Partner sales playbook

Cisco partner confidential

Cisco SD-WAN Partner Sales Playbook

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Getting started
Getting started
Why SD-WAN? Why software-defined WAN?
Your customers are consuming more cloud based applications and this is challenging the traditional
Selling motion Wide Area Networks (WANs) which have been designed using Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) for
connectivity, and where the majority of branch office traffic flows through a central location, usually the
What to sell data center to get out to the internet. This change creates new requirements for security, application
performance, cloud connectivity, WAN management, and operations and IT is struggling to do all this at
Tools to win scale and across locations.
Resources
Why do your customers want SD-WAN?
Security: Employees are now more mobile, and applications are no longer in the data center. This
inherently elevates the need for security. Customers need to ensure branches connect to the internet
and cloud applications securely, while supporting IoT devices and meeting compliance requirements.

Better user experience: Customers are moving from a consistent to an unpredictable user experience.
They want to Enable faster connectivity and better application performance for apps in the cloud (we
have seen up to 40% faster O365 performance), as well as greater analytics driven visibility into the
app experience.

Cost savings: Simplify the WAN and lower WAN costs through centralized management, security,
policy, and visibility.

Watch the Cisco SD-WAN Sales Brief Perfect your SD-WAN sales pitch

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Getting started
Getting started
Why SD-WAN? Why should you care about selling SD-WAN?
As a channel partner you can:
Selling motion 1. Capture more share in a fast-growing market:– SD-WAN represents the most significant
disruption to traditional routing and offers tremendous growth, growing from a $4B routing
What to sell business to $8B in SD-WAN over the next 3 years. With unrivaled integrated security and new
Cisco DNA subscription licensing, you can sell SD-WAN for any platform and protect your
Tools to win customer’s investment
2. Grow both on-premises and cloud-based revenue
Resources
3. Be an end-to-end provider of SD-WAN solutions for branch, WAN, and cloud
4. Open up a software upgrade opportunity for existing ISR 4K install base
5. Beat the competition, by providing routing and threat intelligence on a certified trustworthy
infrastructure

As a managed services provider you can:

1. Leverage a robust portfolio for hybrid, managed services, and cloud offerings
2. Easily manage the transition from on-premises to XaaS software sales and delivery models,
e.g., SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS
3. Reduce cost while providing leading-edge technology and services that are profitable and add
value for your customers
4. Offer new managed services through either Viptela® cloud or integration with another
provider’s cloud

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Selling motion
Getting started
Selling motion The sales journey
Selling SD-WAN requires a different approach and a change in the dialogue. Move away from a
The sales journey platform view (the router) toward a Software-Defined WAN architecture approach (SD-WAN). Shift the
Customer Outcomes and discussion toward advanced routing capabilities versus a router replacement dialogue. With SD-WAN
Conversation Starters enabling direct internet access, and thus the ability to circumvent DC security, IT must now address
new security challenges.
What to sell Software adoption will be critical to you and your customer’s success. An experienced partner with
the right software practice can help your customer to activate and adopt. As you qualify and discover
Tools to win your customer’s needs and pain points, you will need to identify which WAN offering best fits your
customer’s requirements. With either Cisco SD-WAN powered by Viptela, or Meraki, Cisco has the
Resources broadest, most secure and advanced SD-WAN portfolio in the marketplace.

Qualify Discover
Assess buyers Validate business
Business and technical priorities and pain
points
Assess partners
Which partners are �the Ask
best fit for activation Qualification Questions
and adoption? for an SD-WAN-Fo- Cisco ISR1K,4K, ASR1K,
cused Discussion
Assess the network
to Identify pain points Cisco vManage (Viptela)
Cisco DNA Advisor with
and required capabilities
partner/Cisco® AS
Cisco ready Review potential
industry specific use
Prepare:
cases for your customer
Select lead sales motion Set the agenda Adopt
and pilot
Use case Design and deploy
SD-WAN-led motion Branch Services
(Powered by Viptela platform led motion Whiteboard and work Deploy SD-WAN with
with your cisco account the selected solution
or Meraki) (Non SD-WAN)
team to Demo SD-WAN
Meraki MX, ISR 1K, 4K, ASR1K, Adoption plan
or pilot capabilities
Meraki Dashboard, ENCS, Cisco against immediate Ensure ongoing
DNA Center pain points adoption of new
ENCS, Cisco vEdge,
capabilities within Cisco
Define migration
DNA software
strategy with SE
subscription or Meraki
Agree on migration plan software to drive
N
WA 4 based on gap analysis renewals later
D- (hardware and software)

