With margins on product shrinking it is vital that services play a major part in the business model. Focus on services not only provides extra revenue but more importantly it will enable you to offer an end to end solution that gives your customer complete satisfaction.
If your company is providing a full maintenance and support service your customer is unlikely to go anywhere else for product sales. It will mean that their confidence in you grows as you respond to their requirements – and critically you will be keeping their network running at peak performance and protecting against downtime.
No longer is it acceptable for a network to be installed and left to look after itself. Typically, users today require:
SMARTnet allows you to offer these services – even if your technical support facility cannot. Managing your customer’s contracts and support means that the contracts can be registered for your use, giving you the access tools. Your customer will ring you with any problems and you will then be able to activate the contract, responding seamlessly to requirements.
In this way you can fully differentiate from the competition and maximise your services business without technical investment. To further increase your service offering, use Comstor’s expertise to run a review of all your customers existing cover, bring them all under one contract and align the end dates. Not only will your customer feel that you have taken control of their Cisco services it will mean that they will come to you for all renewals.
Maximising your services business through SMARTnet will increase your geographic and timed response cover, expand your capabilities with new technologies and allow your to augment your own technical offering. Use it as an invaluable tool to add value to your business proposition and open new business opportunities – in short, maximise services to ensure your future success.
From common network issues to complex network problems, Cisco SMARTnet provides you with immediate access to vital information and assistance when you need it:
Contact your Account Manager on 01285 647001 or sales@comstor.co.uk for a quote, or services@westcon.co.uk for more information
What do I get from a SMARTnet contract? A. A service and support package that ensures the network delivers optimal uptime, utility and flexibility. SMARTnet provides immediate unlimited access to information, assistance, engineers and assistance for the lifetime of the product, even if it is working perfectly: Technical Assistance Centre, Cisco.com, Software Updates, Engineer and Replacement Parts
Is coverage included in an end user packaged service contract for all cards, modules etc in the Cisco product chassis? A. Yes they are all included in the one service contract.
What is the length of a packaged service contract? A. A standard SMARTnet contract duration is 12 months. In some cases contracts of different duration can be arranged to align to existing contracts. Contact your account manager at Comstor for more information.
What category should be ordered? A. Check the category with the category check tool on www.cisco.com
What happens if a product is not in a category? A. Support may still be available. Contact Comstor for advice and pricing.
What happens if a package is bought and the category for the product changes, does the package need to be returned? A. Cisco will support the change for 120 days. However to register under the old category number details will need to sent the details to pkg-help-euro@cisco.com as Cisco will need to do this manually.
Does location need to be checked to ensure service level? A. Location should always be checked before ordering service. Use the Location Check tool on www.cisco.com
In countries where Cisco cannot provide even Next Business Day service levels is there any kind of service Cisco can offer? A. Same Day Shipment service is available anywhere in the world. This offering is exactly the same as Next Business Day except that Cisco does not guarantee next day delivery. Cisco does guarantee the part will be dispatched the same day. Any additional duty or collection charges must be met by the person purchasing the service contract.
Can I buy SMARTnet on a product that is older than 12 months? A. SMARTnet should be purchased and registered within 90 days of the product purchase. For any service requirements for older equipment Cisco can provide SMARTnet cover, however this is subject to the condition of the equipment and its previous history. Cisco will refuse support where the equipment is not in a serviceable condition or if the equipment was not sourced from a Cisco Authorised channel. There is no cover available for products that has reached End of Life more than 2 years ago.
What is an end user registering for when registering service products? A. When an end user registers a service product, this registers access to Cisco.com and the service contract number. Registration for Cisco.com establishes a Cisco.com account. The end user is assigned a user ID and asked to select a password. If a package is not registered technical support is not available. Resellers can register the contracts on behalf of customers.
Who should register? A. Comstor, Reseller or your end user can register contracts, but we recommend that registration and management is a service you offer on your customer’s behalf.
What information is needed to complete a registration?
A. Reseller Details
Site Details (Location where the Cisco products will be installed)
Contact Names and Phone Numbers
Cisco Product Details and Serial Numbers
The Token number.
Does each piece of equipment need to be registered separately? A. Yes. Each piece of equipment must be individually registered to qualify for entitlements.
How many modules, cards and so on can be added for cover within a Service Contract? A. As many as required, but remember Cisco need to know about them. If Cisco is not advised of new modules to be added to a contract then the potential is that an end user will receive an incorrectly configured replacement piece of kit should it go down
If as a reseller I wish to register the service as a back end to my own service offerings, how do I do this? A. If you wish to perform the actual support delivery, you should specify your company address as the delivery address in the contract. This identifies you as the "installation site". For example: With a 4-hour contract Cisco will aim to deliver within 4-hours to the "installation site", to the reseller but it is the your responsibility to deliver the product further to the ACTUAL end-user. Cisco can deliver to the reseller (within 4 hours), so that the reseller may deliver to its client. If the contract is set up in this fashion, the reseller’s client will not be the responsibility of Cisco for delivery of support.
