3 tips for achieving CX excellence in Cisco’s ecosystem
3 tips for achieving CX excellence in Cisco’s ecosystem
3 tips for achieving CX excellence in Cisco’s ecosystem
3 tips for achieving CX excellence in Cisco’s ecosystem
With the Cisco 360 Partner Program set to launch at the start of 2026, now is the perfect time for Cisco Partners to get their CX into shape, to increase their partner status and benefit from the rebates, and also to give themselves the competitive advantage that comes with greater Customer Success.
But the Customer Experience Specialization is, by Cisco’s own admission, one of the most involved certifications that they offer. As Cisco’s EMEA Strategic Partners Account Executive Mikael Casserberg put it:
“From a Partner point of view, it’s the most serious business transformation specialization that you can do. It [includes] everything from remodeling the way you go to market: roles, competencies, systems, tools. Everything.”
Before investing that level of time and energy, it’s important to know as much as possible about what actions lead to success, and where the potential pitfalls are. To help, we spoke to Mikael Casserberg and one of our customers, Natilik, about what it takes to build excellent CX in the Cisco ecosystem—and how they got awarded Cisco’s UK CX partner of the year in 2021—along with EMEA Marketing Partner of the year, and more.
Here are the three main insights that came out of the conversation:
With the Cisco 360 Partner Program set to launch at the start of 2026, now is the perfect time for Cisco Partners to get their CX into shape, to increase their partner status and benefit from the rebates, and also to give themselves the competitive advantage that comes with greater Customer Success.
But the Customer Experience Specialization is, by Cisco’s own admission, one of the most involved certifications that they offer. As Cisco’s EMEA Strategic Partners Account Executive Mikael Casserberg put it:
“From a Partner point of view, it’s the most serious business transformation specialization that you can do. It [includes] everything from remodeling the way you go to market: roles, competencies, systems, tools. Everything.”
Before investing that level of time and energy, it’s important to know as much as possible about what actions lead to success, and where the potential pitfalls are. To help, we spoke to Mikael Casserberg and one of our customers, Natilik, about what it takes to build excellent CX in the Cisco ecosystem—and how they got awarded Cisco’s UK CX partner of the year in 2021—along with EMEA Marketing Partner of the year, and more.
Here are the three main insights that came out of the conversation:
With the Cisco 360 Partner Program set to launch at the start of 2026, now is the perfect time for Cisco Partners to get their CX into shape, to increase their partner status and benefit from the rebates, and also to give themselves the competitive advantage that comes with greater Customer Success.
But the Customer Experience Specialization is, by Cisco’s own admission, one of the most involved certifications that they offer. As Cisco’s EMEA Strategic Partners Account Executive Mikael Casserberg put it:
“From a Partner point of view, it’s the most serious business transformation specialization that you can do. It [includes] everything from remodeling the way you go to market: roles, competencies, systems, tools. Everything.”
Before investing that level of time and energy, it’s important to know as much as possible about what actions lead to success, and where the potential pitfalls are. To help, we spoke to Mikael Casserberg and one of our customers, Natilik, about what it takes to build excellent CX in the Cisco ecosystem—and how they got awarded Cisco’s UK CX partner of the year in 2021—along with EMEA Marketing Partner of the year, and more.
Here are the three main insights that came out of the conversation:
Align with the business model
In a world shifting from hardware transactions to subscription relationships, the Cisco ecosystem is a live case study in what sustainable customer success looks like.
Cisco’s transformation from a hardware-first giant to a software and services business started almost a decade ago, driven by the recognition that recurring value beats one-off transactions. But the reality is that this shift is less about swapping SKUs and more about rethinking how you run your business, structure your teams, and engage customers over time.
The shift to subscription models has elevated the importance of net revenue retention and renewals. It has also opened doors for partners to deepen customer relationships, not by chasing the next sale but by building credibility through value delivered across Cisco’s architectures.
This approach to revenue protection goes beyond “renewal management.” It’s about ensuring customers see real value, so renewals become the obvious choice, not a discussion, especially if you’re navigating partner status in a new program.
This emphasis on post-sale Customer Success is common practice in the SaaS space that now operates mostly on a recurring revenue model, but there is a key difference: the nature of the product on offer.
