As an award-winning Cisco partner and one of only a handful that has attained the Cisco Advanced Customer Experience Specialization, GDT has a deep history of driving customer value through our Cisco offerings, including lifecycle services. So, it’s no surprise that GDT has achieved 20% growth in services and 30% growth in enterprise agreements (EAs) in the past year—along with 276% growth in success tracks and premium services.
What is the secret behind GDT’s success as a Cisco partner? David Watkins, VP of software and services at GDT, recently sat down with Cisco’s Scott Schell to share how GDT is driving exceptional value for customers through our Cisco partnership. Below, we summarize some of GDT’s investments around lifecycle services and how our close partnership with Cisco benefits clients. For detailed information, listen to the full Cisco Partner Perspectives Podcast.
GDT’s Lifecycle Services Investments
In the podcast, Watkins detailed GDT’s robust investments in lifecycle services offerings. These investments include focused efforts around finding and retaining top talent, building Cisco expertise, and driving a workplace culture where people thrive and accelerate their potential. Such investments have played a key role in expanding GDT’s services but also in winning customer loyalty. “When you’ve got good people, and you have minimal turnover, that translates typically into strong client relationships and clients that stay with you for a long period of time,” said Watkins.
Taking a consultative approach to engagements is an important way for GDT to build that trust. When it comes to GDT’s Cisco lifecycle services offerings, that means helping customers find ways to make the most of their Cisco software and services contracts and other investments. “More so than ever, our clients need consulting and guidance and upfront collaboration in terms of all the various buying programs around software and support that are out there,” said Watkins. GDT’s consultative approach helps customers build their technology roadmap, optimize contracts, and reap greater value from their Cisco technology.
This approach has led to GDT developing a complimentary Software and Maintenance Lifecycle Assessment, which combines an automated review of a company’s Cisco estate with deep Cisco buying program expertise. During this interactive workshop, GDT walks through potential opportunities to reap cost savings by consolidating Cisco software and maintenance contracts into EAs. GDT also explores additional outcomes such as license optimization, standardized support, and streamlined software asset management. On average, the assessment has surfaced around $1.75 million in savings over three years.
The Value of the GDT Asset Management Platform
In the podcast, Watkins also detailed investments GDT has made in the GDT Asset Management Platform (GDTamp), which is built on the Ray Allen, Inc. platform. GDTamp provides a single dashboard to view and manage software and maintenance subscriptions and enterprise agreements and is available to GDT clients as a value-add. GDT brings all our clients’ Cisco assets into that platform. “It’s all of the good hygiene that you need to maintain that unified source of truth, ensure our clients know what they have…that they have the right level of support, the right level of software coverage, on those investments,” said Watkins.
Ray Allen, Inc. co-innovated with GDT to build out the platform and develop unique capabilities, including customer success insights. “We are the only provider that has our entire Cisco install base on the platform,” said Watkins. “So as a GDT client, inherently, you get access to that. Having done this for a long period of time, I’ve always known that visibility into clients’ assets was one of their primary challenges.”
Watkins noted that having this level of visibility and control is particularly important during renewal periods. GDTamp enables a single source of truth. “We knew that visibility into assets, and the state and the health of IT infrastructure was super critical to our clients. So, we said, ‘let’s get that right.’”
Listen to the Cisco Partner Perspectives Podcast
To understand more about GDT’s incredible partnership with Cisco and the investments we’ve made to support customer success, be sure to tune into the full Cisco Partner Perspectives Podcast. To understand how GDT can help you optimize your Cisco investments, learn more about our complimentary Software and Maintenance Lifecycle Assessment.
