Cisco hands customer cloud calculator to channel

New tool helps partners establish how customers can benefit from cloud and create a strategy

Cisco has given partners access to a tool it has created to help them sell cloud to customers by working out exactly how much the latter could save by investing in the technology.

The Cisco Business Cloud Advisor tool provides customers with information on how much time and money they could save by moving to cloud.

In the past it has not been available to partners, but on a blog published today Cisco's director of cloud and managed services partner enablement, Christian Treille, said this will no longer be the case.

"Now we're making it available to you, our partners, to make your customer conversations easier," he said. "Consider the benefits of showing customers how much they will gain and how much more competitive and productive they will be with a cloud strategy."

The tool has been developed based on in-depth market research carried out with IDC. More than 3,400 organisations across 17 countries were surveyed and their responses translated into the customer cloud calculator.

Cisco said research it carried out with IDC showed that just one per cent of organisations have fully optimised cloud strategies in place.

"Using the Cisco Business Cloud Advisor, you can provide cost and time-to-market improvement estimates based on an organisation's cloud adoption," Treille added.

"Once your customers understand the business benefits of cloud adoption, you can offer concrete recommendations, and strategy that includes real solutions and services – from your portfolio and ours – to help them meet their business needs."