GO TO MARKET
What are the best practices for creating a new service offering?
Defining the objective, the target audience, and the desired outcome is a crucial first step. Once these have been identified, the next stage is to work with the Meraki team to determine which product
or solution will fit best and then test this solution. Finally, outlining a launch process and post-sales strategy with an enablement plan is important for continued sales and revenue growth.
What level of marketing support exists?
There are a variety of resources available to support services launches on the Partner Portal. Additionally, the Meraki sales representatives and Cisco marketing teams are available to discuss additional possible options, depending on the service launched.
Are there examples of MSPs who have launched Meraki services?
Yes, you can find some examples on the Cisco Meraki website or speak with your Meraki sales representative for more information.
What is the policy on bulk ordering and holding stock?
Work with your Meraki sales representative on how best to proceed if a bulk order is needed. A Deal ID will need to be raised on CCW and the order must go against a particular deal or account.
Can SPs stock spare devices to support same-day replacements?
The current policy is to allow spare holding for specific customers, i.e. the service provider purchases devices for a specific customer and they can only be used for that customer.
How does a service provider hold title of Meraki devices?
Regardless of product ownership, Meraki requires a valid end customer on each order. For MSPs retaining title, the customer’s full email address need not be provided on the order. Instead, only the customer email domain can be listed for the contact email (i.e., donotemail@customerdomain.com). This will prevent any order or product information from being sent to the end customer.
Why does Meraki require end customer information?
The definition of an end customer at Meraki is where the devices are installed, independent of title ownership. End customer information is needed to comply with the Meraki licensing terms, which include third party IP, as well as to provide service providers with discounts.
Where the MSP retains title, a full customer email address is not needed, just the customer email domain. This ensures no order or product information is sent to the end customer.
What financing options exist?
Service Providers can choose to pay upfront, or use payment solutions offered by lenders like Cisco Capital. MSPs frequently use Cisco Capital for access to extra credit lines, to optimize cash flow, and to offer their own end customers more options to pay.
For MSPs retaining title of the hardware/licensing, Cisco Capital can offer payment solutions directly with the MSP. For End Customers holding title, Cisco Capital will offer payment solutions to the end customer. In this case, the MSP will receive full payment for the hardware+licensing.
LICENSING
What is the recommended licensing model?
Access to the Cisco Meraki cloud is based on a co-termination licensing model. Each organization is licensed for a certain number of devices, where all networks and their devices will expire on the same day, irrespective of when individual licenses were purchased. This co-termination date is established based on a number of factors including number of licenses and devices.
For Managed Service Providers, licensing can be applied on either a per-customer basis or co-mingled between all customers. However, the Meraki license model promotes an organization per customer. A pay-as-you-go model is not currently available.
Meraki is working on updates to the available licensing model which will better address this challenge so licensing should not be the determining factor in the tenancy / organization model.
Can licenses be moved from on organization to another?
If using an organization-per-customer model, and you wish to transfer licensing from one organization to another, contact Meraki Support (you must be an org admin on both organizations).
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Next: Common Meraki Managed Services Examples
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