At their 26th annual Partner Summit conference, Cisco announced a new Enterprise Agreement (EA) to make it easier for partners and customers to buy, sell, and manage Cisco software and services. The single contract increases access to Cisco’s portfolio and solutions, offering predictable costs, more choice, and greater flexibility for organizations looking to accelerate their digital transformation.
“Cisco’s new Enterprise Agreement gives our customers and partners a powerful, simple, and extremely flexible way to buy and consume our great software products,” said Gerri Elliott, EVP, Chief Customer and Partner Officer, speaking at Cisco Partner Summit 2021. “Our incredible partner ecosystem has already built a multi-billion dollar software business but we’re clearly just getting started. Innovations like the ability to shift investments across the portfolio will help us better serve our customers, push further into our business transformation, and drive higher profitability for our partners.”
Less admin. More results.
The new Cisco Enterprise Agreement is a cornerstone of Cisco’s ongoing transformation and commitment to supporting partner profitability, as well as streamlining the customer experience. Since their introduction more than 10,000 customers have purchased software & services via the Cisco Enterprise Agreement. The new Cisco EA will bring three key benefits to customers and partners:
Simplified Cross-Portfolio Access
As organizations adopt more innovative technologies, they face the challenge of managing various licensing agreements. Cisco’s new EA simplifies the experience with:
- One set of terms and conditions across five portfolios (Applications Infrastructure, Networking Infrastructure, Collaboration, Security, and Services).
- A lower minimum spend threshold to make it easier for customers to access EA benefits.
- Multiple partners in a single agreement with customers able to see all their licenses.
More financial flexibility
Organizations facing increasingly complex IT environments are looking for new software and services that offer predictable costs. With the new Cisco Enterprise Agreement:
- Cisco Networking customers can take advantage of Value Shift – a feature that allows them to shift committed spend across Cisco DNA software and Meraki software.
- Organizations can quickly activate licenses and deploy what is needed, when it is needed, and with the True Forward feature, future billing cycles are adjusted to align with new usage levels.
- Cisco Enterprise Agreement Pay, a new offer from Cisco Capital, provides extended payments at no cost to customers for select EAs and a-la-carte software. For Cisco partners, the complementary financing option mitigates credit and currency risk, features billing and collecting through Cisco Capital, and partners are paid upon the start of a customer’s contract.
Increased business agility
Managing and updating software has traditionally been complex and time-consuming for large organizations. The new Cisco Enterprise Agreement:
- Increases access to innovative technology without an enterprise-wide commitment.
- Streamlines license procurement, offering simple administration with one place to view, manage, and renew licenses.
“Cisco’s new Enterprise Agreement enables customers and partners to more efficiently review their contracts, allowing them to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time running their businesses,” said Leslie Rosenberg, VP, Network Life Cycle and Infrastructure at IDC. “Where customers and partners previously had to manage multiple EAs, they will now have one purchase agreement spanning Cisco’s portfolios.”
The new Cisco EA is currently available through select partners with plans to expand partner availability in early 2022. The current Enterprise Agreement programs will remain available to customers and partners while the transition to the new Cisco EA takes place during the first half of 2022.
