Founded in the 1960s, the client is one of Britain’s leading retailers with over 1,100 locations and 150,000 employees. Natilik has a strong, ongoing relationship with the client, working together on projects across collaboration, customer engagement and networking.
  • Challenge
  • Solution
  • Outcome

Challenge

The client was transitioning away from its umbrella company, and into independent management. As part of this change, the client’s hardware would no longer be covered under the existing partner shared support (PSS) contract. The team needed to work under tight timescales to uncover what assets they had and ensure that they were placed under the right support contract for the business.

The transition had brought about numerous new starters and leavers across the workforce which made it increasingly difficult for the team to know what technology made up their estate, how it was used and what level of support would be required.

Due to the vast amounts of unknowns in the client’s environment, combined with the lack of specialist expertise they had in-house and dedicated time aligned to the project, the team knew they needed to work with an experienced Cisco specialist who could help audit the equipment, software assets and licensing they had, provide guidance on the service options available and negotiate the best cost and terms available.

Overall, the client needed a unified support contract that was simple to manage, would comprehensively cover its assets and provide the flexibility to grow with the business.

Solution

Recognising the tight turnaround that was required for this project, the Natilik team began immediately began accessing and interrogating the data that was pulled from Cisco’s Smart Collector tool; analysing what was included and how the kit was being used. This gave the team a deeper understanding of the client’s environment and a strong indicator for the type of licences that it would need to support their infrastructure.

Once the team had verified the full list of devices on the client’s network and understood the usage, they were able to use their specialist knowledge to advise on the support options which would be best suited to the outcomes the client wanted to achieve. The team leveraged their long-standing relationship and high partner status with Cisco to secure additional discounts on all options, providing the client with the best cost savings available on the market.

The client opted to move forward with a Cisco Customer Experience Enterprise Agreement (CXEA) with full-service coverage built in alongside Natilik’s in-house Client Success and Contract/Renewals Management services. This not only provided the client with enhanced service coverage but included usage visibility and guidance in how the team could get most out of their existing investments. It also provided the client with the flexibility it needed to add and remove licenses to its support contract, with a 15% content variation built in. This meant that if The client acquired new equipment, software assets and licensing it could quickly and easily be onboarded into its production operating model.

Natilik understood that as this was taking place during a post-divestiture period, the client was working under budget constraints and avoiding any high-interest payments was of high importance. The team secured a low-interest finance agreement to spread the cost of the investment and help the client meet the payment terms that aligned with their budgets. Natilik also supported with the creation of a business case for procurement, which highlighted the value of the investment and the long-term cost savings it would deliver to the business.

Outcome

The client now has full insight into what technology is in their estate along with the peace of mind that everything is under a comprehensive support contract. The CXEA provides the client with visibility and insights into the health of their assets and provisions for future equipment refreshes. The addition of the customer success service ensures that they are getting the most out of their technology, both now and into the future.

By leveraging Natilik’s specialist experience and long-standing partnership with Cisco, the client was able to access the best support model for their business at the best price, saving over £500k for the business. The team was also able to negotiate flexible payment terms which met the client’s budget restraints. It can now enjoy financial predictability and simplified billing and administration, giving their finance team valuable time back.

Now that the support is in place, the Natilik team are continuing to work with the client to streamline their licenses, with an aim to achieve a 15% reduction in licensing costs over the next two years.