The digital business era is here and more than ever, IT must be agile, innovative, and efficient in order for our businesses to compete. Capitalizing on marketplace opportunities and improving customer experience requires that we leverage new technology innovation to engage our customers differently while continuing to focus on cost optimization.
Digital transformation is critical to the success of our organizations. Global competition is forcing it. Customers are demanding it. Employees expect it. As business people, we understand the driving forces behind it. As technologists, we see the challenges to overcome in getting there.
Some of those challenges are familiar foes we’ve faced for years in IT: Reducing cost, delivering new features and functionality, tracking and deploying software licenses, and managing the technology lifecycle. Although these tasks have topped our “to-do” list for a long time, the digital era is shining new light on the importance of performing the activities well.
Lowering Cost through Better Visibility and Pricing
From a technology perspective, few would disagree that the network is at the heart of our ability to perform in the digital world. It is the backbone that either enables our transformation or limits it. The network and our enterprise infrastructure have become vital components in our efforts to pursue new business opportunities, allowing us to respond quicker and to ultimately drive better business outcomes. As a result, improving how we manage our network, infrastructure, and software licensing is critical.
Fortunately, we have some help.
A little more than a year ago, Cisco introduced Cisco Software to provide customers a more flexible way to buy software for wide area networks (WAN), access networks, and data centers in an effort to help lower costs and overcome some common challenges.
Increase Compliance
Being out of compliance with software licensing agreements is frustrating. Becoming compliant can result in significant unexpected expenses. Without good visibility into how licenses are deployed, adhering to agreements and avoiding non-compliance fees is difficult.
Cisco Software helps reduce the exposure of violating licensing agreements for Cisco products. Through self-service portals, customers can easily track and manage their software licenses, helping to make sure critical equipment is covered and verifying licenses purchased are being deployed and consumed.
Protect Investments
In the past, upgrading network hardware equipment to replace older models required repurchasing software licenses. Due to the expense, network upgrades had to be planned and budgeted for carefully, which often resulted in projects being slowed down or postponed because funding wasn’t available.
Cisco Software provides software-services enabled license portability. Whenever hardware is refreshed, the existing license can be transferred to the new equipment. Licenses do not have to be repurchased, protecting investments already made in software purchases and ensuring today’s investments will last into the future.
In addition, Cisco Software combines individual products that are typically purchased together into logical bundles in order to provide better pricing packages and offers flexible licensing models, so costs can be more predictable and distributed better over time.
Access to Innovation
To respond faster to the demands of digital business, IT must leverage technology innovation. Cisco Software is packaged into domain-specific bundles:
- Cisco for Data Center delivers functionality for physical and virtualized data centers as well as support for private and hybrid clouds.
- Cisco for WAN delivers functionality for the branch as well as the network edge.
- Cisco for Access provides support for wired and wireless access capabilities.
Within each domain, three feature sets are offered—Foundation, Advanced Applications, and Advanced Security—and customers have access to new capability and ongoing innovation as it becomes available. In addition, through Cisco’s Software Support Service (SWSS), customers can get help anytime from Cisco’s Technical Assistance Center (TAC) as well as receive major upgrade and maintenance updates for licensed applications.
Respond Faster and Drive Better Outcomes
The marketplace has always favored speed, innovative ideas, superior products, and excellent customer service. In the long run, the companies that continually deliver the highest quality, innovative products and services at the best value, while providing the most pleasant customer experience possible, are rewarded. And the ones that don’t, well …
Cisco Software can help your IT organization maximize value received from software and become more agile, so your business can focus on delivering superior products and services, improving customer experience, and driving better business outcomes.
Looking to refresh network hardware? Do you have licenses up for renewal? Experienced a security event lately? Have a multi-phased project on the horizon? If so, now may be a great time to look at Cisco Software.
ePlus is working closely with Cisco to help our customers achieve the most value from their Cisco Software in order to achieve predictable business outcomes.
For more information on how ePlus can help you determine if Cisco Software is right for you,
click here, email
CiscoONE@eplus.com, or contact your ePlus Account Executive.
