Cisco Smart Care Service
Partner Q&A
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Table of Contents
About Cisco Smart Care Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Features and Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
General. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Discovery and Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Device Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Availability and Localization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Labs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Marketing Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Partners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Partner Qualification and Certification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Partner Registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Training and Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Quoting, Ordering, and Billing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Pricing Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Cisco Smart Care Service Price to Partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Ultimate Contract Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Initial Price Estimate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Final Quote. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Ordering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Assessments and Remote Repairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Network Appliance (Hardware or Software Client). . . . . . . . . . . 33
Software Client. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Hardware Appliance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Customer Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
IPS Signature Update. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Dashboard Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Technical Assistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Advance Replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Billing and Payment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Comparison to Other Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Quarterly True-Ups/Annual Renewals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Cisco SMARTnet Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Contract Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Collaborative Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Contract Creation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Shared Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Contract Updates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Remote Management Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Contract Cancellations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Relation to Other Cisco Partner Programs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Access Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Managed Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Partner Enablement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Metrics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Role of Distributor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
ii
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco Smart Care Services
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
• Selected software updates and upgrades (see table below)
• Next business day (NBD) advance replacement of Cisco devices
with an option to upgrade individual devices to 4-hour coverage
(onsite service not included)
General
Q. What is Cisco® Smart Care Service?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service is a unique, proactive services platform
that allows Cisco Certified Partners to build upon Cisco networking
expertise, methodologies, technical tools, best practices and service
infrastructure to create new, personalized services for their customers.
• Proactive notifications to simplify the updating of Cisco devices
Smart Care Service provides partners with the capabilities needed to
offer the network-level insight, traditional maintenance, and proactive
network services their customers require; it also helps partners grow and
differentiate their businesses in the commercial marketplace. With the
core capabilities of Cisco Smart Care Service, partners can provide their
customers with capabilities such as:
• Disaster recovery services to back up the customer’s routers,
switches, and security solutions to a remote location and easily
restore the network in the event of a disaster
• Remote monitoring and repair of Cisco devices and software
applications*
• Proactive health checks and periodic assessments of Cisco
network foundation, voice, and security technologies to identify
potential issues
• Technical support for all Cisco hardware and software in the
network with a single network-wide maintenance contract
• Assessment and preparation services to simplify the addition of
new technologies and applications over time
Offering off-the-shelf, best in class, proactive network monitoring
capabilities, backed by Cisco, as part of a service that helps provide
visibility into the customer’s network saves operational costs and
simplifies network-level contract management.
For the end customer, a partner offering based on Cisco Smart Care
provides a comprehensive network-wide service that can include
proactive network monitoring, health checkups, diagnostics, and
software repairs, in addition to technical support for their entire Cisco
network—in a single contract. Smart Care Service is delivered through a
local Cisco Certified Partner that works with Cisco to provide a superior
service experience.
*Refer to the Products section for a list of eligible devices and software applications covered by Cisco Smart Care Service.
Table 1.
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B
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Description
CCO
Access
Level
Pica
Administration
Hardware
Coverage
Service Level
Group
Software
Center Access
Major
Software
Updates
Software
Maintainence
Releases
TAC
Access
CNL1
CNL1 ROUTR/SWTCH/SEC
Partner
Yes
Yes
8x5xNBD
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
CNL3
CNL3 VOICE ADDED
Partner
Yes
Yes
8x5xNBD
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
CNL4
CNL4 ADV VOICE ADDED
Partner
Yes
Yes
8x5xNBD
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
CNLA
SMARTCARE ASSESS SVC
Partner
Yes
No
SAS for client only
Yes
No
No
Yes
CNLB
SMARTCARE ASSESS SVC
Partner
Yes
No
SAS for client only
Yes
No
No
Yes
CNLP
SMARTCARE PREMIUM
Partner
Yes
Yes
24x7x4
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Contract
Type
* Software upgrades do not contain entitlement for licensed upgrades. These licensed upgrades have to be purchased separately.
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
1
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Purchasing Cisco Smart Care Service from a Cisco Certified Partner
is the way for midsize customers to verify that their network is secure,
reliable, and functioning optimally so that they can improve their
employee productivity, increase customer responsiveness, and get
the most from their technology investments. Utilizing a service based
on Cisco Smart Care gives customers greater visibility into network
performance and greatly reduces the time and effort necessary to help
ensure that their networks are running efficiently.
Q. What is included for partners in Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service includes:
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
• Proactive notifications of any end-of-life Cisco devices in
customer networks
• Disaster recovery services to remotely back up customer
network configurations
• Partner access to the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC)
for escalations (partners take all calls from the customer and are
required to address level 0 and level 1 calls)
• Dashboard visibility into a customer’s network to remotely monitor
performance and correct potential problems
• Software updates and maintenance releases for qualified Cisco
applications
• Periodic assessment and repair services to identify potential
network health and security issues
• Cisco IOS® Software support, including maintenance releases
and patches and access to Cisco.com and the Cisco Smart Care
Service portal and tools
• Single-use network health and security assessments to provide
assessments as a one-time professional service or to demonstrate
the value of the annual service to prospective customers
• Assessment and preparation services to simplify the addition of
new technologies and applications over time
• Voice assessment services that can be used prior to deploying
voice in the network.
• Voice quality monitoring service to help ensure the audible quality
of voice
• Proactive device-level diagnostics, alerts, and remediation advice
for Cisco Smart Call Home-enabled products when an issue is
detected
• Single support contract for all Cisco devices in the customer’s
network
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• Customizable alert services to send email or text notifications of
any issue in customer networks
• Next-business-day (NBD) advance hardware replacement to
the end user for the entire network, with the option to upgrade
individual devices to premium 4-hour coverage, software updates/
upgrades and ESW equivalence. (Onsite service not included)
• A network-level service contract covering all qualified Cisco
devices in the customer’s network (See Table 1 in the Products
section for a list of eligible devices and software applications
covered by Cisco Smart Care Service.)
Q. Why should partners sell a support offering based on
Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service helps partners expand their business
opportunities by providing a proactive services platform on which they can
build the next generation of personalized services that promote higher
profit margins, recurrent revenue, and long-lasting customer relationships.
The Cisco Smart Care Service platform enables partners to:
• Improve profitability by transitioning to a service-led model,
which can result in higher profit margins and predictable,
recurring revenue.
• Differentiate their businesses by developing personalized services
for midsize customers.
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
2
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
• Increase customer loyalty by combining the complementary service
advantages of Cisco and the partner to deliver an exceptional
service experience to customers.
• Grow their service business through a collaborative go-to-market
strategy with Cisco.
• Reduce contract management through a single network-wide
contract
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. Why should customers buy a partner service based on
Cisco Smart Care?
A.A partner support offering based on Cisco Smart Care Service
provides customers the following benefits:
• The opportunity to choose the level and type of network coverage
to best support the size and complexity of their business
• Increased network visibility with the information partners need to
efficiently manage and continually improve customer networks
• Ongoing monitoring and periodic assessments of network
health, availability, and security to protect and optimize essential
network applications, communications, and business operations
so problems can be addressed before they affect business
functionality
• Enhanced business continuity through disaster recovery capabilities
that remotely back up network routing, switching, and security
configurations, allowing the quick restoration of the network to its
prior working order in the event of a disaster
• A single service contract that covers all Cisco devices to simplify
contract management and maintenance requirements
• The combined strengths of Cisco, the industry leader in
networking, with a local value-add reseller, providing midsize
customers with network care and improvement planning to help
keep the network efficient and secure
Q. Who is the target customer for service based on Cisco
Smart Care?
A. The Cisco Smart Care Service is designed to enable partners
to provide support for midsize businesses, typically between 100
and 1000 employees. Target customers primarily or exclusively use
Cisco networking devices and lack sufficient in-house resources with
networking expertise, or have qualified IT staff but choose to save time
and effort maintaining and optimizing their network to help ensure higher
network security, availability, and performance.
Q. How is Cisco Smart Care Service different from other
services?
• Proactive remote monitoring for visibility into the health, security,
and availability of the network
• Assessment and services
• Customizable alert services
• Disaster recovery capabilities
• Technical support to the partner for level 2+ issues (partners take
all calls from the customer and are required to address level 0 and
level 1 calls)
• NBD advance hardware replacement for Cisco devices, with the
option to upgrade individual devices to 4-hour coverage (onsite
service not included)
• Simplified addition of new technologies and applications over time
with assessment and preparation services
• A single contract that covers all qualified Cisco devices on
the network
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
3
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Q. How does Cisco define network coverage?
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
A. Network coverage means that the customer covers Cisco devices**
in the network with a service level contract that includes proactive
network health checkups, remote monitoring, diagnostics, and software
repairs in addition to technical support delivered through their local Cisco
Certified Partner. The customer gets the same high level of service
across the network.
Since this service is designed to serve the needs of medium-sized
customers, coverage is limited to products that those businesses typically
purchase. The customer may not purchase Cisco Smart Care Service if
some of their network equipment is considered to be high-end enterprise
or service provider-class devices.
**Most commercial-class and some enterprise-class Cisco products are eligible to be
covered by Cisco Smart Care Service. For more information about eligible products,
refer to the Products section.
Note: The estimate of 50 to 1000 network users represents the number
of active, concurrent users on the network. In some industries, such as
manufacturing or healthcare, many employees access the network only
occasionally. The number of employees in a business could be much
higher. This could translate to up to 1000 users.
Q. Is Cisco Smart Care Service a good option for businesses
that want to add voice to their network?
A. Yes. Successful IP voice implementation requires more than simply
deploying an IP call processing solution and IP phones. A company
needs a network that prioritizes voice services, provides the necessary
bandwidth and processing resources, and is protected from common
networking issues that have negligible effects on other services but that
significantly impact voice quality.
Q. If a customer already has another Cisco service contract on
some devices, such as Cisco SMARTnet® Service or Shared
Support, can they get Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. Yes. The customer can choose to cover their entire Cisco network
with a partner plan based on Cisco Smart Care Service, even if they
currently have Cisco SMARTnet, Shared Support, or another Cisco
service. Cisco Smart Care Service will be applied to the uncovered
products, and at the renewal time for the other service contracts, they
will be converted to Cisco Smart Care Service. For more information,
see the Pricing section. As these other Cisco service contracts expire,
the devices will migrate over on the Smart Care contract and the price
will be adjusted as part of the true-up process.
Q. Is there a limit to the number of network users Cisco Smart
Care Service can support on any one network?
A. No. Since Cisco Smart Care Service is sold based on the number and
class of Cisco devices are on the network, the actual number of network
users will vary.
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4
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
With a support plan based on the Cisco Smart Care Service, a qualified
Cisco partner—backed by extensive tools and in-depth training from
Cisco—provides a comprehensive analysis to determine whether the
network meets these requirements before the customer invests in IP
voice technologies. The assessment tools include voice traffic injection
capabilities and detailed measurements of the delay, jitter, and loss in the
customer network. The assessment also provides a mean opinion score
(MOS) for the customer network—the industry-standard scoring criteria
for IP voice circuits.
Through this evaluation, the Cisco partner provides detailed information
about everything the network requires (including any devices or
links that must be replaced and any operating systems that must
be upgraded) to successfully support IP voice and helps create a
smoother, more successful implementation. According to a 2005
Cisco survey of companies with IP voice solutions, nearly 90 percent
of customers that performed a presales assessment of their network’s
voice capabilities reported that they were pleased with the solution.
Alternatively,approximately 80 percent of those companies that did not
perform such assessments were dissatisfied.
Q. How is Cisco Smart Care Service different from other
services?
A. Unlike traditional maintenance services, Cisco Smart Care Service
provides you with a proactive services platform that provides tools to
deliver both traditional maintenance and proactive services, including:
• Proactive remote monitoring for visibility into the health, security,
and availability of the network
• Next-business-day (NBD) advance hardware replacement to
the end user for the entire network, with the option to upgrade
individual devices to premium 4-hour coverage, software updates/
upgrades, and ESW equivalence (onsite service is not included)
• Simplified addition of new technologies and applications over time
with assessment and preparation services
• A single contract that covers all qualified Cisco devices on the
network
Q. What options does a customer have for hardware
replacement (for example, NBD, 4-hour, 2-hour)? How will
customers with current 2-hour contracts be supported until
their existing contracts expire?
A. The base-level Cisco Smart Care Service contract lets partners
provide NBD hardware replacement. Partners also have the flexibility to
upgrade individual devices to a premium 4-hour hardware replacement
option. (Note: The 4-hour option does not include onsite service.) If
customers with an existing 2-hour contract purchase a plan based on
Cisco Smart Care Service, their existing Cisco SMARTnet contracts will
be honored for the duration of that contract. As each device’s contract
expires, it will automatically be migrated to a partner offering based on
Cisco Smart Care Service and the pricing adjusted when applicable.
Therefore, a customer that has a current 2-hour Cisco SMARTnet
Service contract will still be able to get that hardware replacement level
until their current Cisco SMARTnet contract expires.
Security
Note: For information on how your customer’s data is secure with Smart
Care, go to: www.cisco.com/web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/
downloads/scs_security_wp.pdf.
• Assessment and repair services
• Customizable alert services
• Disaster recovery capabilities
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• Technical support to the partner for level 2+ issues (partners take
all calls from the customer and are required to address level 0 and
level 1 calls)
Q. What steps are taken to help ensure that network data sent
to Cisco is secure?
A. A network appliance or software application on the network
continuously collects data about the health of the network. This data is
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
5
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
sent to Cisco over a highly secure HTTPS connection and is analyzed.
Cisco communicates network performance and security assessments to
the customer and authorized partner over a secure HTTPS connection.
Q. How does Cisco use information from customer networks?
Partners
A. Cisco uses device information from customer networks to provide the
customer and the customer’s authorized partner with the information they
need to assess the health, security, and availability of the network and
make repairs. Cisco also uses this information to improve future software
and hardware offerings. Neither Cisco nor the partner has access to the
data that passes through the network.
Features
and Tools
Q. How does Cisco protect the confidentiality of sensitive
customer information?
Comparison
to Other
Services
A. Cisco has access only to the device information needed to perform
its services and never has access to the information that passes
through the customer’s network. Cisco keeps only the information
about customer networks necessary to fulfill its service obligations.
Information used for assessment, repair, and preparation services is held
in temporary memory and discarded immediately following the service.
Q. Can the Smart Care dashboard alert/notification be
integrated with our existing network management platform
(for example, What’s Up Gold, Solarwinds, and so on)
using something like Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP) alert notification?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service includes a customizable email/text
message alerting feature. This feature can be customized to integrate
with customer relationship management (CRM) platforms and troubleticket systems that support email case input capability.
Q. Which versions of the SNMP are supported by Smart Care?
A. SNMP V1 and SNMP V2 are supported by Smart Care. SNMP V3 is
not supported by Smart Care.