00
WAN isco S
Review Content on

0S
SD-WAN partner Does your customer’s Identify required
services, SaaS network

eries ISR
/C
sales play install base include:
ISRG1/G2/4K/Meraki/ readiness, Cloud
Umbrella/competition? migration, Direct
D- ki S internet access,
If necessary work Mera Connectivity cost
your cisco account optimization, etc.
team on positioning,
Perform a Cisco DNA Determine if you lead with
Readiness Planner SD-WAN or branch services
assessment

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential
Selling motion
Getting started
Selling motion Customer outcomes and conversation starters
SD-WAN led motion
The sales journey
Customer Outcomes and Customer initiative: Need to transition to cloud apps while making it easier for IT to enhance security and
application performance.
Conversation Starters
What to sell
Customer
Tools to win scenario
• Has an existing 4K but not
Resources running SDWAN
• Frustrated with complexity
in Cloud migration and
performance
• Has Older generation
ISR’s, vEdge or
competitive solutions
• Has different types of
WAN connectivity (MPLS,
Internet, T1, 4G LTE)
• Frustrated with complexity
in Cloud migration and
performance
• Has Meraki footprint� (MX,
MR, MS, MC, MV, SM)
• Values simplicity: Has lean
IT staff with minimal
experience
• Needs full stack UTM
• Needs full stack security
integration with their
SD-WAN solution for
cloud migration
© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Lead with
Position new Cisco DNA
Advantage / Cisco DNA
Premier software licenses
on top of existing hardware
Position Cisco DNA
Advantage / Cisco DNA
Premier software licenses
with the appropriate Router
- ISR4K, ISR1K, ASR1K,
ENCS or vEdge
Meraki Dashboard with MX
Engage with your cisco
account team and position
Cisco SD-WAN Security
value within Cisco DNA
subscriptions and Cisco
Umbrella attach
Possible
objections
I’ve already bought
perpetual licenses, why do
I need to buy again
Will vEdge be EOL soon?
Can Meraki do wired,
wireless, UTM and SD-WAN
on the single MX?
What security isn’t included
in Cisco DNA licensing?
Response
New SD-WAN capabilities are
only available via subscription
for ongoing innovation delivery,
position Cisco DNA Advantage
migration credits offer
Feature velocity continues on
vEdge, vEdge is now integrated
into ISR. No EoL plans
Tip: Customers
realize ROI in the
first month
deploying SD-WAN
Yes. The integrated
wireless models
(MX64W and MX65W)
deliver all functions in a
single box, with single
management platform
DNS & C2C blocking, Threat Intel
(See Umbrella Professional,
Insights); NGAV via AMP (Cisco
DNA GA March 2019);
Stealthwatch, Layer 3 SSL
Inspection (Roadmap); MFA (Duo)
Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Selling motion
Getting started
Selling motion Conversation starters Customer outcomes
The sales journey
• Are you deploying Office 365 or other SaaS • 80 percent reduction in cost/Mbps for a
Customer Outcomes and applications across your organization? is national insurance provider
Conversation Starters performance a concern? • $20 million reduction in Operating Expenses
• Is security and risk impeding your move to (OpEx) over three years for a retailer
What to sell SD-WAN? • 5-fold improvement in Office 365 performance
• How are you adapting your network to for a healthcare company provider
Tools to win address the expanding threat surface that • 100 percent application uptime during
SaaS, IaaS and direct Internet access is network failures for a national food distributor
Resources creating?
• 12-fold improvement in change control time
for a 3000-site bank
• M&A execution within 4 weeks for a Fortune
50 healthcare provider

