Business Continuity through Unrest

During this unprecedented time in the middle east, our prayers and thoughts go out to our colleagues, customers and partners that live in the region, their families, and friends. Although the situation is unpredictable, we would like to share with our customers that Netformx business will continue as expected in the availability of our solutions.

While our team members in the region are working from a safe location, globally the team continues to evolve the Netformx tools and provide the support our customers need to continue to achieve their business outcomes.

Cisco partners continue to leverage PIT and ChannelXpert to make the most of VIP42 Rebates and manage the extended VIP deadlines from other VIP periods. They also continue to grow their Lifecycle Incentive strategies from the extra insight we provide both presales and postsales to simplify and increase their rewards.

Great strides are being made with moving our enhanced Discovery capabilities to the cloud as part of AssetXpert. Slated for release in the coming months, the key enhancement will be the ongoing remote discovery features that are needed by MSP’s and solution providers that want to have a continuous eye on their end customer networks to keep them more up-to-date and secure.

What is your strategy to maximize rebates in VIP42?

A blog by Mike Johnson, Customer Success Manager

Yes, Cisco wants you to move to Solution selling. In many cases, Cisco is offering higher rebates in the Solution Track for the same SKUs you might also be selling in the Architecture and Annuity tracks. But the nuance is that just getting the Solution track certifications may not be enough to move the rebate needle.

What you should focus on first is . . .

ChannelXpert delivers financial reporting that is no longer in PXP!

Cisco have made an adjustment in PXP which means Partners no longer have access to the Monthly Accrual Report. Netformx will continue to provide the Monthly Accrual Report that has always been available in ChannelXpert.

We have heard from customers that this data is important for their financial planning, and they have relied on this Netformx information as part of their reporting strategy.

If you have any question about financial reporting, please let us know at sales@netformx.com.

AssetXpert for continuous network assessment and security (Coming Soon)

A blog by Mike Johnson, Customer Success Manager

I am excited to share that coming soon is a significant upgrade that we are calling AssetXpert 3.0. It will integrate Netformx Discovery, Orchestra Group’s Harmony Purple, and Netformx AssetXpert™ into a single SaaS solution that automatically maps and analyzes networks to detect vulnerabilities.

Networks are changing all the time. Feature and security updates, new assets or those going obsolete, and frequent network configuration and segmentation changes all make network and security management a moving target.

Unfortunately, cyber threat actors are targeting end-of-life network hardware and software. So it’s critical to keep SMB systems up to date, have a clear understanding of the network environment, and quickly know where to mitigate threats. To secure and manage the network you . . .

New Login Process for Cisco.com could affect your access to PIT

Cisco has changed their login process for Cisco.com. They now require a valid email address for your Cisco username login.

This change could also impact how you login to the Pipeline Insight Tool (PIT).

• If logging into PIT (https://apps.Netformx.com) doesn’t work using your CCOID credentials, you may need to create a new Cisco.com login with a valid email if you don’t already have one.
• Follow the quick steps in this product update article on how to login to PIT using your Cisco.com email and password.

If you continue to have issues, please contact support@netformx.com.

Cisco extends VIP 40 and VIP 41 Shipping Deadlines

Netformx continues to be a third-party advocate to build the business case to influence Cisco when there are program challenges.

After we worked with a number of partners and reviewed the data, it was clear that many were being challenged with the pending VIP shipping deadlines. We were very active in communicating with Cisco to extend the deadlines leveraging input and summarized data from some of their largest partners.

The updated dates will be reflected in ChannelXpert in the next week.

Helping Partners achieve better business outcomes!

We are here to help you not only by providing tools that give you better insight, but to also help you analyze the data. Our CSMs can provide insight on where you can better align your sales motions in order to optimize your rebates and rewards.

Additionally, if you are a VIP Calculator customer and need quick assistance calculating the potential VIP on a deal, Netformx can upload your BOM into VIP Calculator and get you an answer within 2-4 hours during US business hours. We can also help even if you are not yet a VIP Calculator user. In either case contact mike.johnson@netformx.com for assistance.

Feel free to reach out to us at any time for other assistance at sales@netformx.com.