How Connection is Doubling its Cisco Incentives with Planhat
How Connection is Doubling its Cisco Incentives with Planhat
How Connection is Doubling its Cisco Incentives with Planhat
Connection is a Fortune 1000 IT solutions provider that helps businesses, governments, and healthcare organizations drive transformation through their technology strategy. To earn Cisco's Advanced Customer Experience Specialization, the team needed to prove an exemplary, systematic level of customer service.
Challenge
Connection runs its Cisco practice as a high-touch, outcome-led function: not merely selling a license, but proving that their customers extract lasting value from what they buy. In early 2026, the team set out to earn Cisco's Advanced Customer Experience Specialization—a rigorous accreditation that required around 300 pieces of evidence presented to a third-party auditing team, to prove an elevated level of service to customers. This would not only allow them to deliver enhanced service to their customers, but would also grant significant Cisco incentives, allowing Planhat to effectively pay for itself.
Before Planhat, the customer success team attempted to do this manually, pulling raw data down from across Cisco's ecosystem and stitching it together, but their existing system fell short of Cisco's rigorous standards.
“There is no possible way that we would have been able to earn the specialization without Planhat.”
Challenge
Connection runs its Cisco practice as a high-touch, outcome-led function: not merely selling a license, but proving that their customers extract lasting value from what they buy. In early 2026, the team set out to earn Cisco's Advanced Customer Experience Specialization—a rigorous accreditation that required around 300 pieces of evidence presented to a third-party auditing team, to prove an elevated level of service to customers. This would not only allow them to deliver enhanced service to their customers, but would also grant significant Cisco incentives, allowing Planhat to effectively pay for itself.
Before Planhat, the customer success team attempted to do this manually, pulling raw data down from across Cisco's ecosystem and stitching it together, but their existing system fell short of Cisco's rigorous standards.
“There is no possible way that we would have been able to earn the specialization without Planhat.”
Challenge
Connection runs its Cisco practice as a high-touch, outcome-led function: not merely selling a license, but proving that their customers extract lasting value from what they buy. In early 2026, the team set out to earn Cisco's Advanced Customer Experience Specialization—a rigorous accreditation that required around 300 pieces of evidence presented to a third-party auditing team, to prove an elevated level of service to customers. This would not only allow them to deliver enhanced service to their customers, but would also grant significant Cisco incentives, allowing Planhat to effectively pay for itself.
Before Planhat, the customer success team attempted to do this manually, pulling raw data down from across Cisco's ecosystem and stitching it together, but their existing system fell short of Cisco's rigorous standards.
“There is no possible way that we would have been able to earn the specialization without Planhat.”
Solution
Connection directly asked Cisco what the best platform for delivering a world-class customer experience was. Their answer: “Planhat”.
The team still reviewed the alternatives—but found them less sophisticated and flexible, harder to use, and less able to grow with their business.
While still in its initial MVP rollout of Planhat, Connection was already able to uncover much about its business that it wasn’t aware of—by pushing data into Planhat, it gained access to a more granular level of detail including critical nuances and insights into how best to support each customer.
“Planhat really was head-and-shoulders above every other platform that we reviewed.”
Solution
Connection directly asked Cisco what the best platform for delivering a world-class customer experience was. Their answer: “Planhat”.
The team still reviewed the alternatives—but found them less sophisticated and flexible, harder to use, and less able to grow with their business.
While still in its initial MVP rollout of Planhat, Connection was already able to uncover much about its business that it wasn’t aware of—by pushing data into Planhat, it gained access to a more granular level of detail including critical nuances and insights into how best to support each customer.
“Planhat really was head-and-shoulders above every other platform that we reviewed.”
Solution
Connection directly asked Cisco what the best platform for delivering a world-class customer experience was. Their answer: “Planhat”.
The team still reviewed the alternatives—but found them less sophisticated and flexible, harder to use, and less able to grow with their business.
While still in its initial MVP rollout of Planhat, Connection was already able to uncover much about its business that it wasn’t aware of—by pushing data into Planhat, it gained access to a more granular level of detail including critical nuances and insights into how best to support each customer.
“Planhat really was head-and-shoulders above every other platform that we reviewed.”
Outcomes
Not only has Connection achieved Cisco’s certification, thereby unlocking Cisco’s lifecycle incentives, but it has revolutionized the way it delivers service to its customers. The manual data wrangling that consumed whole days for the team is now carried out by Planhat, allowing the team to move their focus from passive license tracking to higher-value work that retains and expands accounts.
“Now that we have Planhat implemented, our entire customer success motion and role has expanded infinitely.”
Outcomes
Not only has Connection achieved Cisco’s certification, thereby unlocking Cisco’s lifecycle incentives, but it has revolutionized the way it delivers service to its customers. The manual data wrangling that consumed whole days for the team is now carried out by Planhat, allowing the team to move their focus from passive license tracking to higher-value work that retains and expands accounts.
“Now that we have Planhat implemented, our entire customer success motion and role has expanded infinitely.”
Outcomes
Not only has Connection achieved Cisco’s certification, thereby unlocking Cisco’s lifecycle incentives, but it has revolutionized the way it delivers service to its customers. The manual data wrangling that consumed whole days for the team is now carried out by Planhat, allowing the team to move their focus from passive license tracking to higher-value work that retains and expands accounts.
“Now that we have Planhat implemented, our entire customer success motion and role has expanded infinitely.”
Data Consolidation
Before Planhat, the team had to pull raw data from around 15 tools within Cisco’s ecosystem, transforming and interpreting it before presenting it back to customers; now, all those datasets are instantly pulled into one dashboard. The team spends that reclaimed time being present with customers—asking better questions about the outcomes they want to achieve and figuring out exactly how to deliver them. Planhat has also sharpened the team's curiosity; seeing at a glance what a customer has and hasn't bought prompts expansion opportunities and renewals that were previously not even contemplated.
