Cisco Smart Bonding for MSPs: Enhance Customer Experience and Streamline Support Workflows

Reduce MTTR by up to 45% and create a base for advanced services with Cisco Smart Bonding

The global market for managed services around Cisco products is projected to reach $161 billion by 2027, driven by customers seeking solutions and outcomes rather than just products or technology. As more customers transition towards managed services offerings, greater efficiency and seamless support become essential for Managed Services Providers (MSPs), especially in handling customer support calls that require quick and effective resolution.

Adopting Cisco Smart Bonding is a game-changing solution designed to optimize how Managed Service Providers (MSPs) manage and resolve Cisco-related incidents and support tickets. By streamlining support workflows and integrating seamlessly with partner support platforms, Cisco Smart Bonding significantly enhances the overall MSP experience by boosting efficiency, reducing resolution times, and improving collaboration within and between support teams. Furthermore, it serves as a foundational prerequisite for advanced support offerings, such as Partner Advanced Support (PAS).

With Cisco Smart Bonding, MSPs can streamline support operations, reduce resolution times, enhance collaboration within and between support teams, ultimately leading to improved customer satisfaction.

What is Cisco Smart Bonding?

Cisco Smart Bonding synchronizes an MSP’s support ticketing system with Cisco’s Technical Assistance Center (TAC) system, known as CSOne. This integration ensures a transparent, timely, and automated syncing of all case information between the two systems. Key benefits include:

• Automated Case Creation and Entitlement: Automatically creates cases in both systems, eliminating the need for manual entry into two systems.
• Full Lifecycle Synchronization: Reflects all updates, status changes, and notes in real-time across both systems.
• Instant File Sharing: Shares diagnostic files and other attachments instantly, facilitating faster troubleshooting.
• Advanced Routing Algorithms: For partners who also purchase PAS, smart bonded tickets are routed based on technology, skill set, time zone, and language, thereby reducing the time spent on ownership transfers and ensuring tickets get to the right team faster.
• Wider Scope per Ticket: Allows smart bonded PAS tickets to encompass issues outside of the original scope, eliminating the need to create new tickets.
• Enhanced Access to Cisco’s TAC Tools: Cisco TAC tools, inspired by decades of experience troubleshooting network issues, which include:
  • RAD Kit: Python scripts that auto-check connected devices for faster identification of root causes. PAS customers receive expert walkthroughs, with instructions and support on how to maximize RAD Kit.
  • Automated RCA: An opportunity for PAS customers to participate in the Automated RCA pilot, which leverages AI to automatically formulate an incident’s root cause analysis.

Why MSPs Should Adopt Cisco Smart Bonding

For MSPs, adopting Cisco Smart Bonding is not just a technological upgrade; it’s a strategic move that can enhance service delivery, increase customer satisfaction, and differentiate their managed solutions in a competitive market. Here’s why:

• Enhanced Efficiency: By automating the synchronization of case information, Smart Bonding eliminates the need for manual data entry and reduces the risk of errors. This allows engineers to focus on resolving issues rather than administrative tasks, streamlining operations and freeing up valuable resources.
• Faster Resolution Times: With real-time updates and instant file sharing, the mean time to resolution (MTTR) can be reduced by 36%-45%. This means issues are resolved faster, leading to more satisfied customers and a more responsive support experience.
• Improved Collaboration: The seamless integration fosters better collaboration between the MSP and Cisco’s support teams, ensuring that both parties have full visibility into the case details. This improved collaboration accelerates problem-solving and enhances the overall support process.

By establishing a seamless and efficient support workflow through Cisco Smart Bonding, MSPs can also lay the groundwork for delivering even higher-level managed services offerings to their customers. Beyond enhancing basic support capabilities, the integration enables MSPs to offer more comprehensive support services like PAS, allowing MSPs to drive greater value for their customers.

How Cisco Smart Bonding Improves MSP Support Workflows

Cisco Smart Bonding addresses several inefficiencies commonly found in traditional support workflows:

• Eliminates Swivel Chair Operations: Engineers no longer need to manually update cases in multiple systems, reducing process waste and freeing up valuable time.

Cisco Smart Bonding accelerates engineer collaboration by providing a single source of truth, enabling engineers from both the MSP and Cisco to work together more effectively and resolve problems faster. Additionally, it significantly reduces case ownership time by 20%-54%, allowing MSPs to handle more cases with the same resources.

Integration with ITSM platforms

Integrating Cisco Smart Bonding with partner ITSM systems is a streamlined process designed to enhance support capabilities. The integration supports platforms such as ServiceNow, with a dedicated application available in the ServiceNow App Store that automates standard connectivity and workflow configuration.

For other ITSM systems, integration is facilitated through Cisco’s APIs, supporting SOAP/XML and REST/JSON protocols. The integration process offers several onboarding options: self-onboarding for standard configurations, an application module for ServiceNow users, with the option to leverage Cisco Advanced Services for customized setups.

Self-onboarding involves configuring the ITSM system using provided documentation and test scripts, while the application module simplifies the process with pre-built configurations.

Driving Efficiencies and Positive Outcomes

Customers are increasingly relying on partner managed services to achieve business outcomes at a lower cost. With Cisco Smart Bonding, support workflows are vastly improved by accelerating support engineer collaboration and reducing MTTR by up to 45%. For a typical MSP, this translates to faster issue resolution, higher customer satisfaction, and more efficient use of resources; ultimately driving better service delivery and operational cost savings. If you’re an MSP looking to enhance your support capabilities involving Cisco products and Cisco TAC, Cisco Smart Bonding is a program/tool worth leveraging.  The fact that the Cisco Smart Bonding program/tool is complimentary for Cisco partners, makes it even more compelling to adopt!

Engage your Cisco Account Executive or Sales Business Development Manager to get started on a Smart Bonding engagement!

Register for the upcoming session to learn more:

Additional resources

Visit the Cisco Partner Managed Services page on SalesConnect for recordings of previous MS VoE sessions.

Check out my latest blogs for insights into Managed Services opportunities for MSPs

Check out the Self-Onboarding Guide on Cisco DevNet and the Partner Guide: Smart Bonding Entitlement. Transform your support operations today with Cisco Smart Bonding!

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