July 3, 2025
Organizations need more than just break-fix support to stay ahead. They need a strategic, data-driven approach to managing their IT infrastructure. That’s why I’ve been talking with more of our clients at Marco about the advantages of Cisco’s CX Enterprise Agreement (CX EA) over the traditional SmartNet model.
If you’ve relied on SmartNet in the past, you already know the value of having solid hardware support and replacement options. But here’s the reality — traditional SmartNet is reactive. Cisco’s CX EA, on the other hand, is proactive, strategic, and focused. In this blog, I’ll dive into these differences and what they mean for organizations that rely on Cisco solutions.
What Is Cisco SmartNet?
Cisco SmartNet is simply a hardware and software maintenance contract offered by Cisco for its routers, switches, and other networking components.
Here’s what it includes:
- Technical support
- Replacement of defective hardware
- Operating system updates and patches
- Access to online resources, including Cisco’s SmartNet portal
Sometimes, maintenance contracts like these are viewed with suspicion by the tech community. But for any organization where, say, 24 hours of network downtime would be catastrophic, I’d say that SmartNet was one of the wiser investments a Cisco-focused organization could make. That is, until Cisco’s CX EA came on the scene.
How Is Cisco’s CX EA Different?
It’s an excellent question that deserves a thorough answer.
1. It’s Focused on Lifecycle Support Instead Over Product Support
SmartNet is designed primarily for hardware support. When something breaks, you get a replacement, and support is available if you need it. That’s good!
However, as more companies move beyond the old break/fix model and towards a more strategic way of managing their tech environment, SmartNet isn’t as well aligned with that approach as Cisco’s newer CX EA, which offers comprehensive lifecycle support across software, hardware, and services, as well as personalized onboarding, adoption acceleration, and health monitoring solutions.
2. You Get Greater Visibility & Insights With Cisco CX Cloud
One of the biggest game-changers with CX EA is the CX Cloud, a unified digital experience platform. You don’t necessarily need to have a CX EA to access it, but the new EA structure allows customers to access CX Cloud along with other CX services under a unified agreement.
This tool gives IT teams more visibility into the health and usage of their Cisco assets, helps identify security risks, and provides actionable insights to optimize performance.
With SmartNet, on the other hand, you’re limited to asset management tools like the Service Contract Center or SmartNet Total Care, which offer limited analytics and often require manual tracking.
3. It’s Easier To Manage
SmartNet contracts are often spread across multiple sites, business units, and timelines, creating a patchwork of coverage and a lot of administrative overhead.
CX EA consolidates support into a single, enterprise-wide agreement. As is so often the case when you replace multiple tools with one more powerful one, the result is simplified renewals, budgeting, and compliance, as well as fewer coverage gaps.
4. You Won’t Be Left Wondering if You’re Getting ROI
CX EA comes with a customer success manager (CSM) — someone like me, who will work closely with your team to drive adoption and ensure that you're getting what you’re paying for from your Cisco solutions.
SmartNet? Not so much. While you may have access to the TAC (Technical Assistance Center), there’s no dedicated success team working together with you to optimize usage and outcomes.
5. You Get Proactive Recommendations & Risk Mitigation
Through the telemetry and intelligence built into CX Cloud, CX EA delivers real-time recommendations and alerts on things like software compliance, end-of-life risks, and configuration vulnerabilities. To be clear, these aren’t just dashboards! They’re actionable tasks designed to keep your environment secure and high performing.
SmartNet typically doesn’t offer this level of proactive engagement unless you bolt on additional services.
The Easiest Way To Implement Cisco’s CX EA
Don’t get me wrong. SmartNet still has its place for organizations that need basic hardware support. But for enterprises that want to shift to more strategic IT outcomes, Cisco’s CX Enterprise Agreement is a clear step forward.
At Marco, we’re helping customers make that transition by aligning their technology investments with business value, providing elite support, and helping them unlock the full value of their investment. Reach out if you’d like to have an in-depth discussion about whether moving to Cisco’s CX EA is the right fit for your organization, or click the link below to watch as I discuss this topic in more detail with Chad Morton — software buying programs and services specialist at Cisco — and field questions from our audience.
