Navigating Cisco Success Tracks: What You Need to Know

Cisco has rolled out yet another layer to their support services—Success Tracks. If you're already familiar with SMARTnet, you might be wondering how this compares and, more importantly, what it means for your IT infrastructure costs. 

We’ve been encountering Success Tracks in nearly every Cisco SMARTnet analysis we’ve done recently, and the program introduces several key features aimed at helping customers onboard, optimize, and adopt new Cisco technologies. Let's take a deeper look at what Success Tracks offers and how it impacts your budget.

In short, Success Tracks is standard SMARTnet (NBD, 4-Hour, Onsite, etc) plus a software portal known as CX Cloud (Customer Experience Cloud). Before we dive deeper into the specifics of CX Cloud, let's take a look at the cost comparison of Success Tracks versus standard SMARTnet and how CovrEDGE offers a more affordable alternative.

Cost Breakdown

Below are a few numbers from a recent SMARTnet analysis that we completed.  For 717 access switches, Success Tracks with NBD replacement costs $79,338 more per year than standard NBD SMARTnet.  It's roughly $110 extra per device, so let's dive in and see what we get.

Our alternative to SMARTnet — CovrEDGE is much less!  For a quick estimate of how much you can save with our CovrEDGE, try our Maintenance Savings Calculator.

L1NBD	Qty	SNT List	Success Tracks List	CovrEDGE
C9200L-48P-4X-A	98	$68,698.00	$78,302.00	$20,580.00
C9200L-48P-4X-E	217	$152,117.00	$173,383.00	$62,496.00
C9300-24P-A	2	$1,014.24	$1,156.06	$312.00
C9300-48UXM-A	113	$129,895.76	$148,087.63	$58,082.00
C9300L-48P-4X-E	287	$216,111.00	$246,246.00	$64,575.00
	717	$567,836.00	$647,174.69	$206,045.00

 

What is Success Tracks? 

Per Cisco’s service description, CX Cloud is a personalized connection to Cisco for accessing support, knowledge, insights, and recommendations from Cisco experts.

Success Tracks combines SMARTnet and the CX Cloud with Level 0 (L0), Level 1 (L1), or Level 2 (L2) options.  L0 is not in the service description but is being offered.  It’s a flat-file import that allows the user to upload Cisco assets into the CX Cloud regardless of SMARTnet / Success Tracks attachment for ITAM.

There are also different “enrollment” categories:  Campus Network, Cloud Network, Datacenter Compute, Integrated Secure Operations, Collaboration, and Wide Area Network (WAN).  Each enrollment category defines L1 and L2 coverages differently.

The table below is for Campus Network hardware.  We’ll dig into CC Cloud after this table showing what is included with L0, L1, and L2.  The other enrollment categories can be found in the service description for Cisco Success Tracks.

Service	Level 0	Level 1	Level 2
Success Tracks Communities Cisco moderated community for peer-to-peer conversation, FAQs, and Q&A forums.
Ask the Experts (ATX) Webinars led by solutions specialists who teach best practices for different products.
Accelerators 1-on-1 personalized coaching
Standard SMARTnet Hardware replacement, TAC, and IOS updates
Adoption View A view of all Cisco software licenses purchased, activated, and utilized, as well as corresponding expiration dates if applicable.
Asset and License View Displays all products that have the Success Tracks licensing: part ID, serial number, licenses, coverage details, OS information, and install location.
Rapid Problem Resolution Automates data collection and diagnostics when a support case is opened.
Security Advisories Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) notifications, reports, and corrective recommendations.
Priority Bugs Lists of applicable product and software vulnerabilities.
Case Management A central repository for all TAC related cases open or closed.
Case Management KPIs Track case performance over time and benchmark against industry peers.
Optimal Software Versions Lists current software versions as well as recommended replacements
Automated Fault Management Automates the creation of TAC cases with pro-populated faulty data.
Regulatory Compliance Checks Provides on-demand/system-scheduled checks to help identify device or configurations that may be out of compliance with industry standards such as PCI and HIPAA
Risk Mitigation Checks Identifies products that present conditions associated with increased risk
E-learning Courses and content that might include design, deployment, and implementation guidelines, test procedures, infrastructure readiness, and deployment checklists.
Remote Practice Labs Online labs and practice assignments
Certification Preparation Training courses for best practices and challenge questions  to prepare for certification exams