Q. What are the disaster recovery capabilities in the Cisco
Smart Care Service?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service includes service capabilities that partners
can use to help their customers ensure business continuance in the
event of a major outage. The Cisco Smart Care appliance automatically
backs up configuration information for all of the customer’s Cisco routers,
switches, and security devices running the Cisco Catalyst® OS, Cisco
IOS Software, and Cisco Security Device Manager. These configuration
files are always stored on the appliance locally and can be retrieved and
viewed from the Smart Care portal on-demand. Storing configuration
files allows partners to quickly restore the customer’s network to its prior
working order in the event of a major disaster.
Availability and Localization
Q. Where is Cisco Smart Care Service available?
A. Currently, Smart Care is available in Europe, the United States, and
Canada and in select countries in emerging markets. In other regions
globally it will be available in phases. Refer to the Theater Availability table
at www.cisco.com/web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/theater_
availability.html for updates on availability.
Q. If a customer has multiple international sites, will these
international locations or branches be supported by
Smart Care?
A. Yes. There is no problem in supporting international sites with
Smart Care.
Q. What components of the Cisco Smart Care Service will
be localized?
A. The intention is to localize the support experience for partners and
customers. Cisco is currently working with its local contacts and functional
groups to determine the optimized localization solution for each market.
The service is currently available in English and Spanish.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
6
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Products
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
There is no need to request exclusions for the following devices:
Q. What products does Cisco Smart Care Service support?
• The Smart Care appliance
A. Cisco Smart Care Service supports a broad range of products for
mid-sized business networks, which are organized into six technology
groups. This list is continually updated as Cisco introduces new products
into this market segment. For the most up-to-date product list, refer to
the Cisco Service Quote Upload and Estimates Tool, which is found on the
Smart Care Partner Central website, under Resources, then Tools section
(direct link: http://tools.cisco.com/ca/cacsp/application/index.jsp).
• Third-party devices
Q. Why are some products excluded from Cisco Smart Care
Service?
A. Since this service is designed for midsize businesses, coverage is
limited to products that those companies typically purchase. Cisco has
included products that are commonly used by businesses of all sizes,
such as Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Switches. However, most enterpriseclass products are excluded from this service
Q. What devices are excluded?
A. Generally, any device detected will be added to the customer’s
contract, will be eligible for entitlement, and will be considered during
the quarterly pricing reviews. It is reasonable to anticipate that customers
will have devices in their networks that might need to be excluded from
the Cisco Smart Care Service contract. Reasons for the exclusions may
include, but are not limited to:
• Cisco or partner-provided test, lab, or demo gear
• Devices no longer in the Smart Care inventory
• Personal computers
Q. Can a nonqualifying product on a network be covered with
another service and the rest of the network be covered with
Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. Yes. Nonqualifying products on a network may be covered with
another service while the rest of the network is covered with Smart Care.
However, the smart service features and coverage offered by Smart Care
will not apply to nonqualifying products.
Q. Will older Cisco devices be supported, for example,
a Cisco 2503 Router?
A. This depends on the device. When an end-of-support notice is
issued, affected devices will no longer be covered. Talk to your Cisco
service account manager about replacement strategies.
Q. If a customer purchases a non-eligible Cisco product,
what happens to the network-level support contract?
A. If a customer purchases a non-eligible Cisco product, that customer
still remains eligible for a partner support offering based on Cisco Smart
Care Service to continue to cover qualified devices on their network.
• Service provider-owned gear
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The partner may request that these devices be excluded from the
Cisco Smart Care Service contract through the Service Support Center
(SSC). The request will be reviewed by a Cisco Smart Care Service
administrator, and, if approved, excluded devices will be marked on the
inventory as excluded and, if appropriate, removed from the Cisco Smart
Care Service contract.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
7
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Partners
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Partner Qualification and Certification
Q. What qualifications do partners need to sell and support
Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. At a minimum, you must be a Cisco Select, Premier, Silver, or Gold
Certified Partner and must have passed the Cisco Smart Care Service
exam. If you meet these requirements, you can sell and support Cisco
Smart Care Service for networks that contain basic Cisco routing,
switching, security, and storage technology products. For networks
with basic voice technology, a Cisco Express Unified Communications
Specialization is required from the partner. For networks with advanced
voice technology products, an Advanced Unified Communications
Specialization is required. Specialization requirements may vary
depending on country and theater. Contact your Cisco representative for
more information. Additionally, you must be able to provide 8x5 support
to your customers.
Q. May Global Service Alliance (GSA) and Regional Service
Alliance (RSA) partners offer Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. GSA and RSA partners can qualify to offer a plan based on Cisco
Smart Care Service if they meet the minimum partner eligibility
requirements. If a GSA or RSA partner chooses to offer a plan based on
Cisco Smart Care Service, the GSA or RSA benefits will not be applied
to Cisco Smart Care Service. Cisco Smart Care Service does not include
rebates or discounts; GSA and RSA partners will not be able to apply the
strategic alliance benefits they receive to Cisco Smart Care Service.
Q. What if it says I am not qualified to register?
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A. There are specific eligibility criteria that your partner company needs
to meet before registering for the Cisco Smart Care program. Visit the
program homepage (www.cisco.com/go/smartcare) to review those
criteria. If you think that your company meets the criteria, visit the Partner
Self-Service tool at http://tools.cisco.com/WWChannels/GETLOG/
welcome.do to validate if the appropriate certifications/specializations
are in place.
It is also possible that your company does not reside in one of the
countries in which the Cisco Smart Care program is currently available.
Visit the Partner Self-Service tool to validate your company’s address
information, and refer to the Theater Availability table at www.cisco.com/
web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/theater_availability.html for
updates on availability.
Q. What if the portal does not recognize or show all the
certifications and specializations my company has?
A. If you have recently acquired a new certification or specialization, it
might not have been updated on your profile. To verify, visit the Partner
Self-Service tool at http://tools.cisco.com/WWChannels/GETLOG/
welcome.do to view your certifications and specializations and to report
any issues.
Q. How do increased specialization/certification levels affect
my registration with Smart Care?
A. If your company acquires one of the higher specializations that make
you eligible for a higher Cisco Smart Care access level, your Cisco Smart
Care access level will automatically be increased. This will allow you to
support and sell Cisco Smart Care for more complex customer networks.
To see the eligibility requirements for Smart Care, visit www.cisco.com/
web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/offer.html.
Q. What is meant by, “In the event the partner is not recertified
within the 90-day grace period, the customer’s Smart Care
Service contract will be supported until it expires.”
A. Partners will still have access to the Smart Care Service Portal, but
will be unable to run any services. Customer networks are still covered by
the Smart Care Service contract, and partners can access support for the
customer networks.
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
8
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Partner Registration
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. How can I familiarize myself with Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. Go to www.cisco.com/go/smartcare for details on Cisco Smart Care
Service. This site includes data sheets; at-a-glance documents; a demo
overview of the program and all of the tools; overviews of the network
health, security, and voice assessments; and much more.
Q. Where should I go when deciding to offer Cisco Smart
Care Service?
A. The “Offer the Service” section on the Smart Care website
(www.cisco.com/go/smartcare) will take you through a five-phase
decision-making process. The five phases are:
Q. How do I become eligible to register for Cisco Smart
Care Service?
A. Each geographic region may have additional requirements, but the
following are the general steps to register for Cisco Smart Care Service:
Step 1: Review Minimum Partner Eligibility Requirements
1. Confirm theater availability for your partner location.
2. Hold a Select, Premier, Silver or Gold Cisco partner certification.
3. Agree to provide technical support (8x5 business hours—self-certify).
4. Complete live or online training (self-certify).
• Understanding the Smart Care value proposition
5. Pass the Cisco Smart Care Service online test (free to partners; one
person from partnership needs to pass).
• Building your business case
Step 2: Get Trained and Take the Online Test:
• Building your services offering
The Cisco Smart Care Service e-learning contains several role-based
training paths (including owner/manager, account manager, systems
engineer, and sales operations/administrative). It is available to you at no
cost. To view the entire range of training offered, view the training map:
www.cisco.com/web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/
training_map.html.
• Incorporating into your business model
• Selling and delivering a plan based on Cisco Smart Care Service
Included in these five phases are the relevant documentation and tools to
guide you through the decision-making stage.
Partner eligibility to participate in the Cisco Smart Care Service program
requires a partner sales or systems engineer, or equivalent, to pass the
Cisco Smart Care Service online eligibility test. This test is focused on
the installation, configuration, and use of the Cisco Smart Care Service
delivery tools. Only one member of your partner organization is required
to pass the test to meet eligibility. The test must be passed before your
organization can successfully register for the Cisco Smart Care Service
program. You can access the Smart Care tests through the registration
tab in the e-learning course.
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This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
9
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
There are two different tests associated with the systems engineering
training path modules. The systems engineer or equivalent needs to pass
only the test that matches the partner organization’s service level. (See
notes following each test title.) The tests are:
• Cisco Smart Care Base + Voice: Pass this test to sell level 3 and
level 4 of Smart Care (unified communications).
• Cisco Smart Care Base: Pass this test to sell level 1 and level 2 of
Smart Care (foundation technology and security).
A. Your Cisco.com user ID might no longer be associated with the
company with which you were originally registered for Cisco Smart Care
Service. If you have switched companies recently or if you believe this
message has been received in error, visit the Partner Self-Service tool
at http://tools.cisco.com/WWChannels/GETLOG/welcome.do to correct
the information.
Step 3: Register to Begin Offering a Support Plan Based on Cisco Smart
Care Service
Q. Does everyone from the partner organization need to sign up
and create a separate Cisco Smart Care account?
When your systems engineer has passed the online test and you meet
the other eligibility requirements described in step 1, you may register
to offer a plan based on Cisco Smart Care by filling out a simple
registration form.
A. Every user should have a separate Cisco.com user ID and should be
registered on the Cisco Smart Care portal by the designated Smart Care
administrator at your company.
Step 4: Begin Selling a Plan Based on Cisco Smart Care
Now that you are officially registered to start offering a support plan
based on Cisco Smart Care Service, you can begin using all of the online
marketing, selling, and delivery tools through the Cisco Smart Care
control panel.
Q. What is the URL to register for Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. The URL is https://tools.cisco.com/smartcare. All requirements must
be met before you can register.
Q. What if I cannot get to the Cisco Smart Care portal page?
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Q. Why does it say my Cisco.com user ID is no longer
associated with the partner company?
Q. If I am already registered, how do I become a registered
user for my company?
A. You will need to contact the designated Smart Care administrator at
you company to get access.
Q. Does everyone from the partner organization have to complete the Cisco Smart Care registration click-to-accept
terms?
A. No, only the person authorized to accept the Cisco terms and
conditions will be required to sign at the time of registration.
A.Visit http://tools.cisco.com/RPF/register/register.do to verify that you
have a valid Cisco.com user ID for logging into the portal.
Q. When registering, it says I need to self-certify that I am
capable of providing 8x5 business hours technical support.
What does this mean?
Q. What if my Cisco.com user ID is not working?
A. This is a requirement to sell Cisco Smart Care Service. You should
check this box only if you are able to provide technical support during
business hours (8 hours a day, 5 days a week) to customers.
A. It might not exist, in which case you will need to create one at
http://tools.cisco.com/RPF/register/register.do. Or you might need to
reset the password by sending an email to cco-locksmith@cisco.com.
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
10
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. If I acquire new certifications or specializations, when
should I expect to get an email regarding my change of
access level?
Training and Testing
A. After a partner’s profile has been updated with the newly acquired
specialization in the Partner Self-Service tool at http://tools.cisco.com/
wwchannels/getlog/welcome.do, the next time someone from your
company logs into the Cisco Smart Care portal, the access level will
be automatically increased. You will receive an email notifying you of
this change.
A. For internal sales and business training on Smart Care and Cisco’s
portfolio of technical services visit Accelerate, www.cisco.com/go/
accelerate, Cisco’s partner portal dedicated to services training and
education. For all the tools and resources required to help you position
and sell Smart Care to your customers, visit www.cisco.com/go/
smartcare.
Q. Why would I have trouble registering for Cisco Smart Care
Service if I meet the minimum eligibility?
To gain a more technical experience of Cisco Smart Care Service, the
Partner Education Connection e-learning resources are available at
www.cisco.com/go/pec.
A. The majority of issues with registration involve partner certifications
levels per the Partner Self-Service tool. You can verify that you have the
right certification or specialization level to qualify by visiting http://tools.
cisco.com/wwchannels/getlog/welcome.do.
Q. How many employees need to pass the Smart Care Exam
to register the program?
A. One employee needs to pass COLT.
Q. Does an employee who will take the Smart Care Exam
need to hold any kind of Cisco certification, such as a
Cisco CCNA®?
Q. Is there a fee for accessing the online training?
A. No. The online training is free to all Cisco partners.
Q. How do I complete the Cisco Smart Care training? Is it web
based? In person? Do I have to pass a written test?
A. You may access training in two ways: (1) Complete the training
online at your own pace. (2) There may be live trainings offered by the
Cisco channel sales team. The training should be completed to prepare
for the required online test to become a Cisco Smart Care Service
registered partner.
Q. What type of web-based training is available to me?
A.No.
Q. What languages are available for the Smart Care Exam?
A. English only.
A. There are four role-based learning paths available for partners.
They are as follows:
For Owner/Managers: 30 Minutes
Q. If my company’s attorney has questions about a certain
clause in the terms and conditions, to whom should these
questions be directed?
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Q. Where do I go to get training for Cisco Smart Care Service?
• Lesson 1: Cisco Smart Care Service Overview: 20 minutes
• Lesson 2: Partner Registration: 10 minutes
A. For questions regarding the terms and conditions for Cisco , contact
the SSC by sending an email to: ask-smart-services@cisco.com or open
a case at www.cisco.com/go/ssc.
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
11
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
For Account Managers: 1 Hour 15 Minutes
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
• Lesson 1: Cisco Smart Care Service Overview: 20 minutes
• Lesson 3: Quoting and Ordering: 34 minutes
• Lesson 5: Using the Cisco Smart Care Service Tools: 17 minutes
For Systems Engineers: 2 Hours 36 Minutes
Partners
Features
and Tools
A. When you go to the URL to take the test, you will have two choices,
either “Smart Care Base” or “Smart Care Base + Voice.” If your company
has a Cisco Express or Advanced Unified Communications Specialization
and can support level 3 and 4 Smart Care contracts, you will have access
to the voice tools and should take the Base + Voice test.
• Lesson 1: Cisco Smart Care Service Overview: 20 minutes
Q. Is there a fee for taking the test?
• Lesson 2: Partner Registration: 10 minutes
• Lesson 3: Quoting and Ordering: 48 minutes
A. No. The Cisco Smart Care Service online test is free to partners.
Only one partner, sales or systems engineer, or equivalent needs to
pass the exam.
