Should you opt for a Cisco Enterprise Agreement to manage your software

Cisco is changing the way organizations procure and manage Cisco software through a new licensing model: the Cisco Enterprise Agreement (Cisco EA).

Choosing a Cisco EA provides simplicity, flexibility and cost savings. That's because it consolidates all your maintenance contracts and licenses in a single contract and offers license portability, upfront savings, on-demand deployment capabilities and more. You can also receive vouchers for services to optimize deployments and drive end-user adoption.

There are many benefits, so we've boiled it all down to give you the most important highlights.

What difference could a Cisco EA make to your business?

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Buyer’s Guide – Cisco Enterprise Agreements

You maybe aware that Cisco has introduced a new solution to manage license agreements: the Cisco Enterprise Agreement (Cisco EA).

This simple agreement model offers a number of benefits for procuring and managing your Cisco software suite (network,collaboration and security):

  • Get upfront savings and protected pricing for 3 to 5 years;
  • Consolidate all your maintenance contracts and licenses in a single contract;
  • Easily manage and deploy licenses through one simple portal;
  • Access free services to optimize deployments and enable adoption through Softchoice's Cisco Lifecycle Advisor program.

We have created a comprehensive a Buyer's Guide to provide more details on the advantages of a Cisco Enterprise Agreement.

Learn how the program works in 6 easy steps and get ready for the next level of Cisco licensing.

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Is A Cisco Enterprise Agreement Right For You?

Cisco licensing has earned a reputation for being complex and time consuming to manage.

As an IT professional, you need a predictable, straightforward and flexible way to procure and deploy the Cisco software that powers your business.

The new Cisco Enterprise Agreement (Cisco EA) promises to do just this. It provides a powerful way to simplify license management, save time and reduce costs. Plus, with access to value added benefits like vouchers for services and adoption support, you can increase the impact of your Cisco investments.

Learn about the difference a Cisco Enterprise Agreement can make through our new infographic.

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The State of ChatBots

On one hand, skeptics were wrong about the longevity of chatbot technology.

The hype has not evaporated. Organizations remain fixated on leveraging AI-driven bots within their customer experiences. Technology companies and their backers continue to invest heavily into the chatbot space. The market remains confident in the technology's potential.

This special report reveals the framework for that test. It explores the questions you need to ask-and the steps you need to take-to truly harness the power of chatbot technology.

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5 Keys: Effortless, Personal, Omnichannel Cloud Customer Service

“Omnichannel is the key to effortless and personal cloud customer service, yet Gartner and IQPC estimate that only 5% of companies offer true omnichannel".

So how do you get started? Here is a quick overview of what true omnichannel looks like, plus five keys for putting effortless and personal omnichannel customer service in play at your company, whether it’s big or small.

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Meet Bitnami Stacksmith

See how Bitnami Stacksmith can optimize your DevOps pipeline

Datasheet Overview:

  • What is Stacksmith?
  • Use cases
  • Integrations
  • Architecture templates
  • Support
  • Pricing

Package your Applications for the Cloud

Cloud platform know-how is built into the tooling, templates, and automation that Stacksmith uses to package and optimize your applications. Stacksmith delivers everything you will need to successfully deploy to whichever platform you choose.

Automate Ongoing Maintenance

Once your application is running, how will you keep it up-to-date and secure? Stacksmith continuously monitors trusted sites for new releases and security updates for your application's components, provides alerts when available, and offers a simple re-packaging process.

How does Stacksmith work?

You provide your application code and scripts, select a few parameters, and hit create. Stacksmith pulls together the dependencies, documents and packages them, and delivers everything you need to deploy your application to your chosen cloud platform - the VM or container image and the deployment template. Deploy and utilize native cloud services that are now available to you!

Stacksmith then delivers ongoing value by continuously monitoring the dependencies, alerting you when updates become available, and providing a simple way to re-package the application.

Templates encode best practices so you don't need to be an expert, and support for multiple platforms and formats means you can explore new technologies at your own pace and don't have to worry about vendor lock-in.

Stacksmith can be used to package and maintain new or existing applications, and can be used on its own or integrated with the development tools and processes you already use.

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Make a Smarter Migration to the Cloud

One of the biggest challenges organizations face when moving to the cloud is the skills gap. In a recent study, 96% of IT decision makers acknowledge a skills gap in their organization. However, it’s difficult to get the right training for your team or hire the right skills required to manage every element of your cloud strategy. Moreover, if you hire an outside organization to do the migration for you, you miss out on an opportunity to upskill your team. This is why we created The Azure Accelerator Program, it’s the only service where we not only complete the migration itself, we also provide the training and mentorship necessary to grow your competency around the cloud.

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3 Reasons You Need A Cloud Managed Services Provider

When you invest in the cloud, it opens the door to significant change and transformation. However, if you aren't prepared to undertake all the elements required to managed the cloud, you will face a lot of hurdles. Learn how you can tackle the 3 key areas often overlooked when transitioning to the cloud: the cloud skills gap, operational readiness and cost management. More importantly, see what qualities you should look for in a managed services partner.

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Why IT Leaders Fail In The Cloud

Did you know 57 percent of organizations have exceeded their cloud budget at some point? Two-thirds of those by more than 20 percent? Multiple factors like skills gaps and poor strategic planning are key contributing factors. Our latest survey of more than 200 IT leaders provides insights into the issues hindering cloud adoption as well as solutions you can implement to drive your own success.

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The 5 Stages of Successful Cloud Migration

When deployed effectively, the public cloud is a powerful and disruptive model. It brings positive operational transformation and greater competitiveness. But poor implementation is equally disruptive. Gartner predicts that by 2020, 60% of IT infrastructure and 70% of software and IT services spending will be in the cloud. Yet 96% of IT decision makers acknowledged a skills gap in their organizations with regards to cloud. With over 500 successful cloud migrations we created this guide to outline, in detail, best practices around moving from CapEx to OpEx, considerations for your first workload, securing your cloud and more.

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FREE Sencha Ext JS Trial

What You Get With Your Free Sencha Ext JS Trial

  • Access to Sencha Ext JS Premium* edition for 30-days
  • 115+ high-performance, pre-integrated UI components
  • Tips and best practices to help you get started quickly
  • Full access to Sencha documentation, forums, and resources.

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Choosing Web Application Libraries In an Open Source World

Building robust, functional, attractive applications and components that perform well on all devices and platforms is a time consuming and costly undertaking. Developers need a comprehensive solution that includes a fully supported, pre-built component library to build applications quickly and efficiently, so that businesses can get their apps to market faster and with better usability. In many cases, commercial component libraries used in conjunction with open source frameworks offer the best of both worlds.

Learn top considerations for choosing your technology stack as it relates to developing enterprise-grade web applications today.

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