Whereas in the past the team needed to spend time connecting the dots, now they can focus on spotting the cross-sell and renewal opportunities that drive account growth.
“Planhat allows my team to be more present because they're spending less time being operational admins.”
Data Consolidation
Before Planhat, the team had to pull raw data from around 15 tools within Cisco’s ecosystem, transforming and interpreting it before presenting it back to customers; now, all those datasets are instantly pulled into one dashboard. The team spends that reclaimed time being present with customers—asking better questions about the outcomes they want to achieve and figuring out exactly how to deliver them. Planhat has also sharpened the team's curiosity; seeing at a glance what a customer has and hasn't bought prompts expansion opportunities and renewals that were previously not even contemplated.
Whereas in the past the team needed to spend time connecting the dots, now they can focus on spotting the cross-sell and renewal opportunities that drive account growth.
“Planhat allows my team to be more present because they're spending less time being operational admins.”
Data Consolidation
Before Planhat, the team had to pull raw data from around 15 tools within Cisco’s ecosystem, transforming and interpreting it before presenting it back to customers; now, all those datasets are instantly pulled into one dashboard. The team spends that reclaimed time being present with customers—asking better questions about the outcomes they want to achieve and figuring out exactly how to deliver them. Planhat has also sharpened the team's curiosity; seeing at a glance what a customer has and hasn't bought prompts expansion opportunities and renewals that were previously not even contemplated.
Whereas in the past the team needed to spend time connecting the dots, now they can focus on spotting the cross-sell and renewal opportunities that drive account growth.
“Planhat allows my team to be more present because they're spending less time being operational admins.”
Product Adoption
Before Planhat, license adoption had been a key focus for the team, as it carried the most churn risk and took up most of their time. What was once a manual process is now carried out by Planhat, and the work has dropped to roughly a fifth of the team's time, allowing them to reallocate more time to other important motions. Instead of spending time trying to get answers about adoption, the team now have those answers instantly and their focus has turned to actually acting on them.
One unexpected unlock was unrivaled, live visibility into Cisco’s lifecycle incentives program and where customers are on their adoption journey.
“Planhat gave us a level of visibility that's going to allow us to double those incentives next year, which is incredibly important, because those incentives create an opportunity for Planhat to basically pay for itself.”
Product Adoption
Before Planhat, license adoption had been a key focus for the team, as it carried the most churn risk and took up most of their time. What was once a manual process is now carried out by Planhat, and the work has dropped to roughly a fifth of the team's time, allowing them to reallocate more time to other important motions. Instead of spending time trying to get answers about adoption, the team now have those answers instantly and their focus has turned to actually acting on them.
One unexpected unlock was unrivaled, live visibility into Cisco’s lifecycle incentives program and where customers are on their adoption journey.
“Planhat gave us a level of visibility that's going to allow us to double those incentives next year, which is incredibly important, because those incentives create an opportunity for Planhat to basically pay for itself.”
Product Adoption
Before Planhat, license adoption had been a key focus for the team, as it carried the most churn risk and took up most of their time. What was once a manual process is now carried out by Planhat, and the work has dropped to roughly a fifth of the team's time, allowing them to reallocate more time to other important motions. Instead of spending time trying to get answers about adoption, the team now have those answers instantly and their focus has turned to actually acting on them.
One unexpected unlock was unrivaled, live visibility into Cisco’s lifecycle incentives program and where customers are on their adoption journey.
“Planhat gave us a level of visibility that's going to allow us to double those incentives next year, which is incredibly important, because those incentives create an opportunity for Planhat to basically pay for itself.”
Expansion
For the first time, the team can see cross-sell and upsell at the product level—exactly which products are already deployed and which are missing. Growing its security practice, Connection has found Planhat invaluable in surfacing gaps in terms of what has been sold into an account on the product level, with agents enabling greater insight.
The team now know their customer’s businesses so well that they can help them through problems they didn’t even know existed and preempt future problems.
“The visibility that we get from Planhat at that granular detail is mission critical.”
Expansion
For the first time, the team can see cross-sell and upsell at the product level—exactly which products are already deployed and which are missing. Growing its security practice, Connection has found Planhat invaluable in surfacing gaps in terms of what has been sold into an account on the product level, with agents enabling greater insight.
The team now know their customer’s businesses so well that they can help them through problems they didn’t even know existed and preempt future problems.
“The visibility that we get from Planhat at that granular detail is mission critical.”
Expansion
For the first time, the team can see cross-sell and upsell at the product level—exactly which products are already deployed and which are missing. Growing its security practice, Connection has found Planhat invaluable in surfacing gaps in terms of what has been sold into an account on the product level, with agents enabling greater insight.
The team now know their customer’s businesses so well that they can help them through problems they didn’t even know existed and preempt future problems.
“The visibility that we get from Planhat at that granular detail is mission critical.”
Connection needed to prove it could deliver customer success at Cisco's highest standard. Planhat gave it the visibility, consolidated data, and depth of insight that enabled it to exceed that standard. With licence tracking cut to a fifth of the team's time, adoption visible at a glance, and expansion gaps exposed product by product for the first time, Connection went further than proving it could serve customers to Cisco's highest standard—it built the system to grow them.
Connection needed to prove it could deliver customer success at Cisco's highest standard. Planhat gave it the visibility, consolidated data, and depth of insight that enabled it to exceed that standard. With licence tracking cut to a fifth of the team's time, adoption visible at a glance, and expansion gaps exposed product by product for the first time, Connection went further than proving it could serve customers to Cisco's highest standard—it built the system to grow them.