• Lesson 4: Managing Cisco Smart Care Service Contracts:
14 minutes
Q. How long does the test take?
• Lesson 5: Using the Cisco Smart Care Service Tools: 56 minutes
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. There are two different Cisco Smart Care Service tests.
How do I know which test to take?
A. The test should take no more than 60 minutes to complete. The test
will time out and score the test at 60 minutes.
• Lesson 6: Cisco Smart Care Service Support Model: 7 minutes
Administrators/Operations: 2 Hours
Q. What score do I need to get to pass the test?
• Lesson 1: Cisco Smart Care Service Overview: 20 minutes
A. The passing score for the Cisco Smart Care Service online test is
70 percent correct.
• Lesson 2: Partner Registration: 10 minutes
• Lesson 3: Quoting and Ordering: 48 minutes
• Lesson 4: Managing Cisco Smart Care Service Contracts: 14 minutes
• Lesson 5: Using the Cisco Smart Care Service Tools: 25 minutes
Q. How long before I can retake the test if I do not pass it on
the first try?
A. You may retake the test within minutes of receiving your email pass/
fail notification. There is no limit on the number of times you can take
the test.
• Lesson 6: Cisco Smart Care Service Support Model: 7 minutes
Q. Do I need to take the partner test before or after signing up
for Cisco Smart Care Service?
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A. Before you can register to offer Smart Care, one person from your
staff needs to take and pass the appropriate online test. The online
test is based on the sales or systems engineer learning path content
(see above).
Q. How often do I have to take the test to remain eligible
(for example, once, annually)?
A. You or your sales or systems engineer (or equivalent) need to take
the test only one time.
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
12
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Q. Does everyone who accesses Cisco Smart Care and delivers
the service need to pass the test, or just one person: the
sales or systems engineer (or equivalent)?
A. Only one person at a given partner company is required to pass the
appropriate Cisco Smart Care test.
Q. How long does it take between the time I take the Smart
Care Service eligibility test and when I can register for
Cisco Smart Care?
A. You may start the Cisco Smart Care registration process immediately.
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. I am having a problem launching the e-learning. What could
the problem be?
A. You may need to turn off the pop-up blocker in the browser. For
example, in Internet Explorer go to tools —> Pop-up Blockers —> Turn off
Pop-up Blockers. Also, if you have a toolbar for Yahoo or Google, you will
need to disable the pop-up blocker in there as well. After you have done
this, try launching the e-learning again.
Q. I am having a problem going through the e-learning. What
should I do?
A. Use the following link to find help: http://cisco.partnerelearning.com/
peclms/lang-en/management/LMS_TheaterContent.aspx?PageName=
CiscoOnlineSupport.html&PageType=Jump&ShowSideBar=0. If you are
unable to find the answer, open a case using the link on the bottom of
the page.
Q. The exam is not available. What can I do?
A. Send an email to: ask-smart-services@cisco.com or open a case at
www.cisco.com/go/ssc.
Quoting, Ordering, and Billing
General
Q. What is the quoting and ordering process through
distribution?
A. The quoting and ordering process is the same for Cisco 2-Tier and
1-Tier Partners. All partners use the Cisco Smart Care Service network
appliance and portal to discover the devices on the customer network.
They request the initial quote through the Smart Care portal, and their
selected distributor will contact the partner once the quote is ready. The
partner may check the status of the quote at every step of the process
through the Cisco Smart Care Service portal.
Q. What processes exist for checking currently uncovered
equipment?
A. The Cisco Smart Care Service inventory process detects all the
devices on the network, including those of other manufacturers.
Uncovered Cisco equipment will be discovered. All devices will be sent
through a scrubbing process to validate and make sure all Cisco devices
are included for entitlement and billing purposes.
Q. If a Smart Care partner found a device that is covered by
another partner’s active service contract in the discovery
and inventory process, what information on that contract will
be shown on the control panel? Can the Smart Care partner
see the information, such as service contract type, owner of
that contract, and when it expires?
A. No. If a non-Smart Care partner currently provides the support for the
customer, the Smart Care partner will not get the contract information on
those devices.
Q. What if I do not pass the test? How often can I take it?
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A. If you do not pass the test the first time, you may retake the test
immediately. There is no limit to the number of retakes.
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
13
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Pricing Framework
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Q. How is Cisco Smart Care Service priced?
A. Cost is determined by two factors: (1) the number of devices on the
network (categorized across 10 fixed pricing bands) and (2) the types
of applications and devices that reside on the network. The number
of devices on the network is a combination of those automatically
discovered and inventoried along with any manual additions made by you.
This may increase over time because of the weekly discovery process.
Q. Can an end customer purchase directly from Cisco?
Features
and Tools
A.No
Q. Can 1-Tier partners buy Smart Care?
A. Yes, but exclusively through Cisco authorized Smart Care distributors.
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. Does Cisco set the customer price for partner plans based
on Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. No. You establish the price to each customer, depending on the level
and type of services the customer and you agree on.
Q. How is the Cisco Smart Care Service price to the
customer determined?
A. You pay Cisco a price for using this proactive services platform, based
on the devices and applications in the customer’s entire network. You then
establish the price to the customer, taking into account each customer’s
unique requirements and the value-added services you are providing.
For instance, the price to the customer may take into account not only
Cisco devices and applications on the customer’s network, but also the
frequency of assessments and additional services that you provide.
Q. If a customer already has another Cisco service contract,
such as Cisco SMARTnet or Shared Support, on some
devices, can they purchase a partner plan based on Cisco
Smart Care Service? Or do they have to wait until their
current service contract expires?
A. Customers can choose to cover their entire Cisco network with a plan
based on Cisco Smart Care Service, even if they currently have Cisco
SMARTnet, Shared Support, or another Cisco service. Devices already
covered by another service are excluded from the Cisco Smart Care
Service price charged to the partner until their service plan expires. The
initial customer quote includes up-front prorated costs for devices that
will be covered by Cisco Smart Care later in the contract term.
Then when the other service contracts expire, those devices would
automatically migrate over to the Cisco Smart Care Service contract, and
the price to the partner for the Smart Care Service would be adjusted at
that time. It is anticipated that the partner would adjust their price to the
customer as well.
Q. How is the Cisco Smart Care Service priced relative to Cisco
SMARTnet Service?
A. The Cisco Smart Care Service and Cisco SMARTnet Service are very
different offers and share only some elements in common. Cisco expects
the types of services that a partner ultimately wraps around Cisco Smart
Care Service to make it a dramatically different offer that encompasses
more consultative services. Cisco Smart Care Service assumes the
partner is providing engineers to manage the tools platform, plus nonmaintenance services such as assessments and monitoring. Therefore,
the total costs considered as well as the value delivered are very different
and make it very difficult to make a comparison. Cisco Smart Care
Service pricing is based on the number of devices on the network and
the types of technologies and applications on the network. Considering
those two factors will determine the network-wide service price to be in
one of 60 different total price points.
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This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
14
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Cisco SMARTnet, in contrast, has a discrete service price for each
individual device and application on the network. The price of Cisco
SMARTnet is based on the sum of the prices for each covered device
and application on the network. Since the required coverage model and
the pricing calculation are so different, Cisco Smart Care Service pricing
does not have a direct correlation to Cisco SMARTnet Service pricing.
To help ensure that Cisco Smart Care Service is priced fairly, the device
counts for these complex devices are weighted using a device multiplier.
Cisco Smart Care Service Price to Partner
A. The Cisco Smart Care network client and the Cisco Smart Care
network appliance are part of the service offering and are not available for
a standalone purchase. The cost of either the software client or hardware
appliance is built into the price of the annually renewable contract.
Q. How is the Cisco Smart Care Service price to the partner
determined?
A. The price to you is determined by two factors: the number of devices
on the network and the types of applications and devices that reside on
the network. You can simply and quickly determine what their cost will
be by asking a few questions and running the Cisco Smart Care Service
discovery tool on the customer’s network. The discovery tool will locate
most of the devices on the network and automatically add them to the
service contract, reducing the operational costs associated with contract
ordering and administration.
Q. How are the Cisco Smart Care network client and the
Cisco Smart Care network appliance priced? Can they be
purchased as standalone products?
Q. Do Cisco IP phones count as devices?
A. No. Phones are covered, but are not counted in the number of
devices. One goal of the Cisco Smart Care Service is to simplify networklevel pricing. By eliminating the number of phones and the number of
users, Cisco makes it easy for you to determine your cost for each
network you support.
To simplify pricing, there are 20 pricing bands that cover eligible
networks, which can have as many as 200 Cisco device counts (IP
phones are covered, but do not count as devices). Plus, there are three
technology price levels. This means that the partner’s price changes
only when the number of devices in the customer’s network crosses
into a new price band or a new type of technology is added. So most
minor additions to a network will not result in a price increase, unless the
number of devices crosses into the next band of pricing. The following
link shows the Smart Care pricing framework: http://www.cisco.com/
web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/downloads/smartcare_
Pricing_QRG.pdf.
Q. What percentage of Cisco commercial products is covered?
What are the major products that are excluded from Cisco
Smart Care Service?
Q. What is device count weighting? Why do some devices
count as more than one device?
A. The hardware appliance is included in the price of the service. A core
design criterion for this service is simplicity. By including the appliance
in the cost of the service, you need to perform only one transaction.
Further, the choice of a software or hardware network appliance is not
intended to be a core differentiator for this service.
A. Many complex, high-value devices can replace multiple,
simpler devices.
A. More than 95 percent of commercial class products are eligible for
Cisco Smart Care Service coverage. In some cases, there may be a time
lag between when a new commercial product is launched and when it is
available for the full suite of service in Cisco Smart Care Service.
Q. Is there a separate cost for the hardware appliance? Why
isn’t the service less expensive if the partner takes the
software client?
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This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
15
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. If devices are covered under a pre-existing Cisco SMARTnet
contract, how are terms and renewal handled upon
expiration? Are customers forced to renew their Cisco
SMARTnet contracts for a limited time? Do they know what
the price will be ahead of time?
A. If there is a preexisting contract, the product will be marked as “do
not renew” in the contract management system, and its pro-rated service
cost will be included as part of the initial Cisco Smart Care Service quote.
When the device is up for renewal, it will be discovered during the Cisco
Smart Care true-up process, and the product will be covered for the
remaining period of the Cisco Smart Care Service contract.
Q. What happens to the price if the customer retires some
Cisco equipment during the year and has fewer devices?
A. The price will be adjusted downward at the time of the annual
renewal.
Q. How do renewals work?
A. The Cisco Smart Care Service automatically generates a new quote
through distribution. However, Cisco Smart Care Service does not
provide automatic renewals or automatic invoicing. You may work with
your distributor to purchase a renewal within 90 days of receipt of the
quote.
Q. Are multiyear contracts and discounts available?
A. Smart Care allows for terms of 1, 2, or 3 years. The corresponding
discount will apply.
Q. If the customer reduces the number of devices on their
network, does Cisco adjust the price of their service
midyear or mid-contract?
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Q. I did a manual quote. Now when I run the discovery it shows
“New devices found even though these devices are already
covered under the contract. What should I do?
A. First you need to add the automatically-discovered devices to the
inventory then run inventory. Next, exclude the manually added devices
and click on “Save and continue.”
Q. I have manually added a device to the inventory. How
long does it take for the contract to be updated with the
device SN?
A. 48 hours.
Q. How do I get access to the SC portal for the employee of the
SC registered partner company?
A. Access can be given by the CCO ID of the employee who registered
to SC. Advise the caller to refer to the partner company administrator. If
the requestor is the partner company administrator and needs to know
how to add new users, the requestor needs to sign into the portal,
Administration > Users > Add new.
Ultimate Contract Value
Q. Release 1.7 of Cisco Smart Care Service now includes
Ultimate Contract Value (UCV), where upfront prorated
service costs are included for devices that will be covered
by Cisco Smart Care later in the contract term. Do partners
need to re-install QUE to take advantage of this feature?
A. No, this feature is included as part of the Smart Care Service
application update 1.7.
A. At present, Cisco Smart Care Service contracts are not renegotiated
for a device count decrease until the annual renewal period. Cisco does
not accommodate midyear or midcontract “true-downs.”
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
16
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. Do partners need to recalculate estimates created by the
previous version of QUE, to create a UCV price?
A. Smart Care Service release 1.7 will migrate existing estimates, and all
existing/original estimates ultimate price will be converted to a Provisional
Estimated Price (UCV price).
For quote requests that are created before 1.7 release, partners can
order these quotes (without the UCV price), and the DWC devices will be
true-up and invoice at the quarter when the device rolls into Smart Care.
Or they can resubmit a quote request to create a new quote that will
include the UCV price.
Q. Do partners still need to include at least one DNC device on
their quote request?
A. Yes, this rule still applies.
Final Quote
Q. Does the pricing on the estimate or quote reflect what I am
supposed to charge customers or what I am being charged
by Cisco?
A. The pricing on the quote reflects the price of the Smart Care Service.
The price the reseller would be charged is negotiated between reseller
and distributor.
Q. How can I make changes to a pending quote?
A. Changes cannot be made to quotes once submitted. However, you
may request additional quotes by making changes in the Inventory or
Request for Quote pages and resubmitting your quote request to your
Cisco authorized distributor.
Initial Price Estimate
Q. Once I submit the request for a quote, how long will it take
to get revised quotes?
Q. What is the difference between an estimate and a quote?
A. You should receive responses within 24 to 48 hours.
A. The price estimate was put in place to allow partners to quickly get
a price to the customer while selling the program. After you and your
customer have agreed to move forward with purchasing the service, then
you will need to request a final quote. The customer data is then sent to
Cisco for further data scrubbing and validations. The final quote that is
received may differ from the initial estimate. Some examples might be
that a given device is at its end of support and will not be included within
the Smart Care customer network or if a customer has existing contracts
covering a specific device.
Q. What difference is there between the NBD and the 4-hour
contract price?
A. NBD is next-business-day delivery in areas where there is no
coverage for part replacements. Four-hour coverage is available in
available in select areas.
Q. Do I need to complete the onscreen questionnaire and
update the estimate before I can request a quote?
A. Yes, you should review the questionnaire and answer any relevant
questions on your customers’ network. This will help ensure that the
correct network complexity is being detected and your customer receives
the right level of support.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
17
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Ordering
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Q. I requested a quote a while ago and am ready to execute the
purchase. However, when I log into Smart Care, the quote is
not found. What happened to the quote?
A. If this email notification has not yet been received by the distributor,
it is possible that the device data is causing an error. Log into the Cisco
Smart Care portal to see if any devices still have an ”issue.” If the quote
was generated more than 60 days ago, it might not be visible because it
has expired.
