Technology has long made an impact on the world we live in. Smartphones give us access to information almost immediately; social networking makes it easy for us to stay connected with family and friends and work remotely; and, as I mentioned in my last blog, electric cars make it way more fun to get around. The impact of new programs and processes using technology is far reaching and visible in our day-to-day actions with colleagues, clients, and in how we conduct business throughout our organizations.

At Cisco, we are committed to developing programs that make an impact. One program I am passionate about making an impact is Cisco Lifecycle Advantage. Cisco Lifecycle Advantage makes an impact, not just on the partners and organizations who use it daily, but a total economic impact in the way of cost savings and business benefits.

Lifecycle Advantage is a no-cost, leading customer experience management program for partners that leverages insights and automation to drive retention and growth. It centers on important milestones in the life of a customer and uses action-triggered email automation to provide partners with a simple, efficient customer engagement tool. Last year, Lifecycle Advantage introduced Success Program Insights, giving partners even more information to help lead customers through the lifecycle while scaling their own customer success practices.

We may be a little biased, but our digital experience team has always believed Lifecycle Advantage is a valuable tool to help partners automate processes and uncover new opportunities to connect with customers. Forrester Consulting, a third-party research firm, backed our claims when they recently conducted an analysis   to determine the potential return on investment (ROI) organizations may realize by using Lifecycle Advantage. The Total Economic Impact study is available to view, but I will touch on a few exciting highlights below.

As part of the study, Forrester interviewed five representatives with experience using the program to better understand the benefits, costs, and risks associated with their investment. Characteristics from these five interviewees represent what Forrester termed a "composite organization" -an IT services provider with 2,400 Cisco customers that uses Lifecycle Advantage to engage with 90% of its customers.

The most significant takeaways illustrate how the program "impacts" businesses and processes in a powerful way. After adopting Lifecycle Advantage, the five interviewees not only set up dedicated renewal and customer success teams, but they embraced robust processes to engage clients through their solution lifecycle at scale, enhanced operational efficiency, and most importantly, improved renewal and attach rates from 50% to 75% over a three-year, risk adjusted present value (PV) period.

The interviewees also saw improved data visibility with access to real-time telemetry on solution usage and feature activation, an increased ability to set up customer success and renewal practices, improved customer experience and satisfaction, and even better Cisco rebates as partners met higher key performance metrics thresholds.

Over a three-year period, the potential risk-adjusted cash flow analysis grew to$781K, renewal rates increased by 25%, and operational efficiency improved by 88%. The incremental profit from increased sales was$574.4K and from improved efficiency$206.6K.

For partners that use Lifecycle Advantage, the impact is seen in their relationships with customers and the operational efficiencies within their businesses. Simply put, partners who adopt the program do better and serve their customers better. If you're still not sure, check out the report, or better yet, enroll in the program and see for yourself.

View the report (SalesConnect login required):

The Total Economic Impact of Cisco Lifecycle Advantage (Full Report)

The Total Economic Impact of Cisco Lifecycle Advantage - Key Findings  (Highlights)

Enroll in Lifecycle Advantage

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