The Cisco ecosystem, with its hybrid SaaS-hardware-services model, adds layers of complexity that pure SaaS models rarely face. Implementation requires solution design, deployment expertise, and hands-on support, and this means your customer success needs to stretch beyond adoption metrics into technical readiness and ongoing operational success.
Luckily, the principles of onboarding stay mostly the same, and all start with the same thing—data.
Align with the business model
In a world shifting from hardware transactions to subscription relationships, the Cisco ecosystem is a live case study in what sustainable customer success looks like.
Cisco’s transformation from a hardware-first giant to a software and services business started almost a decade ago, driven by the recognition that recurring value beats one-off transactions. But the reality is that this shift is less about swapping SKUs and more about rethinking how you run your business, structure your teams, and engage customers over time.
The shift to subscription models has elevated the importance of net revenue retention and renewals. It has also opened doors for partners to deepen customer relationships, not by chasing the next sale but by building credibility through value delivered across Cisco’s architectures.
This approach to revenue protection goes beyond “renewal management.” It’s about ensuring customers see real value, so renewals become the obvious choice, not a discussion, especially if you’re navigating partner status in a new program.
This emphasis on post-sale Customer Success is common practice in the SaaS space that now operates mostly on a recurring revenue model, but there is a key difference: the nature of the product on offer.
The Cisco ecosystem, with its hybrid SaaS-hardware-services model, adds layers of complexity that pure SaaS models rarely face. Implementation requires solution design, deployment expertise, and hands-on support, and this means your customer success needs to stretch beyond adoption metrics into technical readiness and ongoing operational success.
Luckily, the principles of onboarding stay mostly the same, and all start with the same thing—data.
Align with the business model
In a world shifting from hardware transactions to subscription relationships, the Cisco ecosystem is a live case study in what sustainable customer success looks like.
Cisco’s transformation from a hardware-first giant to a software and services business started almost a decade ago, driven by the recognition that recurring value beats one-off transactions. But the reality is that this shift is less about swapping SKUs and more about rethinking how you run your business, structure your teams, and engage customers over time.
The shift to subscription models has elevated the importance of net revenue retention and renewals. It has also opened doors for partners to deepen customer relationships, not by chasing the next sale but by building credibility through value delivered across Cisco’s architectures.
This approach to revenue protection goes beyond “renewal management.” It’s about ensuring customers see real value, so renewals become the obvious choice, not a discussion, especially if you’re navigating partner status in a new program.
This emphasis on post-sale Customer Success is common practice in the SaaS space that now operates mostly on a recurring revenue model, but there is a key difference: the nature of the product on offer.
The Cisco ecosystem, with its hybrid SaaS-hardware-services model, adds layers of complexity that pure SaaS models rarely face. Implementation requires solution design, deployment expertise, and hands-on support, and this means your customer success needs to stretch beyond adoption metrics into technical readiness and ongoing operational success.
Luckily, the principles of onboarding stay mostly the same, and all start with the same thing—data.
Start with clean data
As many partners have learned, this transformation starts with visibility. It’s not enough to have your data scattered across spreadsheets, stuck in different systems, or left to gut feel. You need to understand where your recurring revenue comes from, track what’s working, and build processes that turn insights into outcomes.
For Natilik, this is where Planhat proved especially valuable. By bringing together customer data that was scattered across three different systems and processes, they were able to get a 360º view of their customer.
“To be able to look at our clients' health and get actionable insights based on intelligence rather than just gut feel is incredibly impactful.” - Lisa Milnes
Lisa stresses that automation is a powerful tool, but only when the data is good. Data accuracy is non-negotiable, particularly when your communications involve renewal dates, contract values, or compliance topics. The goal is not mass email; it’s building trust through timely, relevant touchpoints that demonstrate you understand your customer’s journey.
As AI continues to grow in importance within the Cisco ecosystem, this diligence about foundational data hygiene will only prove to be more necessary.
Start with clean data
As many partners have learned, this transformation starts with visibility. It’s not enough to have your data scattered across spreadsheets, stuck in different systems, or left to gut feel. You need to understand where your recurring revenue comes from, track what’s working, and build processes that turn insights into outcomes.
For Natilik, this is where Planhat proved especially valuable. By bringing together customer data that was scattered across three different systems and processes, they were able to get a 360º view of their customer.