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Selling motion
Getting started
Selling motion Customer outcomes and conversation starters
Branch Services platform led motion
The sales journey
Customer initiative: Need a router with branch services such as voice gateway, basic security, application
Customer Outcomes and optimization with no immediate plan for SD-WAN.
Conversation Starters

What to sell
Customer Possible
Lead with Response
Tools to win scenario objections
• Customer has ISR G1 • Cisco DNA essentials + • My current router is • The branch is
or G2 with a ISR 4K or ISR 1K doing its job. Why do I changing dramatically.
Resources standalone security • Cisco Umbrella Insights need a new router? A new router will give
service or Professional attach • I don’t want a you investment
subscription protection as your
• Customer already has
branch needs evolve
Cisco DNA Center with
Cisco switching and • Innovations such as
wireless Encrypted Threat
Analytics (ETA) Tip: Make sure
will be offered to qualify the
only by customer’s
subscription
current
• Customer already • Meraki MX + Meraki • All I want is SD-WAN, • The branch is
situation and
has Meraki licenses and my existing router about more than position the
can do that one feature; appropriate
Meraki provides solution
SD-WAN with
Unified Threat
Management (UTM)
for the branch

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Selling motion
Getting started
Selling motion Conversation starters Customer outcomes
The sales journey • Are you seeing changes to your WAN • Reduce the number of network devices in the
Customer Outcomes and architecture based on bandwidth branch and make it easier to manage the WAN
Conversation Starters requirements (video) in branches, or • Enable connectivity to branch offices with
increasing access to SaaS applications? a consistent user experience, and do it
What to sell • Are you seeing requirements to better within minutes
understand and optimize application • Improve performance for cloud applications
Tools to win experience over your WAN links?
• Support and secure IoT devices connecting in
• Are you seeing requirements for security or the branch
Resources segmentation of user groups in your branches
or stores?
• Are automation and simplicity key drivers for
your future network infrastructure?

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

What to sell
Getting started
Position the right product
Selling motion Cisco’s SD-WAN portfolio has expanded. It is important to properly identify which product line will best
meet each customer’s needs and keep the competition out. Focus on selling the WAN architecture
What to sell transformation first, then position a Cisco platform accordingly. Cisco SD-WAN powered by Viptela or Cisco
SD-WAN powered by Meraki.
Position the right product
Note: Cisco Intelligent WAN (IWAN) is still a part of the portfolio. Existing customers that are deploying their
Select the right license
network with IWAN should continue to do so. Cisco continues to support the IWAN solution.

Tools to win Yes

Position Meraki MX
Educate customer Meraki installed or with SD-WAN and
Start Win
Advanced Security License
Resources
on SD-WAN UTM needed?

No
Position traditional
SD-WAN No ISR/ENCS
With UC WAN Win
opportunity?
Op, security +
Cisco DNA Center
Yes

Yes Position Cisco

Customer wants
Managed Service Win
to outsource WAN?
offer/partner

No
Investment protection with
Existing Yes upgrade path to Win
IWAN 2.x vEdge/ISR using new Cisco
customer? DNA subscription licensing
No
Position Cisco DNA
No Yes Yes
SD-WAN Existing ISR customer ISR4K? Advantage
or Premier license to Win
competitor? (non-IWAN)?
support vEdge on ISR
No
Position vEdge alone or as part Position vEdge on
of an integrated ISR solution ISR + Cisco DNA Advantage
with investment protection or Premier license
Yes Position Umbrella
Needing DNS Insights or Win
Blocking Professional

Read the SD-WAN Positioning guide No

Win

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

What to sell
Getting started
Select the right license
Selling motion
With the new routing subscription tiers, customers get the flexibility to consume the latest technology
What to sell as either cloud managed (vManage) or on-premises (Cisco DNA Center) across the entire
routing portfolio.
Position the right product
Cisco DNA Premier, Cisco DNA Advantage, and Cisco DNA Essentials licenses are consistent with
Select the right license
what we have for switching and wireless. These licenses reflect the good, better, and best offers. All of
these licenses are available as 3 or 5 year subscriptions, includes software support and are nested
Tools to win SKUs. Cisco DNA Premier is Enterprise Agreement eligible.

