Three key factors that influence the shift to consultative solution selling

Customers are overwhelmed with the data noise and need a single pane of glass to track application performance. Our customers want the ability to see where across the stack their problem is occurring and why. Additionally, they need to be able to tie performance back to business metrics and prioritize actions based on overall business impact.

Put simply, our customers want to make sense of the complexity and remove the noise. Full-stack observability does just that. It removes the noise and provides business context. It helps customer teams prioritize which issues have the largest business impact, so they know what actions to take first. Full-stack observability by Cisco moves beyond domain monitoring to transform siloed data into actionable insights.

Cisco’s shift to solution selling

Cisco is evolving into a consultative solution selling model in response to customers wanting to consume in different ways than they did in the past. Customers want solutions and business outcomes as they move through their digital transformations. Additionally, the application landscape created a need for us to have a more consultative approach.

The construct of visibility, insights, and actions has been around for a while. However, there has been a change in modern infrastructure and coding languages which drives the need for us to have better instrumentation.

Solution selling through a consultative approach simplifies the sales process and enables Cisco and customers to build better business outcomes today as well as new routes to market.

Key influences

There are three key factors that have influenced this shift into consultative solution selling:

1. Understanding the Traditional vs. Transformational Buyer Persona

We realized that not all buying centers are the same. The customer’s digital transformation requires different routes to market and help navigating the two distinct buyer personas.

• Traditional Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) buyer is the CIO who manages the IT infrastructure and core operations by partnering with those teams.
• Transformation IT buyer is more geared towards CDO and CTO.

The buyer’s journey is different, and these personas want a consultative approach with business outcomes.

2. Cloud Marketplace

There has been a business shift to transacting on cloud marketplaces such as AWS, Azure, and GCP. Software can be purchased on cloud marketplaces to satisfy customers’ EDP commitments. Cisco is investing resources to simplify transactions through cloud marketplaces and there are offers currently available on CMPs.

3. Best of Breed Product vs. Suite of Products

There is an ecosystem of capabilities. Best of breed and open-source products are still very common today, but buyers are shifting to be more open with the use of integrated suites due to the benefits of a common platform and unified data. Partners play an integral role in helping customers integrate their best of breed products or capabilities into a solution depending on what the business is looking to achieve. Cisco’s consultative approach allows partners the flexibility to advise on an IT transformation or integrate products for a specific business outcome.

Let’s Own customer outcomes, together

Navigating this journey and evaluating the possible paths aligned to business outcomes are critical to the success of your FSO practice. Your outcomes align to business needs which is the most important piece of the puzzle.

Cisco is here to help you navigate this journey.

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