“To be able to look at our clients' health and get actionable insights based on intelligence rather than just gut feel is incredibly impactful.” - Lisa Milnes
Lisa stresses that automation is a powerful tool, but only when the data is good. Data accuracy is non-negotiable, particularly when your communications involve renewal dates, contract values, or compliance topics. The goal is not mass email; it’s building trust through timely, relevant touchpoints that demonstrate you understand your customer’s journey.
As AI continues to grow in importance within the Cisco ecosystem, this diligence about foundational data hygiene will only prove to be more necessary.
Start with clean data
As many partners have learned, this transformation starts with visibility. It’s not enough to have your data scattered across spreadsheets, stuck in different systems, or left to gut feel. You need to understand where your recurring revenue comes from, track what’s working, and build processes that turn insights into outcomes.
For Natilik, this is where Planhat proved especially valuable. By bringing together customer data that was scattered across three different systems and processes, they were able to get a 360º view of their customer.
“To be able to look at our clients' health and get actionable insights based on intelligence rather than just gut feel is incredibly impactful.” - Lisa Milnes
Lisa stresses that automation is a powerful tool, but only when the data is good. Data accuracy is non-negotiable, particularly when your communications involve renewal dates, contract values, or compliance topics. The goal is not mass email; it’s building trust through timely, relevant touchpoints that demonstrate you understand your customer’s journey.
As AI continues to grow in importance within the Cisco ecosystem, this diligence about foundational data hygiene will only prove to be more necessary.
Focus on outcomes
Customer Experience is not the result of a single department, but rather the entire organization aligning around the customer being successful. In practice, this means a focus across departments on knowing and delivering on customer outcomes.
By keeping outcomes as a north star that all efforts should work towards, you get clarity on prioritization of work, and how teams are allocated.
One practical example of this is about how CSMs are allocated. A common mistake is for them to be aligned to specific products rather than to customers. This means a single customer can end up dealing with multiple CSMs, none of which have a holistic view of their needs or progress.
Real customer success requires you to understand the customer in full context, across the different stacks and services you offer, not just the one slice your CSM knows best.
The partners who will win in Cisco’s evolving ecosystem are those who understand that customer success isn’t a department or a quarterly initiative—it’s a company-wide initiative that requires consistent learning, adaptation, and alignment across your business.
Want to listen to the conversation in full? Watch Cisco Partners: How to use CX as key differentiator now.
Focus on outcomes
Customer Experience is not the result of a single department, but rather the entire organization aligning around the customer being successful. In practice, this means a focus across departments on knowing and delivering on customer outcomes.
By keeping outcomes as a north star that all efforts should work towards, you get clarity on prioritization of work, and how teams are allocated.
One practical example of this is about how CSMs are allocated. A common mistake is for them to be aligned to specific products rather than to customers. This means a single customer can end up dealing with multiple CSMs, none of which have a holistic view of their needs or progress.
Real customer success requires you to understand the customer in full context, across the different stacks and services you offer, not just the one slice your CSM knows best.
The partners who will win in Cisco’s evolving ecosystem are those who understand that customer success isn’t a department or a quarterly initiative—it’s a company-wide initiative that requires consistent learning, adaptation, and alignment across your business.
Want to listen to the conversation in full? Watch Cisco Partners: How to use CX as key differentiator now.
Focus on outcomes
Customer Experience is not the result of a single department, but rather the entire organization aligning around the customer being successful. In practice, this means a focus across departments on knowing and delivering on customer outcomes.
By keeping outcomes as a north star that all efforts should work towards, you get clarity on prioritization of work, and how teams are allocated.
One practical example of this is about how CSMs are allocated. A common mistake is for them to be aligned to specific products rather than to customers. This means a single customer can end up dealing with multiple CSMs, none of which have a holistic view of their needs or progress.
Real customer success requires you to understand the customer in full context, across the different stacks and services you offer, not just the one slice your CSM knows best.
The partners who will win in Cisco’s evolving ecosystem are those who understand that customer success isn’t a department or a quarterly initiative—it’s a company-wide initiative that requires consistent learning, adaptation, and alignment across your business.
Want to listen to the conversation in full? Watch Cisco Partners: How to use CX as key differentiator now.
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© 2025 Planhat AB
Customers
© 2025 Planhat AB
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© 2025 Planhat AB