Cisco 700-805 Cisco Renewals Manager (700-805 CRM) Exam Practice Test

An action that a Renewals Manager can take to drive value in the account is to manage and mitigate renewal risk. Renewal risk is the possibility that a customer will not renew their contract with Cisco at the end of their term, resulting in revenue loss and customer churn. Renewal risk can be caused by various factors, such as low adoption, poor satisfaction, lack of value realization, competitive pressure, budget constraints, or organizational changes. A Renewals Manager can manage and mitigate renewal risk by:

Identifying and prioritizing the accounts that have the highest risk of non-renewal, using data and tools such as ATR (Annualized Total Revenue), ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue), iARR (Incremental Annual Recurring Revenue), TPV (Total Partner Value), icebreaker (a tool that provides insights into new and unique business prospects), and Adopt on Scores (a tool that provides insight into how well customers are utilizing service and software they purchase from Cisco).

Developing and executing a risk mitigation plan for each high-risk account, involving actions such as engaging with the customer, understanding their needs andchallenges, demonstrating value and ROI, addressing any issues or concerns, proposing improvements or enhancements, offering incentives or discounts, or leveraging partners or references.

Monitoring and tracking the progress and results of the risk mitigation plan, using data and tools such as CCW-R (Cisco Commerce Software Subscriptions and Services), which is a tool that allows customers and partners to quote, order, and manage their service contracts and software subscriptions from one place; and Customer Success Plan, which is a document that captures the account team’s strategy and actions to achieve customer success.

Collaborating with other account team members, such as Customer Success Managers, Account Executives, or Sales Engineers, to align on the renewal strategy, share information and insights, coordinate activities and touchpoints, and deliver a consistent and positive customer experience.

By managing and mitigating renewal risk, a Renewals Manager can drive value in the account by increasing the chances of a successful renewal, retaining customers and revenue, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty, and creating opportunities for upsell or cross-sell.

 CCW-R stands for Cisco Commerce Software Subscriptions and Services, which is a tool that allows customers and partners to quote, order, and manage their service contracts and software subscriptions from one place. CCW-R enables users to create new or renew technical services and software subscription quotes, submit approved orders, and manage their contracts. CCW-R also provides features such as co-terming, contract alignment, service level changes, and deal discounts. CCW-R is designed to simplify the renewal process and enhance the customer experience

An Accelerator is a one-on-one coaching engagement covering specific use cases that Cisco offers to its customers and partners to help them implement new technology faster and more easily. An Accelerator is a remote session with a fixed scope and a demonstrable benefit at completion. An Accelerator can cover topics such as design, configuration, migration, integration, optimization, or troubleshooting of Cisco products and solutions. An Accelerator is different from an on-call service, a deep dive on network issues, or a hosted webinar, which are not part of the Cisco Accelerator program

The Cisco offer that represents the best value for the customer is to ask the Cisco team to engage into a Smart Account or Enterprise Agreement and propose a creation of a Customer Success Plan. A Smart Account is a centralized account management platform that gives customers full visibility and access to their Cisco software licenses,subscriptions, and services across their organization. A Smart Account simplifies license activation, usage tracking, and renewal management, as well as enables customers to move licenses across devices and locations as needed. An Enterprise Agreement is a simplified buying program that covers the entire organization’s software and services needs under one agreement, one renewal date, and one set of terms. An Enterprise Agreement offers customers preferred pricing, financial predictability, investment protection, and flexible expansion options. A Customer Success Plan is a document that captures the account team’s strategy and actions to achieve customer success. It defines the customer’s desired outcomes, identifies the potential barriers and risks, outlines the key milestones and deliverables, and assigns roles and responsibilities to the account team members.

By engaging into a Smart Account or Enterprise Agreement and proposing a Customer Success Plan, the customer can benefit from:

A comprehensive cloud calling plan with ease, in a single unified offer.

A world-class collaboration suite built for hybrid work that provides Webex Calling, Messaging, Meetings, Polling, and Webinars in one unified offering.

A best-in-class collaboration suite that leverages AI-driven intelligence to create engaging and inclusive collaboration experiences.

A lower total cost of ownership by providing multiple best-in-class products from a single vendor.

A simplified contract management by converging software licenses, support for software, and support for hardware into one agreement, one renewal date, and one set of terms.

A trusted support from Cisco Solution Support that centralizes support across software and hardware and any third-party provider technologies in the deployment.

A guidance at every step to accelerate technology transitions through expert resources, best practices, and proven methodologies focused on industry-wide solutions.

A proactive and predictive insights powered by AI/ML-driven analytics and automation that help recognize potential problems, optimize operations, and de-risk transformation.

