Especially now, in this era of remote and hybrid work, it’s difficult to maintain a handle on your IT environment. Your users are so spread out, spanning so many different locations and devices and endpoints, that it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the complexity of it all. According to a recent Cisco survey, 68% of IT leaders say their environments have grown increasingly complex.
This aspect often goes under the radar, but it’s nonetheless true:
Software licensing plays a major role in this complexity. Every time you get a new user set up to work for your organization, you have to worry about getting them all the software they need, quickly and efficiently. This process can be burdensome, but it’s essential – giving people the right IT solutions is something your business relies on to compete.
What you need, therefore, is a way to maintain visibility into your complete IT environment, so you know how your software licensing needs are looking at all times. Whether it’s bundling software, refreshing licenses, or simply maximizing the efficiency of the solutions you have, you want to keep an eye on everything.
Every time you bring a new user on board, it’s part of the process. This can become tedious busy work that takes time away from other IT initiatives.
But with the right framework in place, you can simplify the process of buying licenses. Cisco Enterprise Agreements (EAs) are a great example of that. Cisco EAs are designed to reduce the complexity of your software environment – you can consolidate all your vendors into one single source for IT infrastructure, collaboration tools, security software suites, and more.
The impact of this move is clear – it will help your IT team save time and money, as well as cut down on the training requirements that go into learning new software tools. Additionally, your team will benefit from the added license portability – everyone will find it easier and faster to move their software licenses to new devices, as they won’t have to purchase new licenses every time.
The next step is deployment, which includes everything in between the purchase itself and the moment your employees are up and running. How do you get people’s IT solutions installed and ready to run at peak efficiency?
This can be a time-consuming process if not done right, which is why Cisco and Zones make software deployment efficiency a top priority. Cisco EAs are designed to save your IT team hundreds of man-hours in the long run – Cisco and Zones provide you with instant access to all the software solutions you need, so you always have the right license for the job available.
In this transaction, everyone wins. Your IT team saves time, and your users are able to get up and running faster, meaning they can become productive, high-contributing members of your team. As for us at Cisco and Zones, we get the satisfaction of a job well done.
Your IT team needs to be constantly monitoring your portfolio of software, looking after everything from productivity to security to license expiration dates. And if your IT team gets too bogged down with these sorts of tasks, it can take time and energy away from other crucial technology initiatives.
Cisco and Zones are out to change that, and streamlining management is a key step in the process. When you have Cisco EAs in place, it’s easier to keep your eyes on the prize – 39% of EA customers say they’re still able to adopt new technologies as they manage their licenses simultaneously, and another 50% report that they plan to deploy new items.
This streamlining manifests itself in a few ways. One example is reducing “shelfware” – by getting rid of your business’ unused software solutions that have been purchased but are not currently bringing benefit to your organization, you’re able to get rid of inefficiency and press forward. These are little things, but they add up, and the end result is you have more resources to focus on strategic efforts that drive business growth.
But of course, you can’t just add people willy-nilly – you’ve got to be smart and strategic, and you’ve got to get people up and running with their IT in a way that’s cost-effective. Thankfully, that’s exactly what a Cisco EA offers you. Rather than go with an “a la carte” approach to licensing, which can be wild and unpredictable, you can go with Cisco and have reliable, predictable pricing on everything.
True Forward, Cisco’s approach to enabling flexibility and growth, eliminates all the variables and simply gives you a straightforward cost structure you can work with. This means you can grow your business in a smooth, scalable way, never having to worry about unexpected costs popping up.
The end of life on a software subscription can sneak up fast; you don’t want to be blindsided. If you’ve got products in your environment that will be past the end of support within a year or two, you want to be proactive about addressing that.
The good news is that Cisco and Zones make that easy. If you have obsolete software and/or hardware in your environment, we’ll work with you to first, be aware of those expiration dates, and second, handle all the necessary refreshes to keep your infrastructure going strong.
This offers countless benefits:
So don’t wait. Act now, and be sure your renewal processes will be in the right hands.
Cisco works tirelessly to deliver a wide range of IT solutions that benefit businesses like yours. Software and software licensing services are just the beginning – their menu of options also includes enterprise networking tools, security solutions, collaboration platforms, and more. The list goes on.
And at Zones, we’re proud to be a Cisco Gold Certified Partner. This means we have the deepest level of expertise with Cisco’s offerings, and we consistently deliver a high level of client satisfaction when we deploy Cisco solutions.
