Cisco Earns Top Honors for Partner Enablement and Customer Success

Our digital transformation at Cisco has been fast and furious. Fast because it’s been a race against time to deliver greater value to our customers, and furious because the pace of change has been extraordinary for an organization our size. At the foundation of this transformation is a company-wide commitment to enable our customers’ success like never before.

Our partners have been central to our Customer Success journey from day one, and we’ve been thrilled to see many of you transform along with us. As sellers, we’ve all come to recognize that in today’s pay-as-you-go subscription economy, the economic value of a customer is realized over time. Delivering on the promise of our technology — not once, but throughout the entire relationship lifecycle — is what keeps customers coming back for more.

Today, I’m proud to announce that our efforts to transform haven’t gone unnoticed. Earlier this month, SiriusDecisions, the global B2B research firm, presented Cisco with an ROI Award for outstanding achievements in digital engagement, partner enablement and Customer Success. In winning the award, we joined an elite group of innovators who were honored at the SiriusDecisions 2018 Summit.

Why We Won: It’s All About ROI

Reflecting on the past few years, there’s no doubt a lot has been accomplished at Cisco. As we dedicated ourselves to Customer Success, one of our biggest challenges was putting in place a comprehensive digital infrastructure, powered by data science and analytics, to engage more effectively and proactively with customers across every stage in their journey with us. And while it’s clear that SiriusDecisions recognized the enormity of this challenge, the deciding factor in the award was return on investment. Here are a few of the outcomes driven by our digital transformation:

Customers touched with an automated renewal notification in the last fiscal year renewed at a 29-point higher rate than those not touched.

65% of targeted “unhealthy” customers completed their product activation following post sale adoption campaigns and made the transition to a “healthy” customer state.

In the first half of 2017, the Lifecycle Advantage program automated hundreds of thousands of emails to customers on behalf of Cisco partners—addressing nearly half a billion dollars in service renewal and technology refresh opportunities to benefit customers and partners alike. The overall effort exceeded Cisco’s expectations, leading to a 17% higher renewal rate.

Change is never easy, but it’s safe to say our transformation is making a difference. We’re encouraged by the progress to date, gratified to see the impact on our customers, and grateful for our partners’ support. We’d also like to congratulate the cross-functional Cisco teams – from Marketing, Customer Success, IT and other areas of the organization – that made this win possible. Together with our partners, we are advancing on our mission to create customers for life.

To read more about the awards, visit the SiriusDecisions website.