A blueprint for account teams to achieve customer success by defining the customer’s vision, goals, metrics, milestones, deliverables, roles, responsibilities, progress, results, feedback, and recommendations.

Smart License is the future state goal of licensing at Cisco, which aims to:

Simplify and streamline license management across Cisco products and solutions

Provide customers with a flexible and transparent way to consume Cisco software

Enable customers to view and manage their licenses through a single portal (Cisco Smart Software Manager)

Reduce operational costs and complexity for customers and partners

References: 3: Cisco Smart Licensing - Cisco

According to a practice exam question from TestPrep2, the correct answer is C. proposal build. During this activity, an RM would:

Provide an appropriate co-termination timeframe and gain required internal approvals

Align with the account team on the renewal strategy and value proposition

Create a renewal proposal that meets customer needs and expectations

Communicate value and the impact of Cisco solutions to the customer

Help the customer achieve their desired outcomes and realize the full potential of their investment

Provide feedback and insights on customer health, satisfaction, and adoption

the Health Index is:

An ongoing measurement of several key customer health indicators, such as adoption, satisfaction, retention, and expansion

A tool that helps Cisco and partners monitor and improve customer outcomes and experiences

A score that ranges from 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate better health

References: 1: Customer Health Index - Cisco

SD-WAN is the product that addresses network segmentation issues and is comprised of Viptela and Meraki products. SD-WAN stands for Software-Defined Wide Area Network, which is a technology that simplifies the management and operation of a WAN by decoupling the networking hardware from its control mechanism. SD-WAN enables enterprises to use multiple types of transport services, such as MPLS, broadband, LTE, or 5G, to securely connect users to applications hosted in data centers or the cloud. SD-WAN also provides centralized visibility and control, dynamic path selection, application optimization, and security policies for the entire network.

Viptela and Meraki are two of Cisco’s SD-WAN solutions that cater to different customer needs and preferences. Viptela is a cloud-first SD-WAN solution that offers advanced routing, segmentation, and security capabilities for complex enterprise networks. Viptela can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud, and supports multiple transport options, including cellular wireless. Meraki is a cloud-managed SD-WAN solution that offers simplicity, reliability, and automation for lean IT environments. Meraki can be deployed using plug-and-play devices, and provides easy configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting through a web-based dashboard.

Both Viptela and Meraki products help enterprises address network segmentation issues by enabling them to create secure virtual networks that isolate traffic based on business intent and policy. Network segmentation improves network performance, security, and compliance by reducing congestion, preventing unauthorized access, and enforcing granular rules. 

Enterprise Agreements (EAs) represent the highest value for customers who want to simplify their software licensing and management across their organization. EAs provide customers with:

Unlimited access to a suite of Cisco software products within a defined technology domain for a fixed term and price

The ability to deploy software anytime, anywhere, without additional costs or approvals

The flexibility to grow and adjust their software usage without overage fees or penalties

The convenience of co-terminating all their subscriptions at the end of the EA term

The option to include Cisco services and support in their EA2

References: 2: Cisco Enterprise Agreement - Cisco

The primary measurement of success for a Renewals Manager is the renewal success rate, which is the percentage of customers who renew their contracts with Cisco at the end of their term. The renewal success rate reflects the Renewals Manager’s ability to retain customers and revenue, as well as to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. The renewal success rate is calculated by dividing the number of customers who renew by the number of customers who are eligible to renew in a given period. The renewal success rate is different from other metrics such as upsell percentage, percentage of contracts closed, or iARR rate, which are not directly related to the Renewals Manager’s role or performance.

The annual recurring revenue (ARR) for each customer is $1000 and $1000. ARR is the total amount of money the company expects to receive from its subscribers over a year. It is calculated by summing up customers’ monthly or quarterly subscription fees and multiplying them by 12 (for an annual period). It excludes one-time fees, transactional charges, and other non-recurring revenue sources. In this case, both Customer A and Customer B pay $10 per seat per month for 100 seats of WebEx. Therefore, their monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is $10 x 100 = $1000. To calculate their ARR, we multiply their MRR by 12: $1000 x 12 = $1000. Thelength of the contract does not affect the ARR calculation, as it only considers the revenue generated within one year.

When renewing a contract with a customer, it is important to validate their business needs and ensure that the current solution is still meeting their expectations and goals. By validating their business needs, you can demonstrate your understanding of their situation, identify any gaps or challenges they are facing, and propose any improvements or enhancements that can add value to their experience. Validating their business needs can also help you build trust and loyalty with the customer, as well as uncover any opportunities for upselling or cross-selling additional products or services that can benefit them.