A. Following a termination, the Cisco Smart Care appliance is the
property of Cisco and remains the property of Cisco even after
installed at the customer’s site. The return policy is 10 days post
contract termination
Q. How do I return the appliance?
Billing and Payment
A. To return the appliance, send an email with the subject line:
SMART CARE RETURN-ONLY ORDER – [Partner Name] – Contract # to
SmartCareApplianceReturn@cisco.com and you will be informed of the
information to include with the return.
Q. What if there is an error on my invoice? Whom should I
contact?
Contract Management
A. For any invoicing questions, contact your distributor.
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. What happens to the appliance when the contract is
terminated?
Q. We are having trouble collecting payments from our
customer. Are we still obligated to make our payments?
A. Yes. You are still obligated to provide payments on time per your
agreed upon contract with your distributor.
Quarterly True-Ups/Annual Renewals
Q. How are we notified when a payment is due?
A. You will receive a notification that the end of the quarter is coming
up. This will be an indication to expect an invoice from your distributor in
response to your order or if a price band or technology level has been
crossed during that quarter.
Q. What happens if customers do not have a physical location?
For example, they may be currently in the process of moving
or setting up their offices. What can partners do to create
Smart Care quotes for them?
A. A valid physical address (street, city, and zip code) is needed in order
to add a customer to Smart Care. Partners may use any valid address
(we suggest entering the customer owner’s home address). Then once
the customer office is established, partners may change the address
to the new address. All devices will be moved to this new location. The
changes would be made in the background through the move process.
Please note: if the addresses are not in the same zip code and the
new address is outside a depot site’s range, = premium requests may
become invalid.
Q. How do annual renewals work?
A. The Cisco Smart Care Service automatically generates a
renewal quote 30 days prior to the contract end-date unless the
customer cancels.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
18
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. What is PICA and why is it important for customers
who have purchased a plan based on Cisco Smart Care
Services?
A. Partner-Initiated Customer Access (PICA) is a global program that
allows qualified Cisco partners to selectively entitle their customers to
have registered use of Cisco.com, where they are able to download
software and review support cases logged against their contracts.
Customers will need to be sponsored in advance in order to register on
Cisco.com. To learn more about the Partner-Initiated Customer Access
tool, go to www.cisco.com/ web/applicat/picaadmn/applications_
overview_partner.html.
Q. Does PICA work with Smart Care Service contracts?
A.Yes.
Q. Can partners get credit for the one-time assessment
services applied to a one-year Smart Care Service contract?
A. No, not at this time.
Q. Can I order more than one Smart Care Service for the same
customer network?
A. Each customer’s network can have different service levels (next
business day (NBD) and premium 4-hour service), which results in
separate contracts. However, they are part of a single Smart Care Service.
Contract Updates
Q. How can a new device get added to an existing Smart Care
contract?
A. After a new device has been plugged into the network, you have two
options. The first option is that you may run the discovery and inventory
services manually in order to add the device onto the Cisco Smart Care
Service contract. The other option is that the automatic weekly discovery
will detect the device after it is plugged in and send an alert. You should
log in to run the inventory service and provide the device passwords.
After this is completed, the devices will be added to the Cisco Smart
Care Services contract.
Q. How do I enable SNMP on Cisco devices?
Contract Creation
Q. Why do I have to fill out a customer network questionnaire?
What is it for?
A. The customer network questionnaire is used to further refine the
customer network complexity that has been discovered by the Cisco
Smart Care appliance. The results of the questionnaire will help you to
modify the contract type that is appropriate for your customer.
Q. Is there a boilerplate Smart Care contract that I can use as
a template for building my own Smart Care proposal for
the customer?
A. Yes, the Smart Care Proposal Template can be found at http://www.
cisco.com/web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/downloads/
smart_care_proposal_template.doc.
A. Information on enabling SNMP on Cisco devices can be found at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk362/technologies_tech_
note09186a0080094aa4.shtml#snmpcommstrings.
Q. What happens if customers upgrade from lower-end devices
to higher-end devices?
A. When customers upgrade to higher-end devices, the service contract
will need to be upgraded to a higher contract level. Partners will be
notified when their contracts have been upgraded and when they have
access to more services in the Smart Care control panel. At the end of
the contract quarter, partners need to submit a quote to their distributors,
negotiating the price of the true-up quote. They will then receive an
invoice from their distributor for this technology level change and for any
device weight band changes that were made during the quarter.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
19
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. My customer has removed a device from the network. How
do we remove this from the service contract so they will not
be billed for it?
A. You will either need to run the Cisco Smart Care discovery service
proactively, or the Cisco mandated discovery service will run weekly
to detect that the device has been unplugged. Once this has been
detected, the device will show up as “Missing” on the device inventory
page. You must confirm that the device should really be removed from
the contract by selecting that device and using the delete function. Then
click the “Submit Changes” button so that the device will be removed
from the Cisco Smart Care Service contract.
Q. I want to make changes to one of my customer’s Cisco
Smart Care Service contracts. How do I get into the contract
to make changes?
Q. My customer called and said they want to switch to another
partner. What happens to the Cisco Smart Care Service
contract the customer has through us? Do I need to go
remove the appliance?
A. In order to process switching partners on an existing Cisco Smart
Care Service contract, contact the SSC by sending an email to: asksmart-services@cisco.com or open a case at www.cisco.com/go/
ssc. The SSC will work with the appropriate Cisco Smart Care Service
contacts to initiate the cancellation of the original contract. Customers will
need to provide documentation of the change in partners and work with
their new partner to complete a discovery and inventory and the creation
of a new contract. New partners should not request a final Cisco Smart
Care Service quote until the old contract is canceled, or the system will
find that there is existing coverage on customer devices.
A. In order to make contract changes, you need to log into the Cisco
Smart Care portal at https://tools.cisco.com/smartcare. Select the
customer for which you want to make changes and search for what
you want to change. Location changes, device additions, and device
terminations can all be managed from the Cisco Smart Care portal.
Q. When changes are made to an existing contract, when will
billing be affected?
A. Dates of when devices are added onto existing Cisco Smart Care
Service contracts are tracked. This information will be used during the
quarterly true-ups. If changes have occurred during a particular quarter,
this information will be gathered and used to calculate if any price bands
have been crossed. If price bands have been crossed, partners will be
expected to purchase the true-up quote that will have been generated
by the end of the contract quarter.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Contract Cancellations
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. How do I cancel a contract?
A. If canceling a Cisco Smart Care Service contract is warranted,
contact the SSC by sending an email to: ask-smart-services@cisco.com
or open a case at www.cisco.com/go/ssc.
Access Management
Q. What if I cannot get to the Cisco Smart Care portal page?
What login and password should I be using?
A. A user must have a Cisco.com user ID and password in order to
access the Cisco Smart Care portal. Verify that you have a valid Cisco.
com user ID. If you do not, obtain one by visiting http://tools.cisco.com/
RPF/register/register.do. In addition, the user needs to be linked to the
partner account in the Partner Self-Service tool. Verify this by visiting
http://tools.cisco.com/WWChannels/GETLOG/welcome.do.
Q. I cannot remember my Cisco Smart Care Service login or
password, or my Cisco.com user ID is not working. What
should I do?
A. First you need to verify that you have a valid Cisco.com user ID. If you
do not, obtain one by visiting http://tools.cisco.com/ RPF/register/register.
do. If you are sure you have a valid Cisco.com user ID, you might need to
reset your password by sending an email to cco-locksmith@cisco.com.
If you are still experiencing issues with your Cisco.com account, go to
www.cisco.com/msgs/sorry-pw.html and follow the instructions on the
bottom of the page.
Q. I do not have access to the correct tools in the Cisco Smart
Care portal. What could be the problem?
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A. If your company does not have the appropriate certifications/
specializations, you will not be able to access the respective services. If
you are sure your company has the correct certifications/specializations,
visit http://tools.cisco.com/wwchannels/getlog/welcome.do to make sure
they show up in your partner profile.
Q. My Cisco certification/specialization has lapsed, and I no
longer have access to certain Cisco Smart Care Service
capabilities. What should I do? How will this affect my ability
to service my existing contracts?
A. You need to renew your Cisco certification/specialization to regain
access to those capabilities. Temporary exceptions can be requested
for continuity.
If your Cisco certification expires, you will be given 90 days to regain the
certification. If it is not renewed in those 90 days, you will lose the ability
to sell any new Cisco Smart Care Service contracts for new customers.
You will still be able to support the existing customer contracts, but the
contracts will not auto-renew at the respective anniversary dates.
If your Cisco specializations expire, you will also be given 90 days to
regain them. If the necessary specializations are not renewed, you will be
downgraded in access level and will not be able to sell the contract types
that were associated with the higher specialization. If you have existing
contracts at the higher level, you will continue to be able to support them,
but the contracts will not auto-renew at the end of the year.
Q. How do I assign administrative rights to another user at
my company?
A. First, if you have administrative privileges, log in to the Cisco Smart
Care portal at https://tools.cisco.com/smartcare. After you log in, in the
left column, find the Administration section and then select User. Next,
select the user who needs more administrative rights and then click Edit.
Change the access type on the profile page of that user.
Q. We have just increased our specialization and should have
access to sell voice (CNL3 or CNL4 contracts). How long will
it take before these tools are turned on for us?
A. When you log into the Cisco Smart Care portal, if the specialization
has been associated with your partner profile, it will automatically
increase your access level. You should receive an email notification letting
you know that this has happened within 24 hours. If you do not receive
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21
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
an email, go to the Partner Self-Service tool at http://tools. cisco.com/
WWChannels/GETLOG/welcome.do to check if your new specialization
shows up there.
Q. My customer is having trouble viewing the customer
dashboard in the Cisco Smart Care portal. What could
be the problem?
A. Confirm that you have set up the customer’s Cisco.com user ID
in the User Management screen by navigating to Customer name ->
Administration -> Users. The customer must have a valid Cisco.com user
ID to access the Smart Care portal.
Features
and Tools
Partner Enablement
Comparison
to Other
Services
A. Cisco provides numerous resources, including Steps to Success,
training, and demand generation tools:
Q. What does Cisco provide to help partners to be more
successful in selling and supporting Cisco Smart Care
Service?
• Steps to Success provides Cisco partners with a step-by-step
resource for selling and delivering service and support throughout
the network lifecycle. It is based on proven Cisco research and
development, as well as on knowledge gathered from successful
Cisco solution engagements.
• Training includes a comprehensive suite of training resources
delivered through a combination of instructor-led training,
e-learning, and supporting documentation.
• Partner Marketing Central allows partners to build their own
marketing campaigns. On Partner Marketing Central, partners can
create their own email blasts, postcards, ads, flyers and more. The
feature is not available in all countries. To access Cisco Partner
Marketing Central, go to: https://www.ciscopartnermarketing.com.
Search “Smart Care” under Campaigns.
• Financial Modeling Tool creates customizable scenarios that
provide a snapshot of the financial business benefits a partner
might experience by offering Cisco Smart Care Services. It can be
found on the Smart Care page of Partner Central on the Tools tab
under Resources.
• LabOps demonstrates common Cisco Smart Care Service tasks
partners might perform in a real-world customer environment.
Q. How does Steps to Success work?
A. The Steps to Success portal is divided into technology areas, with
each technology related to a Cisco Lifecycle Services phase (prepare,
plan, design, implement, operate, or optimize). Within each phase,
partners can view specific tasks and download associated resources.
You can also perform content searches, browse process flows, and
customize content and news.
Metrics
Q. What are the Cisco Smart Care Service performance metrics?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service is aligned with the worldwide Cisco
channel certifications and specializations to help ensure simplicity for
the partner.
Following is the impact on existing metrics:
• Attach rate: The attach rate is a partner-level metric for the service
attached to a new product at the point of sale. There will be no
change to the attach rate at the time of contract migration. As new
products are added to the network, they are covered automatically,
which will increase your attach rate metric.
• Renewal rate: The renewal rate is a partner-level metric that is
calculated at the time of service renewal. Therefore, 100 percent
of the products added to the network will be included in your
renewal rate when the annual contract is renewed.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
• Service requests and RMA metrics are calculated at the program
level, and therefore the Cisco Smart Care Service would have no
effect on other program service request/RMA metrics.
Following are some new performance metrics for Cisco Smart Care
Service:
• Operational excellence indicators (reports) for Cisco Smart Care
Service partners are available with Performance Metrics Central
(PMC) at www.cisco.com/gp/pmc.
• Renewal rate and customer satisfaction (CSAT) metrics will be
available in the PMC.
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. If a partner sells a product without service to a Cisco
Smart Care Service customer, will that negatively affect
the partner metrics?
A. No. Cisco Smart Care Service is a network-level service; all products
are covered. When the product is added to the network, the system will
discover the product, and the product will be covered in your metrics
according to the business rules of the service.
Q. Will partner Cisco Smart Care Service sales qualify for
rebates and discounts in other programs?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service bookings will be included in Pay for
Performance rebate calculations where available. Additionally, you
will benefit from the attach rate and return rate metrics for your
other programs.
Q. Will Cisco TAC cases and RMAs count against Cisco Shared
Support metrics? How do attach rate and return rate count
toward Cisco Shared Support metrics?
A. Attach rate, conversion rate (where applicable), and renewal rate are
measured at the partner level. As a result, partners that are in programs
such as Cisco Shared Support or Pay for Performance will benefit on
their sales metrics. At the same time, delivery metrics such as the service
request and RMA request are measured at the program level. As a result,
there will be no impact on other service program performance metrics as
a result of Cisco Smart Care Service support.
Q. How are phones handled in the Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. Under Cisco Smart Care Service, the partner does not pay for
service on the phones, although they are covered. Phones get automatic
coverage under Cisco Unified Communication Manager, Unified
Communication Manager and Cisco Unified Communication Manager
Unified Communication Manager Express.
Role of Distributor
Q. What is the role of the distributor?
A. Distribution services may compliment the Smart Care service product
from an operational support and opportunity identification perspective in
addition to a portfolio of professional services that will help accelerate
your brand of Smart Care Service.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Features and Tools
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Q. My Discovery Process button says Enter instead of Run.
What is wrong? How do I start a new discovery?
Discovery and Inventory
Q. What information is gathered during the discovery
and inventory?
A. The following information is gathered during the discovery
and inventory:
Partners
• IP address
• Configuration info
• Product ID
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. What if I am having problems running the discovery on a
customer’s network?
A. There are a variety of options for obtaining assistance with Cisco
Smart Care Service technical issues. Review the Smart Care Contact
information (www.cisco.com/web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/
downloads/smartcare_contact_info.pdf) to find online and telephonebased support information.
• Device name
Features
and Tools
A. This occurs when you exited your browser without closing out of
the previous session first. Click the Enter button and use the Terminate
Session feature. Then run the discovery again.
• Serial number
• Card
Q. What is the difference between the discovery and
inventory processes?