Resources You can position:

Cisco DNA Essentials: Centralized WAN management with basic security and hybrid WAN
connectivity.

Cisco DNA Advantage: Cisco DNA Essentials plus SD-WAN with advanced security, segmentation,
and optimization for cloud connectivity.

Cisco DNA Premier: Cisco DNA Essentials and Advantage plus premium security with network and
application assurance, using real-time analytics, WAN optimization and threat defense.

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

What to sell
Getting started
Selling motion Lead with the Advantage license tiers, as you can enable all SD-WAN use cases. Choosing the subscription
is a simple 5-step process:
What to sell
Position the right product How to choose?

Select the right license 1. Identify license tier 2. Select bandwidth 3. Pick license term 4. Choose on 5. Determine platform
premises or for future scale
cloud managed
Tools to win
Resources

Centralized Management
• On-prem or cloud
managed
• Zero touch deployment
• Branch virtualization
with Cisco VNF
orchestration
• Day 0 and Day 2
provisioning
• Lifecycle management
Secure Connectivity
• Unlimited segmentation
• S D-WAN and advanced
WAN topologies
• Limited segmentation
• Cloud connectivity
• Secure VPN overlay
• Enterprise Firewall*
• IPS/IDS with Talos Signatures*
• URL-Filtering*
• Umbrella (DNS Layer* Monitoring)
• Basic application visibility
Policy based Automation Analytics and Assurance
• A
 dvanced network and • Network optimization
application visibility analytics
• WAN Optimization • Application trending and
forecasting
• A pplication aware policies
using path control, bandwidth
optimization
• Cloud onRamp
• Forwarding Error Correction
• Contextual insights with
assurance
• Encrypted traffic analytics
Cisco DNA Premier

Cisco DNA Advantage

Cisco DNA Essentials

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Tools to win
Getting started
Selling motion How to demo
The Cisco SD-WAN demo is available on dCloud as a scheduled demo with a full demo script for six
What to sell scenarios:

1. Overview of the vManage dashboard and basic configuration and capabilities

Tools to win
2. Hybrid WAN connectivity
How to demo
3. Insertion of new services using centralized policies
Lighthouse customers
4. Showing the simplicity of using application firewalling policies centrally
Cisco Services
5. Demonstrating the simplicity of policy activation and business policy views
Why Cisco
6. How to build policy-driven data center preferences for different branches
Start the conversation today

Resources
Schedule a dCloud SD-WAN demo

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Tools to win
Getting started
Lighthouse customers
Selling motion
What to sell
“Viptela has enabled First American to deliver a reliable quality of service for voice,
Tools to win video, SaaS, and Internet applications by means of application-based policies and
redundant circuits. And with about 10x more bandwidth, we now have the ability to roll
How to demo out many new applications.”
Lighthouse customers - Lance Abraham, IT Director, First American Title Insurance
Cisco Services
Why Cisco
“With Viptela SD-WAN we have finally enabled Office 365 and SaaS-based healthcare
Start the conversation today applications at our clinics. The positive user experience has given us the confidence to
migrate more applications to SaaS”
Resources - Eric Lester, Network Director, Acadia Healthcare

“Meraki has helped SoulCycle be aggressive in terms of our deployments, our growth,
and our scale. I don’t think there’s another product out there that can allow us to do IT
refreshes in the time that we have with Meraki.”
- Derek McWilliams, IT Engineer at SoulCycle

Additional customer stories are available here

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Tools to win
Getting started
Cisco Services
Selling motion
Enable sustainable business growth by harnessing the power of our IT innovations and proven expertise.
What to sell Our services offerings span the IT lifecycle from advisory, optimization, and technical services across all
major IT architectures to help customers in every industry globally build the foundation for the most secure,
Tools to win sophisticated, and intelligent platforms for digital business.