 

This is currently the last bullet in the service description for Success Tracks:

• This Service is provided solely as described in this Service Description. Cisco will use commercially reasonable efforts to complete activities agreed to in the Services kickoff meeting and subsequent plans. However, Cisco does not guarantee that a project will be successfully completed by a scheduled project end-date or by the end of the Service Term. All Service delivery by this Service will stop and be considered complete on the last Business Day of the Services Term.
  

I understand why the above is in the service description, but it contradicts what Success Tracks is supposed to be for.  Cisco does commit to quarterly reports on the status of projects, activities performed, deliverables provided, and remaining work required to achieve “success.”

What is CX Cloud?

First, it's important to understand that CX Cloud will collect and store information about your estate. This includes CCO IDs, phone numbers, email addresses, customer names, device part IDs, device IP addresses, MAC addresses, hostnames, SNMP MIBs, configurations, OS versions, OS feature sets, hardware versions, installed memory, flash, boot versions, chassis series, slot IDs, card types, card families, firmware versions, syslog info, log and image files, license and contract information, product features activation and usage data.

The CX Cloud is a web-based application or portal that is an ITAM system for your Cisco devices with some level of insights via Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

Parts of CX Cloud are still in BETA, and we should expect things to change over time, but this is a good foundation to understand what CX Cloud is and what you might be looking at if you purchase it.  I also noticed that all presentations or demonstrations of CX Cloud also incorporate DNA Center or Catalyst Center. Catalyst Center is not a required component of CX Cloud, but it’s difficult to differentiate what the CX Cloud is like without the Catalyst Center connection. Here are the 5 primary sections of CX Cloud:

1. Assets and Coverage: This provides a full list of assets (with the Success Tracks service level) and what SMARTnet coverage SLA is attached to the device.  Within assets, part ID, name, associated security advisories, install location, coverage status, software type and release, recommended software, and licensing information.
2. Adoption Lifecycle: Provides a current view of all software licenses purchased, activated, and utilized.  
3. Advisories: Any security advisories for assets in the portal.  This includes PSIRT notifications, reports, and corrective recommendations.
4. Cases: Any open or closed TAC cases, information about RMAs, and metrics on case openings, closings, and severity level.
5. Insights: This tab provides information about software, crash risks, fault management, and compliance.  The software page is in BETA and I assume will try to merge in some way with Smart Licensing portal. Crash Risk is also in BETA and uses security advisories as a way to infer risk. Fault Management examines logs and looks for potential issues.
   
   • Regulatory Compliance Checks
   • Risk Mitigation Checks
   • Value Enhancements

Do You Need Success Tracks?

Q:  Do I Need Success Tracks?

A:  I think it’s clear that the CX Cloud can be beneficial, but to what extent is really unknown.  If Cisco customers are hitting roadblocks when trying to adopt new technologies from Cisco, I suppose it makes sense to charge the customers more to “help with adoption,” but there is no guarantee that the adoption will be successful.

Q:  Can I see all of my Cisco assets in the CX Cloud?

A:  No.  Although current hardware can be brought in as L0, anything previous generation is not supported.

Key Takeaways

While Cisco Success Tracks offers a comprehensive set of tools and services through the CX Cloud, it’s clear that the price increase isn’t always justified for every customer. With our CovrEDGE solution, you can get the essential support you need at a fraction of the cost. If you're wondering how much you can save, check out our Maintenance Savings Calculator or reach out to us for a personalized analysis.

Not sure if Success Tracks is right for you? Contact Edgeium today to learn more about how CovrEDGE can reduce your maintenance costs while ensuring your network stays protected. Schedule a consultation or try our Maintenance Savings Calculator now!