A. The discovery process discovers what devices are installed on the
customer network and under which IP address. The inventory process
requires the partner and customer to enter the device-level passwords.
This allows for much more information to be extracted from each device.
Q. I lost my connection when running the discovery. Do I have
to start over again?
A. No. You do not have to start over again. You can continue from the
point where you were in the discovery automated program (known as a
wizard). It will continue to run if the service was already instantiated by
following through the steps in the wizard.
Only after the inventory process is run will the device be included in the
other services offered under a Cisco Smart Care Service contract.
Q. Are existing devices that are covered by other partners
visible in discovery and inventory?
A. Devices with existing coverage are displayed in the Network
Inventory page.
Note: The devices will be displayed in the “Existing Coverage” section
and will not be included in the network weight calculation.
Q. Where do we get the passwords needed for each device in
order to complete the inventory process?
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A. You will need to work with your customer’s system administrators to
determine the device passwords.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Q. The discovery process is taking a very long time to complete.
What can be causing this? Is there a way to speed this up?
A. There are a number of reasons why a service might take a long time:
A. Log into the Cisco Smart Care portal at https://tools.cisco.com/
smartcare/. Navigate on the left side of the page to the correct customer,
then select Discovered Devices. Here you can submit a device for
manual exclusion by checking the box next to the device and adding
a reason code.
• Size of the network
• Number of devices in the network
• Network latency issues
Partners
• Unavailable devices
Q. Why does inventory not identify devices?
• An issue with the software client
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. Discovery and inventory have detected a device that is
not owned by my customer and should not be included
for contract pricing. How do we exclude that device?
One possible remedy is to narrow the size of the network and search for
specific IP addresses or specific IP address ranges.
However, if the client appears to be working normally and the network
size is not large, contact the Cisco TAC for additional support.
Q. I have run a discovery, but I am sure there are devices on
the network that did not show up. How do I make sure these
devices are added to the contract and are covered? Can I
still create the inventory?
A. You can add those missing devices manually. First, go to the Cisco
Smart Care portal. Choose the customer for which you want to add the
device, click Discovered Devices, click the button that says Add by IP
Address, and enter the required information.
A. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) should be enabled
on the network. Read-only would be preferred, as read-write opens
more security issues. For security purposes, if you are enabling SNMP,
you should set the community string to something other than “public”
(which would then need to be specified during discovery). Also, if there
are any intrusion prevention (IPS) or intrusion detection (IDS) systems
in place, you will get alerts from the discovery action. This could be also
possible because the credentials of the devices might not be known.
Q. I have device mismatch with some devices in device
inventory. What should I do?
A. Re-run D&I by re-entering the correct credentials (device user
names, passwords and admin password) of devices in device inventory.
Q. What protocols are used during discovery and inventory?
Q. Can I download and/or export inventory data?
A. Yes Inventory data can be exported to PRD, Excel or a
Word document.
Q. Can I upload and/or import inventory data manually?
A. Yes, you can do this via the QUE tool interface.
A. Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and SNMP are used during
discovery. Inventory uses Telnet, Secure Shell (SSH), SNMP, and
HTTP/HTTPS.
Q. What ports are used for each protocol?
A. ICMP uses port 8; SNMP uses UDP port 161, Telnet port 23, SSH
port 22, HTTP port 80, and HTTPS port 443.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. How many times does the appliance ping a device during
a discovery?
Q. What kind of information is collected for Cisco devices and
third-party products that Smart Care does not support?
A. In the current engine, the device is pinged twice as long as a reply is
received from the device; otherwise, the client will ping the device two
more times. So, a total of two ping requests if the device is alive and four
times if a device is not alive.
A. Devices that are not supported by Smart Care are collected.
We use sysObjectID for device identification using SNMP as a protocol.
Q. Is the timeout configurable?
A. SNMP timeouts and retry parameters are not configurable, however
you would use different set of parameters during the discovery process
(Medium, Slow, Fast)
Q. What MIB objects are gathered during discovery?
Q. Has the Smart Care application been tested with all
supported devices?
A. The Smart Care application has been tested with several devices in
each product family within the list of supported devices. Each individual
device model may not have been tested as compatible with Smart Care.
Q. Why do I get a “There are no inventory run devices/devices
that support the service” message?
A. All routers, switches, and other network devices are queried for
sysObjectID only. Windows servers (with SNMP enabled) are queried
for the enterprise’s MIB. The sysObjectID is short for “System Object
Identifier” and is an industry-standard SNMP data element that
network equipment manufacturers support when providing SNMP
in operating systems.
A. You will need to check the list of supported devices and services
supported for the device in the partner dashboard under Support. The
inventory service for the devices must be completed before running any
other services.
The sysObjectID includes a unique “IANA Enterprise Number” value
assigned to each network equipment manufacturer. The manufacturer
assigns the unique hardware model value to each product they
manufacture. Cisco’s IANA Enterprise Number is 9.
A. Discovery uses ICMP and SNMP to determine if there is an entity at
the IP addresses specified.
Q. Is Cisco Smart Care Service capable of importing IP
address information from a spreadsheet or other network
management workstations?
A. This is supported and can be added. Talk to your Cisco service
account manager or your Smart Care administrator.
Q. What is discovery doing in the network?
Q. What is inventory doing in the network?
A. The process varies depending on the device type, but during inventory,
the following commands are typically being run on the routers and switches:
• show version
• show system
• show module
• show inventory
Q. Can a partner have customer access to the portal with the
same partner CCO ID?
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A. No. The partner cannot log into the portal as a partner and customer
with the same CCO ID. You must create a new user ID to access the
portal as a customer.
• Show diag
• show flash
• show bootflash
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. How are phones discovered? How are they getting classified
as the appropriate phone type?
A. IP phones are discovered when the call processor (Unified
Communication Manager/Unified Communication Manager Express)
is inventoried.
Q. What support does Smart Care provide with customersupplied media convergence server (MCS) server
equivalents?
A. Neither Smart Care nor Cisco will support customer-supplied MCS
server equivalents. Partners can, however, add voice applications that run
on these non Cisco appliances and get support for them.
•
Host name
•
App load ID (as OS release)
•
Version
•
Hardware revision
1U
•
Serial number (as processor board ID)
Dimensions (H x W x D) (with bezel)
•
Model number (as PID)
1.70 x 16.78 x 24.0 in. (4.32 x 42.62 x 60.96 cm) •
MAC address
•
Interface info
Q. What are the dimensions of the hardware appliance? GEN2
1U
Q. Does Cisco Smart Care Service capture any network traffic
(actual data) for any of the reports?
A. No, Cisco Smart Care Service does not read packet contents.
It only cares about traffic to calculate percentage utilization for
LAN/WAN analysis.
Q. How does Smart Care deal with signature file updates?
A. Smart Care does not provide IPS signature updates. Partners who
need IPS signatures for their devices should exclude these devices from
Smart Care and get an alternate service coverage.
Device Support
Q. Does Smart Care support Cisco Small Business Pro devices?
A. Smart Care does not support Cisco Small Business Pro devices.
This is a deliberate portfolio decision, as a different service is planned
for Small Business Pro devices.
Dimensions without packing:
14.96 x 16.93 x 1.7 in. (380 x 430 x 43.4 mm) Q. Is there a possibility that multiple appliances can be
deployed to support more than 200 device units?
A. Yes, but you need to have separate networks and customer contracts
for each appliance. This also may require Cisco approval to exceed the
upper limit of 200 weighted devices.
Q. What is the Smart Care Virtual Appliance?
A. The virtual appliance is a software option to the hardware appliance.
The virtual appliance support gives partners the option to remotely deploy
and manage the new Smart Care virtual appliance in the customer’s
network, saving them a trip to the customer site. This support simplifies
and accelerates deployment tasks for partners to help reduce operational
costs. The virtual appliance is completely in parity with the features and
capabilities of the hardware appliance.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
27
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Q. What is the program policy around the Smart Care
appliance?
A. The program policy is as follows:
• Smart Care partners are required to deploy the appliance at the
customer’s network after the contract is signed.
• The appliance extracts maximum value out of the service.
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
• The policy states that a partner must deploy the hardware
appliance within 45 days of ordering it.
Q. What is the minimum or maximum contract length we can or
should be offering?
A. Contract terms are a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 3 years.
Multiyear discounts are available.
A. The partner always uses a Cisco.com login and password to access
the portal. The partner also uses Cisco.com login and password to
register the appliance to the Cisco.com portal. Alerts are sent back every
10 minutes or more, depending on how you define your requirements.
The appliance connects back to the Cisco.com portal using a secured
SSL connection. Specific firewall configurations may be required. For
details, reference the configuration guide (http://www.cisco.com/web/
partners/services/programs/smartcare/downloads/SCS_Firewall_
Configuration_Guide_WP_v1b.pdf).
Q. What volume of calls can I tell my network operations center
(NOC) manager to expect, based on the device count?
Q. What tools/access do my technical consultants and inside
sales representatives need to quote Smart Care on a bill of
materials (BOM)?
A. It is hard to say, due to the proactive nature of the service. Usually
partners see phone calls decrease as engineers take action prior to a
point that a customer needs to call your help desk.
A. The QUE tool is provided for initial estimates; other quotes are
produced by a request for quote (RFQ) process through the customer
portal. Device available for Smart Care coverage are shown in a support
matrix included with the Portal.
Q. What, if any, special access to TAC is required for my NOC
engineers? How do they open a case with TAC if required?
Q. How does a customer-signed order go from signature to
delivery of the appliance and turn-up of service?
A. You would issue a PO to the distributor who processes with Cisco
to book the contract. You order the appliance through the customer
­portal and assign it to the customer. Installation is handled by your
­engineering staff.
Q. Where does the appliance sit in the client environment?
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Q. How does the partner communicate with the appliance?
Does the appliance connect back to the portal dynamically
or does the customer need to create firewall rules, or
Network Address Translations (NATs), for it?
A Cisco.com login and ID are needed. This follows the SMARTnet
process; the partner will have 24x7 access to TAC. Customers will
call the partner, not Cisco TAC.
Q. We are already well versed in selling and renewing
SMARTnet contracts; are we trying to replace that or
augment it?
A. Smart Care augments your customer’s environment. Not all
SMARTnet contracts would be financially feasible under Smart Care
pricing. Partners have a blended support environment with Smart Care
and SMARTnet.
A. The hardware appliance sits inside the firewall, connected to the
customer’s network. Information flows to Cisco through a highly secure
connection; no public data is shared.
This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
28
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Q. What are the failover/disaster recovery capabilities of the
Smart Care appliance?
Comparison
to Other
Services
Note: If you want to access more than one lab in succession, you must completely close your
browser in between (to avoid a browser error)
Smart Care provides a virtual appliance which can be loaded onto a
Q. Where can I go to collaborate with my peers and customers
on Smart Care and find additional resources?
VMware virtualization platform.
A. The Smart Care demonstration may be viewed at: http://www.cisco.
com/assets/services/smartcare/demo/index.html. You can also review
the service at this online lab site: www.cisco.com/web/partners/services/
programs/smartcare/resources.html#~training.
A. The Smart Care Support Community provides registered Smart Care
partners with additional tools, resources and best practices and the
opportunity to work together with peers and customers more efficiently
and solve their own issues. supportforums.cisco.com/community/netpro/
solutions/smartcare.
Marketing Support
Q. Where can I find sales and product literature?
Labs
A. Smart Care literature is available at www.cisco.com/web/partners/
services/programs/smartcare/resources.html#~collateral
Read Me First! Training Lab Instructions (English | Spanish­—
Latin America) (PDF - 10.2 MB)
Reinforce what you learned in the e-learning course by experimenting
with the Smart Care Service feature and functionality.
• Training Lab
Read Me First! Demo Lab Guide (English | Spanish­—Latin America)
(PDF—6.43 MB)
In this robust lab, you can demonstrate to potential customers the
proactive network care features that the Smart Care Service provides.
This lab is focused on a technical audience.
• Demo Lab
Read Me First! Fast Demo Lab Guide (English | Spanish­—­Latin America)
(PDF—513 KB)
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• Fast Demo Lab
A. Smart Care appliance currently does not support redundancy. We
only support one appliance per customers network. The hardware
appliance configuration can be backed up and loaded back on to another
hardware appliance.
Q. Where can I view a demo or work with a demo version of
Smart Care?
Features
and Tools
In this Fast Lab, all services have been run, allowing you to demonstrate
all functionality of the Smart Care Service in a compressed timeframe.
Q. Where might I see an example of how a successful partner
went to market with Smart Care?
A. There are case studies in PDF and video format that detail how a
partner solved customer problems with a plan based on the Smart Care
Service. Also, there are partner strategy success stories in PDF format.
These stories illuminate how a particular partner made and manages
the sale of their support offering based on Cisco Smart Care Service,
including personal strategies, thoughts, and tips. Both can be found at
www.cisco.com/web/partners/services/programs/smartcare/
resources.html.
Q. Is there an upper limit to the number of users the portal can
work with?
A. The portal has no limitation on users, but there could be instances
where different users could see different data in the portal based
on when a service was last run and when that user refreshed their
portal view.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. What type of experience or Cisco certifications should a
“typical” Smart Care help-desk engineer have?
A. As a recommended, but not currently required, stipulation, the Smart
Care service should be supported by someone with a Cisco CCNA
certification or above.
Q. Does the Smart Care hardware appliance require its own
monitor to display the portal to the help desk personnel?
A. If the partner help desk software application can run multiple
windows, the Smart Care dashboard can be run on a single monitor;
it does not require a dedicated display.
Q. My customer has multiple locations with Cisco products
installed, and they would like to have them on the Smart
Care contract. Do we need separate hardware appliances
for each location?
A. No, only one Smart Care hardware appliance is necessary for all
combined locations, provided that the combination is less than 200
weighted devices.
Q. What is the command to get the serial number of the
hardware appliance?
A. You can get the serial number of the hardware appliance by using the
“dmidecode” command-line interface (CLI) command in enabled mode.
If the part ID starts with:
•
CISCO or C = Router
•
WS-C = Switch
•
MCS = MCS Server
•
SW = Software (may or may not need to be included)
•
CP = Phone
Other Modules and Components (don’t need to be on estimates)
If the part ID starts with:
•
CON = SMARTnet or another service coverage level
•
MEM = Additional memory for a router or switch, etc.
•
VWIC = Voice WAN interface card, usually sits inside a router
•
VIC = Voice interface card, usually sits inside a router
•
CP-PWR = Power adapter
•
UCSS = Doesn’t need to be added
•
CUWL = Doesn’t need to be added
•
ESW = Doesn’t need to be added
Q. Where can I find a comparison of the warranty versus
Smart Care?
A. The URL is www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/cisco_serv_to_warranty_
comp_0509.pdf.
