Last summer, my family purchased an electric vehicle (EV). Excited about the prospect of never having to go to a gas station, our purchase originated mainly from convenience, and who are we kidding, cool technology. Since then, we have enjoyed our EV, taking it on trips, charging it when needed, and only stopping at gas stations for snacks, candy, and the occasional lottery ticket.

One of the unexpected perks of our EV has been car maintenance-or lack thereof. At 15,000 miles, owners simply replace the windshield washer fluid, with all other enhancements delivered to the vehicle as updates via the cloud. The car also constantly collects data through sensors from its surrounding environment to help refine the driver experience and advance its technology.

Using data to drive engagement

Like my EV, Cisco collects data to understand how our products and services are being used by our partners and customers. We then gain insights on how to further improve our programs. Without this information, it is difficult to know whether a customer is using their purchase efficiently and effectively, or whether bugs and issues are causing problems. Through telemetry, we can automatically collect the data we need from customers in a transparent and ethical way, then analyze it to improve the processes and performance of our devices and software.

In May, we went a step further, releasing enhanced telemetry in Cisco Lifecycle Advantage Success Program Insights. If you don't know, Lifecycle Advantage is a 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. If you aren't already enrolled, you're really missing out.

Enhanced telemetry, better guidance

With Lifecycle Advantage Success Program Insights, partners get even more information to help lead customers through the lifecycle while scaling their own customer success practices. Success Program Insights gives partners ways to better manage accounts, act on recommendations to progress stalled customers, connect data to customers, and in turn, help customers get the most from their investment. All this, at no cost to the partner.

For partners to see telemetry data, a customer must first provide digital consent. Partners can access the link to request customer consent directly within Success Program Insights. This consent gives partners permission to view data collected from the customer's use of the product or service they purchased. Before enhanced telemetry, partners could see general telemetry data, but it was difficult to understand how to use it or align it to customer progression. With enhanced telemetry, partners gain a deeper understanding of how customers are progressing in their deployment with direction on how to use the data to better support them. The enhancements show recommended and required exit criteria that customers should meet to continue through the lifecycle. Each exit criterion is checked off upon completion, along with the date of when telemetry was last collected. There is also extra context around telemetry points, interface improvements for clarity around when exit criteria are completed, and an overall standardized and simplistic format. Not to mention, it is available for all offers available in Success Program Insights.

Improved customer satisfaction

With access to this new data, partners can help customers realize value from their investment sooner and personalize the customer experience, ultimately leading to improved customer satisfaction and higher renewal rates.

While my EV uses the data it collects to enhance my car's sound system, incorporate a blind-spot video, or introduce cool sound effects that replace the horn; Cisco uses the data it collects to understand our customers better and support our partners with programs and services that meet their needs.

Enroll in Lifecycle Advantage today

Already enrolled? Log in and check out enhanced telemetry in Success Program Insights.

Want to see enhanced telemetry in action? Visit us at Cisco Live, June 12-16, 2022

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