If your company relies on any IT, you’ve more than likely experienced a problem with those systems.
While some problems can be solved by you or your IT department, at times you’ll need to escalate the issue to an outside source.
If you’re a Cisco customer, your partner is an invaluable resource. They are the ones who help implement your Cisco solutions, and they have an intimate knowledge of your IT environment.
As a Cisco partner, The KR Group has talked with many customers when looking for support with resolving an issue. One of the most common questions is if we can help them with the issue.
We love working with our customers and using our expertise to solve various problems within your IT environment.
We always put our customers first. Sometimes, this means informing you that while we are willing and able to help you with your IT issues, there is a better option.
What is that better option? And how do you know when that option is right for you?
Along with your Cisco partner, you can also enlist Cisco’s technical assistance center (TAC) to support issues with their solutions.
As far as deciding when you should request Cisco TAC over your Cisco partner, we’ll help you decide what is best for your specific situation by explaining these three points:
- Cost of engaging support
- Benefits of engaging Cisco TAC
- Benefits of engaging your Cisco partner
Explaining these aspects of Cisco support will help you best determine who to call when you need assistance with your IT environment.
Cost of engaging IT support
With a Cisco support contract, the cost of TAC support is included in your contract. This contract’s price varies based on what devices you’re enrolling in support and what tier of hardware support you opt for.
With software support, each tier comes with 24/7 availability. Still, there are the options you can choose from, including a guaranteed response within 30 minutes for severity 1 and 2 calls, a designated Cisco expert assigned to your business, and assistance planning for end-of-life solutions.
Again, the more features you want with a support contract, the higher the price.
(For more in-depth information, we have an entire article about the differences between Cisco hardware and software support.)
It’s also important to note that Cisco’s TAC support only encompasses your solutions with an active support subscription.
For example, if you only have software support for a solution with hardware and software components, then Cisco TAC can only help you troubleshoot the software side. If it’s determined to be a hardware issue, then you’ll still need to pay someone to investigate and address it.
The cost of engaging a Cisco partner for support is separate from your Cisco support subscription.
A common misunderstanding is that Cisco support covers partner support, but this isn’t the case. Unless you have an existing managed IT services contract or block time agreement, your Cisco partner will bill you for time and material if you request assisstance.
Cost and existing support contracts play a large role in determining which option you’ll engage.
But, because you have a Cisco support contract doesn’t always mean TAC is the best option. We’ll talk about the benefits of each support next.
Benefits of engaging Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC)
As we discussed above, there are many different support plans available from Cisco, and most customers take advantage of this.
Some of the benefits of working with Cisco TAC to resolve your IT issue include:
1. Cisco TAC has direct knowledge of its solutions.
Cisco TAC engineers specialize in an area of IT. When you call with a problem related to a specific component in your IT stack, the Cisco TAC engineer knows the solution backward and forward.
Additionally, if the problem requires a software update or hardware replacement, Cisco TAC can help with these resolutions, but if you reach out to a Cisco partner, they may need to escalate to Cisco TAC.
2. Cisco TAC can provide software upgrades.
Having a Cisco support contract also gives you access to otherwise unavailable upgrades.
If the root of your problem is outdated software, Cisco TAC will need to issue the upgrade.
If you don’t have an active support contract with Cisco, your partner can still provide assistance and troubleshooting, but if the problem requires a software patch, you may not be entitled to it without an active contract with Cisco.
Likewise, if the problem is with licensing, it’s not something your partner can solve alone; only Cisco TAC can issue licenses.
Benefits of engaging your Cisco partner
But, because you have a Cisco support contract doesn’t always mean TAC is the best option.
There are many cases when you may want some of the pros of engaging a Cisco partner for support even if you have an active support contract with Cisco.
Here are two points to consider when making the final decision of who to call for support:
1. Cisco partners have tribal knowledge of your business.
While your Cisco partner may not be as specialized as Cisco TAC, they’re required to go through a stringent certification process to sell you the product.
In other words, they’ll know how to find the root of your problem.
They’re also the ones who likely helped you implement the solution in the first place, which gives them an edge on Cisco TAC when knowing your IT environment.
Oftentimes, they can provide a more personalized experience and even a faster resolution.
2. Cisco partner support is included with block time and managed IT services contracts.
If you have an existing support contract with your Cisco partner, requesting assistance with your Cisco solutions is covered in this contract.
Even if your partner ends up needing to work with Cisco TAC, they will coordinate and ultimately find a resolution to your problem. (And the partner cost is covered by your existing agreement.)
Requesting support for a Cisco problem
So who should call to assist with your Cisco IT problem?
It depends on the problem you’re having.
It generally makes sense to request support from Cisco TAC when:
- You have an active support contract.
- You know the problem requires a software update.
- You want an expert in that specific system to troubleshoot your problem.
On the other hand, support from a Cisco partner makes sense when:
- You have a managed services or block time agreement.
- You want support from an engineer with existing knowledge of your IT environment.
- You need quicker assistance troubleshooting the root of the problem.
Whether you end up leaning on your Cisco partner or Cisco TAC for support, we’re confident you’ll receive a resolution to your problem.
For more information on Cisco support contracts, check out our article, “Cisco Hardware Support vs. Software Support: Which Is Right for You?”