Today, companies across diverse industries face the challenge of rapidly shifting IT investments to accommodate the changing digital landscape and move to hybrid work environments. With the significant shift to virtual communications in the past two years, powering remote and hybrid workforces to ensure business continuity and meet evolving consumer needs is top-of-mind for modern enterprises.

Without the right communication and collaboration resources, companies risk falling behind their competition. Cisco’s industry-leading cloud communication solutions that can help small and medium businesses, as well as large enterprises keep up with new demands, scale their business, and adapt quickly to market changes.

 

Benefits of Cisco

With a wide variety of  communication and collaboration tools available on the market, it can be difficult to know where to invest. Cisco is leading the way with its solutions that seamlessly integrate with communication stacks and meet companies’ needs. Cisco is also a recognized leader in the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) industry.

As a refresher, UCaaS refers to the integration of a variety of communication and collaboration tools across an organization. Companies are moving towards a unified approach, because it delivers a streamlined process to easily manage communications in a hybrid environment.

As a company, Cisco has deep expertise with corporate telephony, conferencing, unified communications, and contact centers, creating robust solutions that can power a range of needs. Cisco continues to add new features, capabilities, and services to their suite of offerings—ensuring that customers get the latest and greatest in modern communication. For example, in the past year, the company introduced a unified Webex experience that combines calling, messaging, meetings, devices, and business app integrations for a complete, seamless collaboration user experience.

Cisco has vetted partners that have in-depth knowledge and expertise with their product. These partners, including Intrado, can help you set up the service your company needs and navigate any challenges you encounter. A trusted partner also stays by your side ensuring you get the best experience possible and have a skilled advisor during the length of your contract.

 

Best Practices for Selecting a Cisco Partner

Outlined below are four tips to consider when selecting a Cisco partner:

1. Partner Status

As you’re reviewing providers, one way to narrow down your options is to see which providers are existing Cisco partners. Like many other tech leaders, Cisco only works with certain providers, like Intrado, who provide excellent customer support. Approved partners can develop expertise in specific technology areas, as well as in people, process, and infrastructure practices. These providers are carefully vetted and may be ranked with different levels (Gold or Platinum) indicating their status. Tracking which provider has attained these notable statuses can be a helpful filter when vetting your options.

2. Product Knowledge

Most importantly, your Cisco partner should have deep product knowledge and expertise. Having a knowledgeable partner is a no-brainer, but it’s essential to carefully evaluate how savvy a provider is with the products they’re representing. To start, find out how long the provider has worked with Cisco products, as well as their overall experience in the industry.

Another approach to verify knowledge with Cisco is to read case studies and customer reviews to see how the provider has solved customers’ problems. These resources live on a provider’s website and even in common review sites. As you vet the partner’s expertise with Cisco, it can be helpful to assess examples from companies of a similar size and in a similar industry as yours.

Finally, take the time to dig deeper into the specific areas or products you are considering. For example, if the provider has expertise with Webex, you can take a more integrated approach to understand what collaboration capabilities are best for your business—not just the ones that are familiar to them.

3. Agility

Modern businesses need the ability to turn on a dime and adapt to changes that unexpectedly come their way, and they should look for a partner that can support them in this approach. The partner should be able to drive this flexibility and provide guidance on how to modify your Cisco deployments if needed.

For instance, if your organization adds a customer service team in a new location, you’ll want your Cisco partner to help you scale your Webex solutions to make sure all operations run smoothly in the process. You should be able to leverage the provider’s expertise to ensure your business can make adjustments whenever needed. A best practice is to ask specifically about the provider’s process for supporting customer growth and enabling scalability.

4. Credentials and Licenses

As you are evaluating Cisco partner providers, be sure to verify if they have special qualifications or certifications. Providers may have earned certifications from other industry leaders, certification bodies, or analysts that may give you an indication of their level of service and expertise.

Alternatively, a provider may partner with an industry-recognized leader that has vetted them. In addition, you will likely find a good amount of information about the provider’s awards and credentials on their website, making it easier to confirm whether they’re a trusted partner for your Cisco services.

Intrado is a Cisco Gold Partner

For more than 20 years, Intrado has been a leading Cisco and Webex provider and has earned Gold partnership status for specialized collaboration. Intrado is a Cisco partner committed to helping customers find the best communication and collaboration option and licenses for their business needs. In fact, Intrado is one of 10 or 11 partners in the world with this certification. We are equipped with deep product knowledge and expertise to support customers as they implement Cisco and Webex tools and evaluate their solutions on an ongoing basis. As an Intrado customer, you get access to elite technology, service, and experience in one complete bundle. Intrado also prioritizes agility for customers. Our agile and flexible network solutions connect business and enable maximum performance from technology solutions. As business needs evolve, we support customers in modifying their Cisco deployments.

Find out more about our cloud communication offerings here.