Q. Is there a simple view of what Cisco devices would be
quoted with Smart Care?
A. CHASSIS and Software (include these on BOMs)
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Assessments and Remote Repairs
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. How can Cisco Smart Care Service help partners and
customers verify that the network is secure, reliable, and
functioning optimally?
A. Partners perform periodic assessments of the customer’s network
health and availability to proactively identify potential issues and help
ensure that all qualified Cisco devices are configured optimally, according
to Cisco best practices.
The customer has dashboard visibility into the performance of the
network. Graphical displays show the status of security, voice, and overall
network health, allowing the customer to foresee potential problems and
you, the partner, to make remote repairs, as needed.
Partners get the same dashboard information as your customer, plus the
more detailed information you need to make recommendations to your
customer with confidence.
Q. What assessments are available?
A. Three types of assessment services are available:
•
Assess and Repair
•
Assess and Prepare
•
Single-Use Network Health and Security Assessment
The Assess and Repair service encompasses a thorough evaluation
of every Cisco router, switch, and other device in the network to help
ensure that all device ports and routing protocols are configured optimally,
according to Cisco best practices. The assessment also verifies security
configurations against 30 rules for security best practices from the Cisco
TAC and 80 rules for security best practices from the U.S. National
Security Agency. Depending on the customer’s requirements, partners
may offer a basic network health assessment and/or security assessment.
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The Assess and Prepare services are a pre-purchase assessment to
determine the network’s readiness to add advanced technologies, such
as voice over IP (VoIP).
The Single-Use Network Health and Security Assessment allows partners
to offer a single-use network health assessment to provide assessments
as a one-time professional service and to demonstrate the value of the
annual service to prospective customers. Partners can purchase a singleuse assessment for basic network health and security, or basic network
health, security, and voice performance, and monitor a prospective
customer’s network for up to 60 days. These one- time assessments
generate project-based revenues, while providing a powerful sales tool
to highlight the value of the annual service. By pointing out the security
vulnerabilities, uncovered devices, and other issues in the customer’s
actual network, partners can demonstrate exactly the kind of network
visibility and peace of mind the customer will realize with the full service.
Q. How can a voice assessment be used?
A. The primary use of the voice assessment is to help a business prepare
for the addition of VoIP technologies to the network. Using the Cisco Smart
Care voice assessment tools, partners can provide a comprehensive
analysis to determine whether the customer’s network meets the bandwidth,
quality-of-service, processing power, and other requirements necessary to
effectively deliver voice services before they invest in IP voice technologies.
The assessment provides automated tools to perform voice traffic injection
on the customer network and measure the delay, jitter, and loss. The tool
also provides a mean opinion score (MOS). Through this comprehensive
evaluation, partners can provide detailed information about everything the
network might require (including any devices or links that must be replaced
and any operating systems that must be upgraded) to successfully support
IP voice and help ensure a smooth, successful implementation.
Q. What can a security assessment reveal?
A. Security assessments examine the configuration of the network in
multiple areas, including:
• Password encryption and management to prevent unauthorized
access to network devices
• Flood management to help ensure that distributed-denial-ofservice (DDoS) attacks cannot overrun network devices and
paralyze the network
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
• Access control to help ensure that unauthorized users cannot gain
control of the network devices
Q. Is device-level network monitoring supported by Cisco
Smart Care?
• Security of remote network management services operating over
the Internet or other untrusted networks
A. Yes, Smart Call Home-enabled and registered devices perform
proactive diagnostics and deliver proactive alerts and remediation advice
when an issue is detected. Partners can log into the Smart Call Home
Portal to review diagnostic messages, recommendations, and inventory
information to identify and resolve issues faster and deliver a superior
support experience to customers.
• Logging of network and security events
• Secure IP routing
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
• Unnecessary services that might be running on network devices
that could be exploited by attackers
If a security assessment reveals that the network is not configured
optimally, partners can alert their customer to the problem and remediate
it, often remotely. This enables partners to help their customers
proactively address potential security flaws before they cause damage.
Q. How does Cisco Smart Care Service help me assess
whether my customer’s network is highly available?
A. Partners have access to assessment tools that allow them to conduct
a thorough evaluation of every Cisco router, switch, and other device in
the network to help ensure that all device ports and routing protocols
are configured optimally and that all devices are available. The availability
dashboard provides a percentage of aggregated uptime and downtime,
as well as information about the devices that are the top contributors to
downtime. If availability issues exist, partners can alert their customer to
the problem and remediate it, often remotely.
Q. What discovery information is available through Cisco Smart
Care Service?
A. After the discovery service is run, the report shows all the network
devices discovered on the customer’s network, including third-party
devices. The IP address, type of device, and configuration details are
shown. Partners can also enter the location of each device to speed
parts replacement in the future, if needed.
Q. Is the customer’s client access information secure?
A. Yes. To enable partners to run the Cisco Smart Care discovery and
other services, your customer must provide client access information.
This information is encrypted and then passed over HTTPS to the
software or hardware appliance client on the customer’s network.
The client is the only place that device access information is stored.
Q. How often are assessments done?
A. The frequency of ongoing health and security assessments is
determined by you and your customer, after a discussion of your
customer’s needs.
Q. If the Assess and Repair assessment report reveals potential
problems, how can these be resolved?
A. When the assessment is finished, the report will show any supported
devices that have issues. Partners can view details about these issues, as
well as a list of recommended repairs. You can fix many Cisco IOS Software
configuration issues by selecting the “fix these vulnerabilities” option on the
report in the web portal and then review the results of these actions.
Q. Can fixes be backed out?
A. A backup version of the previous configuration is maintained
during the active session; if necessary, you can revert to the original
configuration during that session. However, after the session is ended,
you cannot restore the original configuration.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. Does the Cisco Smart Care Service provide any means
to make manual remote repairs outside of preconfigured
Assess and Repair services?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service includes a failsafe feature that supports
manual interaction with and remote repair of network devices using
Telnet or SSH.
Network Appliance (Hardware or Software Client)
Q. What is the Cisco Smart Care network appliance?
A. The Cisco Smart Care network appliance is a hardware-based or
software-based virtual appliance that resides on the customer network
to enable the proactive services capabilities of the Cisco Smart Care
Service. The appliance collects an inventory of the customer’s Cisco
devices, continuously collecting data about the health of the network.
Through this appliance, you can conduct periodic network health and
security assessments, expedite fixes remotely, and perform readiness
assessments to gauge the network’s ability to support new technologies
such as advanced security solutions and Cisco Unified Communications
IP voice systems.
Q. Are the software client and the hardware-based network
appliance available as a package for customers wanting to
cover both?
A. A single network will require either a software-based or a hardwarebased network appliance. There will be only one appliance running on
a single network; as a result, there is no need to package hardware and
software together.
Q. What is the difference between the software client and the
hardware client or appliance?
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A. The software client is a Windows-based application that must be
downloaded and installed on a standard Windows XP device, such
as a laptop or a Windows 2003 server. It is designed to be primarily
a presales tool. In addition to installation, users must go through the
registration process.
The hardware client is software that is preinstalled on a Linux machine
and delivered to you to install at the customer site after there is a
contract. After it is placed on the customer’s network, it is ready for
the registration process.
Q. Do Smart Care contracts provide minor upgrades as well
as major upgrades?
A. Smart Care contracts provide minor upgrades only (e.g. from 6.1 to
6.9). To obtain major upgrades (for example, from 6.1 to 7.5), the partner
will have to buy a different type of contract, such as Software Application
Upgrade (SAU).
Q. Can Cisco or partners see the data that passes a customer’s
network?
A. No. Neither you nor Cisco can see the information that is passing over
the customer’s network. You and Cisco can see information about what
devices are on the network and their health, security, and availability. The
network hardware appliance is the only place this data is retained, and
all sensitive data, such as device access passwords, are stored on the
hardware appliance, not at Cisco.
Q. How does the information collected by the network
hardware appliance flow to Cisco and partners?
A. The network hardware appliance collects data on a scheduled basis
about all the supported devices in the network and securely communicates
that information to Cisco. Then Cisco uses its extensive knowledge base
to analyze the data. Cisco proactively notifies you about any identified risks
or issues and, in many cases, provides a specific fix, as well as the ability
to remotely apply that fix to a device in the customer network.
Q. What information does the customer receive?
A. Customers have access to a snapshot of the overall health,
availability, and security of all the devices in the network through an
easy-to-use service dashboard. The portal also provides alerts about any
identified issues, as well as reports and analyses of network health and
availability trends.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
33
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Q. What information does the hardware appliance monitor in
the customer network?
Q. What is the difference between assigning the client and
enabling the client?
A. The hardware appliance continually monitors every device in the
network to provide:
A. Assigning the client is the first step and maps a specific client to
a specific customer. Enabling that client allows it to start performing
services for that customer.
• Inventory and configuration, including type of device, IP address,
serial number, and detailed configuration information
• Availability of each device, including a percentage of aggregated
uptime and downtime, as well as information about the devices
that are the top contributors to downtime
• The status of security devices on the network
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
• The status of Cisco VoIP solutions on the network
• Basic stability and performance of core network devices
Q. What impact will the hardware appliance have on the
network performance?
A. The hardware appliance monitoring should have minimal impact
on network performance. Customers and partners can determine the
schedule and frequency of ongoing monitoring, as well as network health
and security assessments.
Software Client
Q. What are the system requirements for installing the
software client?
A. Any contemporary PC that is capable of running Windows XP and
Windows 7 and has at least 1 GB of free disk space should be sufficient.
Q. When I installed the software client, I entered my customer’s
information, but it does not seem to be working. Is there
something else I need to do to configure the software client
for my customer’s network?
A. You need to help ensure that the software client has been assigned
to the customer’s network. You must log into the Smart Care portal and
then navigate to the “Administration -> Assessment Appliances” menu
option in the left navigation window. Here you will be able to create a site
for the given customer.
Q. When installing the software client, does “client name”
refer to my customer, or does it refer to the software client?
What can or cannot go into each of these fields, including
character or space limitations?
A. “Client name” just refers to the Cisco.com ID of the customer. It is not
a required field.
Q. Can I have a software client assigned to more than
one customer?
A. You may have only one client per customer and only one customer
per client. If a client has multiple sites, the remote networks must be
reachable from a single client. When doing a discovery, make sure that
the range of the network includes remote sites.
Q. Do I have to add customer opportunities before I can
download and install the software client?
A. The software client may be downloaded and installed at any time.
However, a customer must be registered within the Smart Care portal
before the software client may be run against the network.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Q. After I have installed and enabled the software client for
one customer site, can it be reconfigured to use on another
customer site? How do I do this?
A. Yes. The software client can be reconfigured to be used on another
customer site. You can accomplish this by logging into the Smart Care
portal. Under the Administration ­­—> Assessment Appliances menu option,
a client may be unassigned from one customer’s site and assigned to the
second customer’s site.
Hardware Appliance
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. How do I order the hardware appliance or the
virtual appliance?
A. After a contract has been ordered and created for your customer,
you will have the option under the “Administration -> Assessment
Appliances” menu to order a hardware appliance for your customer’s
site. Within this ordering process, you will select the shipping address
and the type of power cord. You will receive an order acknowledgment
and shipment notifications as the order is processed.
Q. Who owns the hardware appliance after it is installed at the
customer site?
A. Cisco actually owns the hardware device; however, the partner is
responsible for it since they install it on the end customer’s network.
Q. Where do I place the hardware appliance in my
customer’s network?
A. The hardware appliance should be placed somewhere in the customer
network where it can access (via ping, SNMP, Telnet, HTTP, HTTPS, and so
on) all the devices in the network. As for physical location, a rack mount is
provided so it can be rack-mounted with the other Cisco equipment.
Q. What is the link that forms between the hardware appliance
and Cisco?
A. The link between the hardware appliance and Cisco is a secure
HTTPS connection.
Q. What are the system requirements for installing the
hardware appliance?
A. This is not applicable. The hardware appliance is provided by Cisco.
You are not allowed to install the software on a different machine.
Q. Where can I have the hardware appliance shipped?
A. The hardware appliance may be shipped to any of your customer’s
address locations that have been entered under the customer’s Smart
Care profile or to the registered partner address.
Q. Who can install the hardware appliance?
A. Any of your users who have administrative privileges can install the
hardware appliance.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Q. How much bandwidth is Smart Care using when it is not
running a service?
Q. How does the hardware appliance integrate with third-party
network management systems (NMS)?
A. Traffic between client and server will be minimal for an average-sized
network and under normal operating conditions. Below are typical figures
for client polling the server.
A. Smart Care notifications can be configured to email alerts to NMS
applications that have the capability.
Customer Network
Duration of 20 minutes with no major activity:
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Average number of packets per second
1.414
Average packet size
204 bytes
Total number of bytes
347,403
Average number of bytes per second
289
Average number of megabits per second
0.002
Note: Minimum bandwidth used is 289 bytes/sec (~0.3 Kbytes/sec).
The following are the figures for running discovery and inventory for a
medium network with a one subnet having more than 130 discovered
devices and more than 70 inventoried devices.
Duration of 28 minutes with a discovery and inventory service running:
Average number of packets per second
4,109
Average packet size
346 bytes
Total number of bytes
2,392,075
Average number of bytes per second
1,422,944
Average number of megabits per second
0.011
Note: Approximate maximum bandwidth used is 1500 bytes/sec (~1.5
KB/sec).
Recommended bandwidth required along with other commercial traffic is
256 Kbps.
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Q. If the customer discovers a network problem, whom should
the customer contact?
A. The customer calls you, and you do the initial troubleshooting. You are
responsible for resolving level 0 and level 1 service requests. If you are
unable to resolve the customer’s issue, you are the entitled party and will
open a service request with the Cisco TAC on behalf of the customer.
Q. Can my customers call Cisco directly for technical support
if I am unable to answer their questions?
A. No. You are the entitled party and the only party authorized to contact
Cisco for technical support.
Q. How do I get in touch with the Cisco TAC for backup support
with customer issues?
A. After you complete level 0 and level 1 support, if you need Cisco
TAC support, you can contact the Cisco TAC by phone or web using the
normal process.
Q. What type of Cisco TAC support am I entitled to as a Cisco
Smart Care Service provider?
A. Level 2+ support.
Q. What about redundancy for the hardware appliance?
Q. What hours is the Cisco TAC available to offer me support?
A. The hardware appliance has a backup capability so that should it fail,
you can restore the information and appliance to its previous state. See
the Cisco Smart Care Service Partner User Guide for more information.
Also, partners should back up hardware appliances manually from time
to time.
A. The Cisco TAC is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to
the partner.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
36
Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. How does Cisco Unified Communication Manager work in
Cisco Smart Care?
A. Cisco Unified Communication Manager is software and is not counted
as a device in Cisco Smart Care. However, the MCS server used to
deploy Cisco Unified Communication Manager is counted as one device.
