware, IP address, host name, and more. Up-to-date records about coverage also simplifies your renewal and budget planning processes. SNTC enables you to quickly identify service contracts that will be expiring at various intervals so that you can plan for renewals and identify budget requirements.

By providing enhanced visibility into your installed base, you can:

●      Quickly identify Cisco products that are reaching end of life, end of sale, or end of support

●      Easily see what has been moved, added, or changed in your network

●      Verify that your Cisco hardware is running current, consistent, and supported software versions

●      Mitigate risk and plan for upgrades for equipment that is no longer supported

Your technical service options

No matter the size of your business, you are dependent on your network applications and vulnerable to the lost revenue that can result from a network outage. But you also cannot afford to commit to a service program that doesn’t meet your particular business needs. Cisco CX provides a range of service options for you to choose from, starting with a basic level of 8x5 callback within one business day from TAC engineers for non-critical issues with Support Essentials to direct phone access 24 hours daily with SNTC. It’s up to you to choose the option that is right for your network and your situation.

You have the same type of flexibility with advance hardware replacement. If you need fast replacement in as little as two hours for your most critical network segments, that’s available. If next-business-day replacement for devices is acceptable, that is an option too.

If you want in-person support services at your location, Cisco offers onsite options, where available, for many of our service levels. See the service descriptions for Smart Net Total Care and Onsite Field Services for additional information.

Table 2.        Advance hardware replacement service levels

When you’re ready to upgrade your network devices

Operating your business with unsupported products poses risks to your business. An unsupported failed product can negatively impact business continuity, revenue, and compliance. When you want to update your network devices or migrate to new hardware, Cisco Migration Support Services can provide coverage for your hardware that reaches end of life during your technology migration.

Migration Support Services extend support for Cisco products that are no longer supported and past their Last Day of Support (LDoS). They help you mitigate the risk of operating with unsupported, aging technologies while you plan and implement your upgrade projects. Migration Support Services provide a support solution that extends across your migration plan, and they are a lifeline when you cannot complete migration by LDoS. You can depend on continued support, so you can focus on your business goals and objectives. Learn more.

Related services to extend the value of your Cisco products

Cisco can offer you more high-value and personalized services when you need them. You should consider:

●      Software Support – Basic, Enhanced, and Premium

Cisco Software Support offers comprehensive coverage—from foundational Basic support to Enhanced and Premium levels— for your Cisco software application products. The Basic level of service will help you keep your systems and business applications running smoothly. To fast-track the full benefits of your Cisco software, get the Enhanced or Premium levels of service for collaboration and security products. Our experts will assist your team with onboarding your solution, tailored advice for IT on which features best support your objectives, and priority access to highly skilled engineers who help solve complex issues quickly and, oftentimes, avoidance of issues altogether.

●      Solution Support

Get the right kind of technical service for your multiproduct, multivendor solution with Cisco Solution Support. A Cisco primary point of contact will address software and hardware from both Cisco and Solution Support Alliance Partners. Using product, architecture, and interoperability expertise, we either directly resolve your issue or actively manage your case by coordinating product support teams inside and outside of Cisco, retaining accountable from first call to resolution, no matter where the issues reside.

●      Business Critical Services

Cisco Business Critical Services give you access to trusted experts powered by our proprietary analytics, insights, and automation to help organizations create resilient, highly adaptive, and transformative IT. Offered as 12-month or multi-year subscriptions covering the full IT lifecycle, these services are available in three prepackaged tiers—Essentials, Advantage, and Premier—plus Specialized Expertise including Scrum Services and Expert-as-a-Service to empower your IT teams and meet your unique business needs.

Why Cisco

You must align your network strategy with top company initiatives to continue to innovate and grow your business. Cisco can help you benefit from our experience and expertise. Cisco Services can make networks, applications, and the people who use them work better together. Our solutions and services build on our innovation and leadership in networking. Recognized by J.D. Power and Associates for providing “an Outstanding Customer Service Experience”, Cisco is the only company to have achieved Certified Technology Service and Support Excellence 14 times.[2]

Customer call to action

For more information about Cisco Smart Net Total Care, visit https://www.cisco.com/go/total or contact your local account representative.

You can also find resources such as videos, training, and case studies and interact with other users in discussion forums on the Smart Net Total Care Community.

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.

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