Smart Bonding
Welcome to the documentation of the Cisco Smart Bonding API - an easy way to connect a Cisco Partner's ITSM (Information Technology Service Management) system with Cisco's support ticketing system for the purpose of ticket synchronization.
Note: This documentation explains how to connect a partner ITSM system to Cisco TAC (Technical Assistance Center) via Smart Bonding through self onboarding. The information for customers is slightly different, and will be added at a later stage. If any questions regarding use of this API by customers arise, contact the Smart Bonding support team. For more information on API technical support, refer to Community & Support.
For more about Cisco's support ticketing system, see the Cisco Support page and My Support.
What is Smart Bonding?
Smart Bonding is the process of connecting Cisco Partners’ ITSM systems (ticketing tools for case management) to Cisco TAC (Technical Assistance Center) to achieve the following:
- Speed up time to market: The unique standardized integration method improves agility and economy of scale as partner networks grow. Quick and easy integration of organizations means partners can keep pace with business needs.
- Increase partner satisfaction: Accelerated service delivery and continuous processes increase speed to resolution, provide comprehensive transparency, and enhance the service experience.
- Reduce operating expenses: Simplified processes eliminate manual efforts and increase the productivity of your resources. Our cloud technology with a pay-as-you-grow model helps you derive a faster time to value and greater ROI (return on investment).
Building a connection to Cisco TAC (Technical Assistance Center) for the exchange of incidents gives our partners additional benefits:
- Automation of processes: By creating machine-to-machine communication, less manual work is needed. Automated process steps can be added to assist the workflows.
- Faster mean time to closure: By enabling real-time collaboration, transfer of information, and reducing the need for human interaction, a faster mean time to resolution of up to 45% can be achieved.
- Easier tracking of tickets and resolution progress: All ticket information is stored in a machine-readable format in one system. This allows for automated reporting and time tracking.
- No more swivel chair: Automatic integration saves time and eliminates duplicate work for data entry.
The compelling value of the Cisco Smart Bonding solution goes beyond just cost savings and increased efficiency; it fills the gap for highly effective service integration and management because it does what unique connections can’t accomplish. It provides end users with a single view of their entire support ecosystem. Cisco Smart Bonding technology helps partners meet multi-sourcing challenges and improve business outcomes and satisfaction in outsourcing business deals. Partners can manage a high number of service delivery partners, realize real-time communications, and have complete visibility of the service delivery process.
Smart Bonding for API and ServiceNow
Cisco provides two primary approaches for integrating Smart Bonding technology into partner enterprises: Self-onboarding and ServiceNow. Both options are offered at no cost to partners. Partners will choose their approach based on the type of ITSM already in use.
| ServiceNow App | Self-onboarding | |
|---|---|---|
| Supported ITSM systems | ServiceNow only | Available for all ITSM platform |
| Setup requirements | ServiceNow administrator | ITSM Developer knowledgeable with API connections |
| Connection method | Push/Push: ServiceNow sends new information to Cisco, Cisco sends updates to ServiceNow without time delays. (Push/Pull can be configured upon request.) | Push/Pull: Partner sends and consumes information from Smart Bonding APIs. Partner is in full control of the connection. |
| Implementation Process | • Download, Installation and Configuration of ServiceNow App | • Implementation of API Connection for sending and retrieving information |
| • Testing with Cisco | • Self Test | |
| • Go Live | • Testing with Cisco | |
| • Go Live | ||
| Testing and Go live | Jointly with Cisco | Jointly with Cisco |
 Getting Started with ServiceNow Installation |
Onboarding Process |