I lead the Cisco Digital Experience accomplice go-to-market for the Americas. One of our roles is to offer our companions with the instruments they should extra efficiently have interaction our mutual prospects all through the product lifecycle: from buy to renewals. The primary software in our arsenal is Lifecycle Advantage, which serves up digital content material that companions use to interact their prospects in a extra automated manner.
This functionality is particularly essential in the case of serving to companions shut renewals. For many companions, the renewal enterprise could be significantly tough to scale. This is particularly true with smaller prospects, as many companions merely don’t have the individuals to manually sustain with each buyer’s renewal alternative.
With Lifecycle Advantage, Cisco mechanically sends out co-branded accomplice notifications, informing prospects of contracts and companies which can be expiring. Partners add in their very own worth quotes. Along with these notifications, Cisco additionally mechanically sends really helpful choices based mostly on prospects’ transaction historical past, serving to companions to additionally upsell extra enterprise.
Cisco sends these notifications out on behalf of our companions, because it’s Cisco’s view that the accomplice owns the account—sustaining the contractual and business relationship with the shopper. When the renewal happens, the accomplice receives full credit score for promoting the renewal. Many different distributors bypass the accomplice and work together straight with the shopper, finally treating the accomplice extra like an agent to justify a a lot smaller referral price.
Automating eCommerce workflow with Commerce Automation eStorefronts
Previously, when it got here time for the shopper to buy the renewal, the one possibility was to basically request to buy by clicking a button saying one thing like “notify partner to order”. In different phrases, the cost step of the general renewal workflow was nonetheless handbook.
This all modified with Cisco’s launch of Commerce Automation eStorefronts, which is on the market to all Cisco companions as a part of Lifecycle Advantage. Customers can now merely pay for the renewal—for example, with a bank card—with none handbook interplay with the accomplice.
If the accomplice has an eCommerce system, then the Commerce Automation eStorefront can join via open APIs. For companions with out an eCommerce system, Cisco has labored with a third-party vendor to convey companions a low-cost eCommerce system that solely takes just a few days to arrange.
No matter which possibility companions select, no cash is exchanged via Cisco. Cisco can be not charging companions a price to take part with Commerce Automation, nor any share of the transaction. And if the shopper has a query, Cisco offers free, first-line assist.
Lifting the operational burden
As a partner-first firm, Cisco is dedicated to our companions’ success. With this motivation in thoughts, Lifecycle Advantage with Commerce Automation lifts an enormous operational burden off our companions’ shoulders in the case of promoting and shutting renewals.
All Cisco companions are welcome to discover how you can enhance their productiveness and improve bandwidth to commit to promoting. I encourage you to be taught extra about Lifecycle Advantage and Commerce Automation.
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