(A non-MCS server or third-party service is not counted.)
hostname, duplicate IP address, devices running an interim release
image), slot IDs, card types, card families, firmware versions, and other
network and inventory information as deemed appropriate by Cisco.
Q. What information is stored on the network appliance
(hardware) or network client (software) and does not
go to Cisco?
Q. Because Cisco Unified Communication Manager is based on
a number of servers, some of them for backup, how is the
device counted in pricing?
A. Information such as logins, passwords, and configuration files
is stored only on the network appliance or network client and is not
transmitted to Cisco.
A. MCS servers and backup servers are counted as devices, so that if
a problem occurs with primary or secondary servers, they are covered
under the network-level coverage.
Q. How do I cover the modules in a chassis?
Q. How is the Unified Communications Software Subscription
(UCSS) service purchased by partners and customers
through Cisco Smart Care?
Q. How do I discover the modules in a chassis?
A. Cisco Certified Partners and our mutual customers may purchase
UCSS and combine it with their Cisco Smart Care contract through a
process that is similar to how they purchase UCSS with ESW contracts
today. For more information, read the UCSS section in the Cisco Smart
Care rules and policy document (www.cisco.com/web/partners/services/
programs/smartcare/downloads/scs_partner_bus_policies.pdf).
A. You do not have to cover child parts. If the chassis is covered, then all
the child parts will be covered and with the same service level.
A. Modules cannot be discovered if they do not have IPs. However,
you can discover the chassis. If you click on the IP of the chassis in
device inventory, you should see all its modules.
Note: this applies only if the device has been automatically discovered,
not by a manual add.
Q. How do I get confirmation on what I am sending to Cisco?
Data
Q. What data is gathered over the network by Smart Care?
A. The customer network information that is collected, stored, and
analyzed in connection with the network appliance (hardware) or
network client (software) includes the following: configurations (including
running configurations and startup configurations), product identification
numbers, serial numbers, hostnames, equipment locations, IP addresses,
system contacts, equipment models, feature sets, software versions,
hardware versions, installed memory, installed flash, boot versions,
chassis series, exceptions to such information (for example, duplicate
A. You do not receive confirmations from Smart Care. However, if you
would like to see what’s going on, you can log into the network hardware
appliance and enable traces (> trace enable) and then run an inventory.
You will be able to see in the traces what commands are being run and
what variables are being sent to Cisco. Go into > trace view and then
select the day and device you would like to see. Within the trace you can
see the commands run and then, at the end, which variables are being
filled. Be aware that turning on a trace consumes some overhead and
can affect performance.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Application
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. Are device serial numbers visible from the portal?
A. Serial numbers are listed in the inventory report. The serial number
is derived from the electronic information we can get from the device.
This derived serial number typically matches the serial number that is
physically on the device. Older models such as the Cisco 2500 and
Cisco 2600 have a different electronic serial number from what is
physically on the device.
Q. How do I fix an hardware appliance boot failure when the
console is connected to a Telnet port that is not active? It
fails with a prompt grub>.
A. You will need to either power-cycle the hardware appliance while
connected to the terminal server line or unplug the serial cable, powercycle, wait for 30 seconds, and reconnect the cable. Alternatively, use a
PC for the console session.
Q. Why does hardware registration fail?
A. Use a static IP assigned using the conf ip command. Reboot using
the reload command. When you use the register command, make sure
the Cisco.com ID is set up as partner administrator or partner user at the
partner portal. Also, no spaces are allowed in the client name or in site
name. The Website tools.cisco.com must be reachable using port 443
(normal HTTPS port) from the hardware appliance.
Q. Do I have to add a customer before installing the client?
A. Adding a customer with a unique login name is recommended, but
is optional. When registering the software or the hardware client, specify
the customer login name (same as customer’s Cisco.com ID), and it will
automatically associate the customer with the client and add the site.
This avoids a few extra steps.
Q. Why doesn’t anything happen when I click a button, or
why don’t I see a button? For example, when assigning a
device to a customer, I click and nothing happens, or when
unassigning the hardware appliance, there is a Close button
instead of OK and Cancel buttons.
A. Internet Explorer 6 is the only browser currently supported and
recommended. For the application to work, turn off pop-up blockers
including, any Yahoo! or Google toolbars.
Q. Why are services grayed out for customers?
A. The network hardware appliance must be assigned and enabled, and
a valid contract must be in place for services to be available.
Q. I do not see the Administrator menu in the left navigation
pane, which is used to add customers, request tokens,
or assign clients. How can I authorize other users in my
organization (such as a network engineer) to access the
Administrator menu?
The partner administrator is the person who originally registered for
Smart Care. So the partner administrator is the individual who will see the
Administrator menu. If another individual in the organization needs access
to the Administrator menu, that individual will need to register as well.
Unfortunately, a partner user cannot be deleted permanently unless a
request that the user be deleted is submitted through support.
Q. What’s the user ID/password for the network hardware
appliance? What is the enable password?
A. The default user ID: cisco
Enable password: admin
You can (and should) change this access information.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Q. Do I need customer login information before installing at the
customer site?
A. Before installation, it is recommended, but not required, that you have
the customer login.
Q. Should I add customer information in the dashboard before
installing the client?
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
A. Adding a customer with a unique login name is recommended but is
optional. When registering the software or the hardware client, you can
specify the customer login name (same as customer’s Cisco.com ID),
and it will automatically associate the customer with the client and add
the site. This avoids a few extra steps. The customer Login Name field
in the partner dashboard is matched against the customer login name
entered in the network hardware appliance or network client during
registration. If an exact match is found, the client is assigned, and a site
is created for the customer.
Q. What is the correct response to “Client reinstallation failed
error message—1628: Failed to complete installation on
Windows when installing software client (CNAC)”?
A. This is a bug with Install Shield. The solution is:
1. G
o into Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and kill any msiexec.exe
processes.
2. C
lean the Windows temp directories (for example, c:\Windows\
Temp).
3. Reboot.
4. Restart the installation.
Q. Can I register the hardware appliance in their lab and move
the appliance to the customer network?
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A. Yes. However, the hardware client needs a new IP address
based on the customer network (conf ip command) and a reboot
(reload command).
Q. While updating the hardware appliance, sometimes I get
an error stating that the partner does not have access to
encrypted SW. What should I do?
A. Simply go to the URL provided by the error message and accept the
terms of use there then try the update command again.
Q. Why do I get an error message saying “cannot update client
tables” registration files?
A. This is a known issue. You will need to assign a static IP and reboot
the hardware appliance.
Q. How do I assign and enable a client?
A. After a client is successfully registered, it appears under
“Administrator” in the partner dashboard. Add a site to the customer by
clicking the Add Site button, choosing the customer, and entering a site
name, like city name or location. Then click the Assign/Unassign button
to assign the client to the customer. When you are finished, the status of
the client is shown as Assigned. At the far right, click View and choose
Enable and click Save.
Q. What should I do when the network hardware appliance
status displays, “Appliance Status: Operation queued in
server for remote client processing” and then it just stays in
that state and does not complete? Eventually partners get a
“Timeout: Client Failed to respond” message.
A. Make sure you can ping the devices. To do this, check the network to
determine if the device is reachable by CLI (Telnet/SSH) or HTTP/ HTTPS
(in case of the application). If the device is reachable, then escalate this
problem to support (the partner or Cisco).
Q. What’s the difference between customer site and location?
A. Site is where the network hardware appliance is installed. Locations
are addresses where the devices are located. In the device inventory,
the locations can be viewed and updated.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Q. What do the services do in the network?
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
A. To understand this information, go to the partner portal or Smart
Care Acceleration Website (www.cisco.com/partner/services/smartcare/
accelerate/). Review the Cisco Smart Care Service Partner User Guide.
Q. How do I delete my customer information from Cisco?
Partners
A. See the section “Customer Administration > Users > Deleting Users”
in the Cisco Smart Care Service Partner User Guide in the partner portal
or Acceleration Website (www.cisco.com/partner/services/smartcare/
accelerate/).
Features
and Tools
In short, to erase customer network data on the hardware appliance and
in the portal, use the unregister command on the network appliance.
The unregister command removes the association between the network
appliance and the user. Then manually delete the customer from
Smart Care.
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. What happens when I delete a customer from the Cisco
Smart Care control panel?
A. When you delete a customer, sensitive information such as username,
password, community string, and so on is deleted from the Cisco Smart
Care client. After a customer is deleted, the customer data is no longer
accessible to any user (partner as well as Smart Care administrator) from
the Smart Care Service control panel. The customer data is soft deleted
(not hard deleted).
Soft delete means the data is not physically deleted, but certain attributes
are changed (for example, the status is changed to inactive) so that the
data will not be available to users (including the Smart Care administrator)
from the application. Authorized users such as database administrators
can access the data in the database.
Hard delete means the data is physically deleted/purged and will not be
accessible to anyone, including database administrators.
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Specifically, soft-deleted information includes customer information
(name, address, contact details), customer contract information (contract
number, type, status, effective dates), customer user information,
products and pricing information for customer quotes, network name,
IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, serial number, model name,
series name, hardware version, manufacturer, firmware version, software
version, assembly number, and assembly revision.
Specifically, hard-deleted information includes device-specific
information and username and encrypted password to log into the device
(these never leave the customer network).
The following customer information is accessible in other systems even
after soft deleting the customer in Smart Care: customer quotes and
contract details in Contract Database, customer information in Cisco CA
Address Services (CAAS), and customer information in ERP (ordering tool).
Q. How often does the hardware appliance/client ping Cisco?
A. The hardware appliance/client pings Cisco every 10 seconds when
there is activity and every 30 seconds when there is no activity.
Q. What are the duties of the partner administrators in
comparison to the partner users?
A. The difference between the two is that the partner user can do the
same as the partner administrator, except the administrator can also
control partner access and change partner details.
Q. Are there different user privileges for the client network?
A. There are different partner users. The partner administrator has full
privileges within the Cisco Smart Care control panel, and the user who
has limited abilities does not see the administration links.
Q. How and where are passwords stored?
A. The username and passwords that you provide are stored in the
network hardware appliance and are encrypted in 32-bit custom
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About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
encryption. The username, passwords, and SNMP community strings are
stored only in the hardware appliance database and are also encrypted.
This information is not stored in Cisco (that is, the Smart Care server) and
will be used to run services that you initiate.
Q. What version of Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used?
Q. What are the services provided in Security Assess
and Repair?
Q. How can I install or enable the Cisco IOS Intrusion
Prevention System (IPS)?
A. Review the details in the Cisco Smart Care Service Partner User
Guide in the section “Operating the Cisco Smart Care Application >
Customer Relations > Smart Care Services.”
A. For IPS sensor devices and modules, the information is at
www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/docs/security/ips/7.0/configuration/
guide/cli/cli_logging_in.html.
Q. What’s the difference between Assess and Repair and
Assess and Prepare for Voice?
For the Cisco IOS IPS, the information is at www.cisco.com/en/US/
partner/prod/collateral/iosswrel/ps6537/ps6586/ps6634/prod_white_
paper0900aecd805c4ea8.html.
A. Review the details in the Cisco Smart Care Service Partner User
Guide in the section “Operating the Cisco Smart Care Application >
Customer Relations > Smart Care Services.”
Q. What are some of the services provided in voice assess
and repair?
A. Review the details in the Cisco Smart Care Service Partner User
Guide in the section “Operating the Cisco Smart Care Application >
Customer Relations > Smart Care Services.”
Q. What happens in the syslog service? What prerequisites
are needed?
A. Review the details in the Cisco Smart Care Service Partner User
Guide in the section “Operating the Cisco Smart Care Application >
Customer Relations > Smart Care Services.”
Q. What is the availability service, and when will the device
have less than 100 percent availability?
A. The availability service is calculated from uptime. If the device has
never failed from initial installation, the availability will be 100 percent.
A. Smart Care uses TLS/Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) version 3.
IPS Signature Update
Q. Why should I upgrade to the latest IPS version?
A. When end of sale is announced for a Cisco IPS software version,
the replacement software is usually specified in the announcement.
Maintaining a current active software version on the IPS sensor is a
requirement for IPS signature update continuation and essential for
keeping the customer’s network protected against vulnerabilities.
To obtain Cisco IPS software updates, visit the Cisco Software
Center at http://tools.cisco.com/support/downloads/go/
Redirect.x?mdfid=268438162 and select Intrusion Prevention System
(IPS). (Login required.)
Q. How do I obtain and install an IPS license?
A. Although the sensor functions without the license key, you must have
a license key to obtain signature updates and use specific IPS features.
To obtain a license key, you must have the following:
• Cisco Services for IPS service contract. Contact your reseller,
Cisco Services, or product sales to purchase a contract.
• Your IPS device serial number.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
To find the IPS device serial number in Cisco IPS Device Manager (IDM)
choose Configuration > Sensor Management > Licensing. For Cisco IPS
Manager Express (IME), choose Configuration > sensor_name > Sensor
Management > Licensing, or in the CLI use the show version command.
A valid Cisco.com username and password are required.
Trial license keys are also available. If you cannot get your sensor
licensed because of problems with your contract, you can obtain a 60day trial license that supports signature updates that require licensing.
You can obtain a license key from the Cisco.com licensing server, which
is then delivered to the sensor. Or you can update the license key from a
license key provided in a local file. To apply for a license key, go to
www.cisco.com/go/license and click IPS Signature Subscription.
You can view the status of the license key from the following places:
• IDM Home window Licensing section on the Health tab
Comparison
to Other
Services
• IDM Licensing pane (Configuration > Licensing)
• IME Home page in the Device Details section on the Licensing tab
• License Notice at CLI login
Whenever you start IDM, IME, or the CLI, you are informed of your
license status—whether you have a trial, invalid, or expired license key.
With no license key, an invalid license key, or an expired license key, you
can continue to use IDM, IME, and the CLI, but you cannot download
signature updates.
If you already have a valid license on the sensor, you can click Download
on the License pane to download a copy of your license key to the
computer on which IDM or IME is running and save it to a local file. You
can then replace a lost or corrupted license or reinstall your license after
you have reimaged the sensor.
Q. Can I obtain signature updates without a Cisco Services for
IPS contract?
A. No. Signature updates are available only to customers with a Cisco
Services for IPS service contract. Each IPS solution must be under
contract in addition to the Smart Care contract.
Q. Why should IPS signatures be kept up to date?
A. Cisco IPS signatures are used to identify and block attacks against
specific vulnerabilities or certain types of threats. Because new threats
and vulnerabilities are constantly being discovered, the signature
database needs to be constantly updated to make sure that the
protection provided by the IPS stays current.