How to demo Learn more

Seamlessly Transition to SD-WAN with Expert Guidance from Cisco
Lighthouse customers
Cisco Services
Why Cisco
Advisory Technical support
Start the conversation today Get on the right path Fix problems or avoid them
Cisco DNA advisory services - Strategize, assess Premium quality technical support for all
reading, network security and analyze deployment gaps aspects of hardware and software -
Resources to create a custom digital transition roadmap increasingly proactive

Implementation Training
Migrate, deploy, integrate and validate Plan, design and acquire new skills
Expertis, tools and processes to reduce risk Virtual and hands-on technical training and
and accelerate transitions certifications

Optimization
Managed
Transforming the business Leave it to us
Business critical services - Extract the most value
Proactive monitoring and management
from Cisco products and solutions and create a
in other words, out-tasking
secure IT strategy

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Tools to win
Getting started
Why Cisco
Selling motion
• Cisco SD-WAN solutions (Viptela and Meraki) are the most deployed SD-WAN solutions (more than
What to sell 90% of Fortune 500 deployments are Cisco SD-WAN). Even with Tier 1 Managed Services Providers
(MSPs), Cisco SD-WAN has the largest number of enterprise customer deployments. Cisco has more
Tools to win than 10 public case studies of big brands in retail, healthcare, financial services, logistics, and more.

How to demo • Cisco SD-WAN (powered by Viptela) has the most complete feature set for enterprises including the
routing and security stack, layer-3 segmentation, advanced policies, scalability and software stability.
Lighthouse customers Cisco SD-WAN also has the most complete integration for AWS and Azure IaaS platforms, as well as
Cisco Services Office365 and other SaaS applications.
• Cisco SD-WAN solutions offer the most advanced WAN analytics capabilities that deliver
Why Cisco
comprehensive visibility, insights, forecasting, and what-if analysis for the WAN and Delivers the right
Start the conversation today security in the right place through a simple interface and licensing.
• Cisco is committed to continuing its innovation and leadership with Cisco’s SD-WAN solutions.
Resources

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Tools to win
Getting started
Start the conversation today
Selling motion
Sell • A single WAN architecture • Assurance and
What to sell transformation • Designed for the multi-cloud era analytics lowers
operational costs
Tools to win • Best of breed Embedded security integrated
into management dashboard • Application Quality of
Experience (QoE) for a
How to demo • OnRamp signi icantly improves cloud apps better user experience
performance
Lighthouse customers
Cisco Services Position • A single dashboard makes it easier to manage • Simple orchestration
simplicity and operate the WAN and workflows provide
Why Cisco • Cisco DNA subscription licensing gives greater agility
investment protection and flexibility to transition
Start the conversation today between Cisco DNA Center and vManage

Resources Deployment • SD-WAN only (vEdge and ISR or vEdge only) • License portability
flexibility • Full-stack branch with UTM (MX) across platforms and
deployments
• Rich branch services (4000 Series ISR, 5000
Series ENCS) transform the customer
experience

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Partner sales playbook
Cisco partner confidential

Resources
Getting started
Selling motion Q Where do I go if I have more questions?

What to sell A Contact ask-cisco-sdwan@cisco.com

Tools to win Additional links

SD-WAN education for customers, partners, and Proposal templates:
Resources sellers: FutureWAN ’18 Cisco SD WAN (Viptela) proposal template partners
Questions SD-WAN SalesConnect page Cisco Meraki SD-WAN proposal template partners
Additional links SD-WAN BDM
Meraki customer wins:
SD-WAN Call Guide
Healthcare: American Baptist Homes of the West
SD-WAN training videos (Learning Network)
Insurance/financial services: Penn Mutual
Cisco SD-WAN vEdge ordering guide
Retail: SoulCycle
Promotions and Incentives
SD-WAN customer case studies

© 2018 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other
countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: https://www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective
owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R) C07-741075-01  11/18