Who should be contacted if there are difficulties with the registration process?A. An email should be sent to the registration help desk at: pkg-help-euro@cisco.com
How soon can a service contract be used? A. If registration is completed via Cisco.com, a contract number should be received within 24 hours. With 4 hour service contracts Cisco.com, TAC and IOS access is activated immediately. However 4 hour replacement of parts may not be available for the first 45 days of the contract. Cisco will do best efforts during this period. Note: 45 days is the maximum delay for getting on-site contracts up and running.
How do is the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) accessed? A. In order to gain access to the Cisco TAC, a service contract is required. With the purchase and registration of a service product, a contract number is provided which authorizes access to the TAC. Registration is the key to initiating any service entitlements.
TAC Contact Information:
The Cisco TAC can be contacted 24 hours a day at: UK 0800 960 547
Is any information other than the contract number required when calling TAC? A. Anyone requiring support will need to provide both the product serial number and the service contract number when they call Cisco.
What is the difference between SMARTnet and Cisco warranty ? A. Warranty and SMARTnet are completley different. Cisco’s warranties range from 90 days to life time. Cisco warranties that hardware will be freen from defects in material or workmanship under nomal use ; the software will be free of defects in materials and workmanship under normal use ; software substantially conforms to its published specifications. Warranty offers no advice tools or advanced replacement of hardware. The faulty product must be returned before a replacement is issued. SMARTnet gives unlimited access to Technical Assistance Centre and Cisco.com for a full range of support tools, and replacement hardware can be shipped to arrive within 2 hours. Faulty parts do not have to be returned before a replacement is shipped. A SMARTnet contract provides complete IOS upgrades, extending hardware through software upgrades rather than equipment replacement.
If a diagnosis is done at the end of the day (i.e. 3:00 pm) would 4 hours mean 7:00pm or next morning delivery? A. A diagnosis must be done prior to 1:00 in the Time Zone of the region to receive a replacement part within 4 hours. (Usually local TAC time zone - ie. Europe = Central Europe time zone, so 1:00 CET would be 12:00 GMT). If the diagnosis is done after 1:00, the replacement part will be shipped to arrive the next morning.
Do service offerings include or exclude holidays? A. 24 x 7 x 4 (both SNT and Onsite) INCLUDES holidays. 8x5x4 and 8x5xNBD EXCLUDES holidays.
If a customer buys a Cisco product with a SMARTnet contract but uses a third party flash memory or cable is the SMARTnet contract invalidated? A. If the memory or cables are not Cisco products -- but are Cisco certified -- then the product will be covered by a SMARTnet contract. However, if a problem is identified as coming from the third party product, the customer will not get support on that particular component (e.g. no cable or memory replacement).
How does response time work? A. If a 2 hour response package is ordered, the replacement part and engineer will be on site within 2 hours of diagnosis. Response time does not refer to response to a telephone call into TAC.
How much support does a customer receive when a Cisco engineer goes on-site as part of the onsite service? A. The Onsite engineer does not leave the site until the customer is happy. The parts arrive with software pre-installed, but the version is not guaranteed. The engineer repl,aces the part and reconnect the unit to the network. The engineer will work with TAC to establish a connection to the unit. Flash can be taken from the old router but the engineer is not responsible for recovering a specific version of software or to build config. However they will try to help wherever possible.
Do Cisco use third party maintainers? A. Cisco has three main TPMs, NCR, IBM, and Equant. Cisco Onsite services assigns the TPM in some locations. All three TPMs are only available in some locations; inother locations only one TPM is available. If customers insist on a different TPM, they may select from the available TPMs.
Is there a lead time for hardware replacement? A. Cisco logistics requires a 45 lead-time to find the parts, fill the orders, and stock the shelves. The complexity of the process is required to ensure proper sparing. All other aspects of the contract are available immediately and the initial contract will run for one year and 45 days to cover the lead time. However, in many cases (such as in locations with high contract density), the parts are already in the depot; in most cases normal SLAs will be achieved.
Can I cover Software Applications with SMARTnet? A. Software Application Support (SAS) and Software Application Support plus Upgrades (SAU) gives investment on software purchases and access to the latest software versions without the need for further investment. Support for software is categorised, but SAU is not available on all applications – check what is available on the category check tool.