With network security threat levels escalating in severity, the scope of
damage has grown from individual computers and networks to regional
networks and even global infrastructures. Vulnerabilities can be exploited
within hours. Without constant updates, the IPS solution cannot provide
protection against new threats and attacks. The results of undetected,
uncontained security breaches are well known, including expensive
repair and restoration, lost revenue, compromise and loss of vital data,
disruption of business, and damage to your company’s reputation.
Q. How do I upgrade IPS software on IPS sensors, AIM-IPS,
or AIP-SSM modules?
A. If you have a relevant IPS contract separate from Smart Care,
signature file updates can be installed manually or downloaded and
installed automatically using native Cisco IPS capabilities or management
tools such as Cisco Security Manager. Refer to the following links for
more information about the proper steps for the upgrade.
For sensors running version 6.x, visit www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/
security/ips/6.0/configuration/guide/cli/cliImage.html#wp1243115.
For sensors running version 7.x, visit www.cisco.com/en/US/
docs/security/ips/7.0/configuration/guide/cli/cli_system_images.
html#wp1142504.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
For IPS modules, you can use the “show version” or “service-module
ids-sensor slot/port status” command from the router CLI to determine
which IPS version the module is running.
Q. How do I upgrade an IPS based on Cisco IOS Software?
A. This information is located at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/
ios/sec_data_plane/configuration/guide/sec_cfg_ips_ps6350_TSD_
Products_Configuration_Guide_Chapter.html#wp1110687.
Q. How do I configure auto-upgrade?
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
A. This information is located at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/
security/ips/7.0/release/notes/20115_01.html#wp1063971.
into the dashboard, plus more detailed information about identified issues
and recommended fixes. This approach provides customers with the
high-level network status they want and you with the detailed information
you need to understand and remediate issues.
Q. Why don’t the customer reports contain the same
information as the partner reports?
A. The target customer for Cisco Smart Care Service typically has a
limited IT staff and wants to rely on a trusted adviser to resolve network
issues and protect their network investment. This type of customer wants
access to high-level reports about the health, availability, and security of
their network without being overwhelmed by the details.
Technical Assistance
Dashboard Reports
Q. How do I make my logo appear on my customer’s
dashboard? How can I brand my Smart Care portal?
A. Go to the Administration page and select Profile Configuration.
That dashboard has a partner branding section.
Q. If the customer discovers a network problem, whom do
they contact?
A. The customer must contact their Cisco partner; as that partner, you
will do the initial troubleshooting. You are responsible for resolving level 0
and 1 service requests. If you are unable to resolve the customer’s issue,
you need to open a service request with the Cisco TAC.
Q. How can the results of the assessments be accessed?
A. A Web portal gives you and your customer visibility into the ongoing
health, availability, and security of all the devices in your customer’s
network, as well as analyses of network health, availability trends, and
alerts about any identified issues. You receive detailed reports and fixes
as well as high-level status reports. The customer only receives highlevel dashboard views; however, you can make the detailed assessment
report available to your customer.
Q. Who opens the service request?
A. The partner is the entitled party and opens the service request with
the Cisco TAC on behalf of the customer.
Q. What support does Cisco provide?
A. Cisco takes calls from partners for first level and above to support you
when you cannot resolve an issue by yourself.
Q. What information is available to customers? To partners?
A. The customer receives only high-level dashboard visibility into the
health, availability, and security of their network, while you have visibility
Q. What is the definition for service request levels 0 through 3?
A. Definition of service request levels:
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Level 0: Procedural
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
• Determine product defects.
• Log an end-customer call and assign it to the correct resource
or technology team, noting symptoms, affected hardware, and
software version.
• Verify support entitlement and service level.
• Provide initial problem categorization.
Partners
• Answer general questions using pre-scripted text.
• Provide references directing customers to available tools or
documentation on Cisco.com.
Features
and Tools
Level 1: Basic
• Provide general product information (presales and postsales).
• Provide hardware and software configuration, installation, and
feature set upgrade support for mature products.
Comparison
to Other
Services
• Resolve obvious hardware problems.
• Resolve known problems through documentation available on
Cisco.com or other local resources.
• Provide basic internetworking troubleshooting expertise.
• Provide basic support on the standard software protocols
and features.
• Collect captured network traces and diagnostic data.
• Provide regular problem resolution status reports to the end user.
• Filter nontechnical problems from technical problems.
• Perform base problem determination and collect relevant
technical information.
Level 2: Advanced
• Resolve the majority of complex configuration problems by
troubleshooting and problem simulation (for example, re-creates).
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• Define an action plan for troubleshooting/resolution.
• Use external analyzing tools when appropriate.
• Provide analysis of traces and diagnostic data when appropriate.
• Determine best interoperability and compatibility for new software
and hardware releases prior to being deployed into production
network.
• Perform lab simulation and problem duplication.
• Perform lab testing before deployment of possible fix.
• Generate workarounds for hardware and software bugs (where
present or alternate functionalities allow it) and troubleshooting
bugs that were not diagnosed or resolved during level 1 support.
• Provide contact with complete steps to reproduce a problem in
event of escalation to level 3 support.
Level 3: Expert
• Resolve problems reported to the Cisco TAC for the first time for
which no documentation exists relating to the problem on Cisco.
com or any other format.
• Resolve problems associated with previously unidentified bugs that
have not yet been published on Cisco.com.
• Generate workarounds for hardware and software bugs and
troubleshoot bugs that require a specialized expertise level beyond
level 1 or level 2 support.
• Reproduce issues with complex lab simulations.
• Provide or interface with product and/or software development
engineering support for resolution of product defects.
• Identify interoperability issues that might be caused by third-party
software/hardware.
• Resolve most software or hardware problems.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. How do I get in touch with the Cisco TAC for backup support
with customer issues?
A. After you complete level 0 and level 1 support, you might need
additional Cisco TAC support. The best way to contact the Cisco TAC
is by phone or web. You can find worldwide contact information for the
Cisco TAC at www.cisco.com/en/us/support/tsd_cisco_worldwide_
contacts.html.
After you complete level 0 and level 1 support, you need Cisco TAC
support. You can contact the Cisco TAC by phone or web using the
normal process.
Q. What type of Cisco TAC am I entitled to as a Cisco Smart
Care Service provider?
A. Level 2+ support.
Q. What hours is the Cisco TAC available to offer support?
A. The Cisco TAC is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Advance Replacement
Q. What happens if Cisco hardware needs to be replaced?
A. You open a service request with the Cisco TAC. After the need for
a Cisco replacement part has been confirmed, the Cisco TAC will send
the replacement part directly to the customer using next-business-day
delivery. The replacement part can be installed by either the customer or
you, depending on your individualized service agreement.
Q. What options does a customer have for hardware
replacement (example, NBD, 4-hour, 2-hour)?
How will customers with current 2-hour contracts
be supported until their existing contracts expire?
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A. The base-level Cisco Smart Care Service contract provides NBD
hardware replacement. Partners also have the flexibility, however, to
upgrade individual devices to premium 4-hour hardware replacement
coverage. (Note: The 4-hour option does not include onsite service.)
If customers with an existing 2-hour contract purchase Cisco Smart
Care Service, their existing Cisco SMARTnet contracts will be honored
for the duration of that contract. As each device’s contract expires, it
will automatically be migrated to the Cisco Smart Care Service and the
pricing adjusted when applicable. Therefore, a customer that has a current
2-hour Cisco SMARTnet contract will still be able to get that hardware
replacement level until their current Cisco SMARTnet contract expires.
Q. With base-level NBD coverage, are parts always delivered
the next day?
A. Replacements will be delivered the next business day in locations
where that service is available. In remote or less accessible locations,
delivery will be made on a best-effort basis.
Q. Who is responsible for returning defective parts that have
been replaced?
A. The customer is responsible for returning the defective part to Cisco
after the replacement has been received.
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©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Comparison to Other Services
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Cisco SMARTnet Service
Q. How does Cisco Smart Care Service compare to Cisco
SMARTnet Service?
Partners
A. With a partner plan based on Cisco Smart Care Service, customers
receive network-wide proactive network health checkups, remote
monitoring, diagnostics, software repairs, and technical support
customized by and delivered through their local Cisco Certified Partner.
Features
and Tools
With Cisco SMARTnet Service, customers have direct, anytime
access to Cisco engineers and award-winning Cisco service tools for
technical support, flexible device-level coverage, and various hardware
replacement service level options, but do not receive any dashboard
visibility into the health and security of their network, nor do they have a
partner doing remote monitoring as part of their overall service.
Comparison
to Other
Services
Collaborative Services
Q. How does Cisco Smart Care Service fit into Cisco’s
collaborative services?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service is part of Cisco’s family of Collaborative
Services, which combine the strength of Cisco and our certified partners
to deliver a superior service experience.
Shared Support
Q. How does Cisco Smart Care Service compare to the Shared
Support program?
A. Cisco Smart Care Service differs from Shared Support in five
key ways.
partner for each customer. Unlike in the Shared Support Program,
in the Collaborative Services model Cisco shares accountability for
service delivery.
2. The Smart Care Service offered to the customer is co-branded and
combines the complementary service strengths of Cisco and the partner
into one cohesive service that best addresses customer needs. With
Cisco playing a greater risk-sharing role in service delivery, customers gain
greater assurance from Cisco for their investments in Cisco technology.
3. The Smart Care Service provides the network-level intelligence
and tools that a customer needs to proactively plan, build, and run
their networks to receive optimal performance. This includes readiness
assessments and recommendations for adding advanced technologies
to their networks; analysis, status and recommendations on all individual
network devices; and other services.
4. Partners can differentiate their companies by using the Smart Care
Service proactive services platform to develop personalized services for
small and medium-sized businesses as well as midmarket customers.
5. The Smart Care services platform tools help partners more costeffectively deliver technical support. Plus, partners can access the Cisco
TAC for help with level 2 or higher calls.
Q. How can a partner make more profit with Cisco Smart Care
Service than through services offered as part of the Shared
Support program?
A. The Cisco family of Collaborative Services provides opportunities
for partners to grow their businesses and increase profitability by taking
advantage of Cisco’s investments in service capabilities and intellectual
capital. And since Cisco Smart Care Service is not sold directly to
customers by Cisco, it provides partners with the opportunity to bring
differentiated and higher-value service offerings to market.
1. A plan based on Cisco Smart Care Service, which is part of
the Collaborative Services family, is delivered jointly by the partner
and Cisco as part of a customized solution developed by the
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
Remote Management Service
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Q. What is the difference between Cisco Smart Care Service
and the Remote Management Service?
A. The differences between Cisco Smart Care Service and Remote
Management Services are listed in the table below.
Table 2. Cisco Smart Care Service Compared to Remote Management Service
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
What
Cisco
Smart Care Service
Remote Management Service
Where hosted?
NOC hosted by Cisco
NOC hosted by Cisco
Number of network
users and devices
50 to 1,000 users; up to
200 devices
More than 500 users or devices
Key differentiator
(affects servicelevel agreement)
Failure events reported upon
scheduled scan (as frequently
as every 5 minutes)
Cisco delivered full remote
management service (monitoring
plus incident, problem,
change, release, configuration
management, and reporting)
Network devices
monitored
Routers, switches, firewalls,
gateways, security, Unified
Communication Manager
Cisco Unified Communication
Manager, Cisco Unity®, Cisco
Unified Contact Center, Cisco
Unified Communications Manager
Express products, routers,
switches, gateways, security
Delivery model
Collaborative Service,
delivered as an ASP model
Service, delivered as a managed
service
Purchaser
Partner
Partner or customer
Maintenance model
Yes. Includes advance
hardware replacement and
technical support for all Cisco
hardware and software on a
customer’s network.
No. Cisco SMARTnet is required on
Cisco devices before you can add
this service.
Q. Which partners would likely offer Cisco Smart Care Service?
A. Partners whose principals have primarily a sales focus and are
inclined to use a Cisco Services platform rather than create and host their
own NOC, and partners that would like to use a Cisco Services platform
(NOC hosted by Cisco) even though they use their own 24x7 NOC.
Q. Which partners would likely offer resale remote management
service?
A. Partners with a systems-integration focus that are inclined to expand
their portfolio without developing and hosting their own managed service
for Cisco products and a desire to offer a real-time monitoring and
management service with SLAs requiring incident monitoring, incident
management, problem management, change/release management,
configuration management, and reporting.
Q. Why would customers choose one service over the others?
A. Customers might base their decision on the importance of their
network to their business continuity and their company’s degree of IT
self-sufficiency. They will also need to take into consideration the number
of users the service can support. The partner will ultimately make the
decision based on their business model, resource allocation, and desired
delivery of technical remote services.
Relation to Other Cisco Partner Programs
Q. Does the “Strengthen Your Core” program apply to Cisco
Smart Care?
A. No. Strengthen Your Core is an incentive program for U.S. partners
and targets very specific network discovery activities and tools. This
program is well suited for partners who are looking to execute a
customer network discovery.
Smart Care, however, is an integrated services platform and infrastructure
that provides the ability for partners to build and enhance their services
practices and offer unique services based on their customers’ needs.
Smart Care offers many benefits such as discovery and inventory,
proactive monitoring, the ability to remotely perform security and voice
assessment and repair, auto attach and renewal capabilities, simplified
contract management, and much more. In addition, there is currently an
introductory promotion for Smart Care called Quick Start. For additional
details, visit www.cisco.com/ partner/services/smartcare/quickstart/.
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Ci s co S mar t Care S er v i ce: Pa rt ner Q &A
About Cisco
Smart Care
Services
Partners
Features
and Tools
Comparison
to Other
Services
Q. Does the Cisco Opportunity Incentive Program (OIP) include
Smart Care?
A. Cisco OIP provides deal protection and financial incentives to partners
when a new sales opportunity is registered in the program. However, OIP
does not apply to Smart Care opportunities, as the Smart Care Service
program does not include any discounts or rebates.
If a partner you are working with encounters a customer for whom a
separate deal has been registered for OIP, there is no direct conflict to
sell the Smart Care Service. The Smart Care sale would be considered
a service-only deal and considered a different opportunity altogether.
Managed Services
Q. What is the difference between Cisco Smart Care Service
and a fully managed service?
A. A partner plan based on Cisco Smart Care Service can include spare
parts, technical support, network monitoring, proactive notifications, and
network health and security checks. Although it provides some basic
monitoring, it is not a network management product or service. It is
designed to enable Cisco partners to provide a personalized, proactive
service to their commercial customers.
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Americas Headquarters
Cisco Systems, Inc.
San Jose, CA
Asia Pacific Headquarters
Cisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd.
Singapore
Europe Headquarters
Cisco Systems International BV Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Cisco has more than 200 offices worldwide. Addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers are listed on the Cisco Website at www.cisco.com/go/offices.
Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third party
trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)
C67-446444-06 1211
©2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. This document is Cisco Confidential. For Channel Partner use only. Not for distribution.