Detailed Cisco TAC Best Practices by ex-TAC Veteran

[ccieexpert]

⚙ Cisco TAC Best Practices from an ex-TAC veteran ️

Tips  & Tricks for TAC case openers

I have long contemplated writing a "TAC Best Practices" document. Inspired by Alexis Bertholf insightful post on the subject, I have finally compiled my own version. Kudos to Alexis Bertholf .  My document is more comprehensive, drawing from my extensive experience working at the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for many years.

IT stability and uptime are pivotal for business success. Research indicates that even a single hour of downtime can cost businesses from thousands to millions of dollars in lost revenue. With this in mind, I aim to share several strategies to help customers resolve issues more rapidly, increase operational efficiencies, and improve the overall support experience.

I feel fortunate to have been part of the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC). It was a dream job that not only allowed me to resolve thousands of customer issues but also enabled me to learn at a rate two to three times faster than the industry average. Achieving the #CCIE certification, conveniently located just a few buildings away in RTP, was an added bonus. Working in TAC ingrained in me core troubleshooting fundamentals and essential soft skills. This experience was akin to a military training that leaves a lasting imprint; I apply these skills in every aspect of my life.

I am also humbled and grateful to have worked alongside some of the legends 🧠 at Cisco TAC – Wen Zhang Frederic Detienne David White Carlos Pignataro. These individuals made the journey smoother and served as exceptional mentors. Additionally, I would like to thank leaders like Joe Pinto Ana Pinczuk, M.Eng, EMTM, MSM Major Ved Prakash Sharma Tom Berghoff among others, who envisioned TAC as a world-class support organization. Their leadership contributed to TAC winning numerous accolades over the years, including awards from JD Powers and TSIA.

In the spirit of giving back, I am offering a complimentary review of your most challenging support case for the first five individuals who contact me. This offer comes with no strings attached but will be conducted under an NDA to assist in moving your case toward resolution.

►I would appreciate any feedback and also would like to hear about your support experience,  especially the challenges.

Here is the linkedin article post with the 27+ page PDF document:

Cisco TAC Best practices by ex-TAC veteran 

#CiscoTAC #cisco #technicalsupport

[Ramblin Tech]

Excellent paper.

Not sure how or if you might work in some additional insider insights concerning the various states that a case might be put into, especially the dreaded "customer pending" status. As an SE, I would tell my customers that TAC engineers typically have open a large number of cases, getting several new ones and closing several old ones each day (in the late '90s, I was told 20-30 open cases, 5-6 opens/closes per day, but numbers may be very different today). Because of this load (this is a Cisco problem, not a customer problem) and the way TAC engineers are evaluated (bingo score cards and time taken to close cases), TAC can be perceived to be playing multiple, simultaneous games of speed chess. That is, moving from open case to open case, making some small advancement by asking for additional information, placing the case in "customer pending", and then moving on to the next open case.

Just as a suggestion... you might touch on how a TAC engineer goes about resolving a case, the troubleshooting methodology, tools & CDETS searches, CALO repros, internal TAC escalations, BU/DE escalations, etc. This might help TAC customers understand better what is going on with the case after it is opened and why more info can be needed.

[ccieexpert]

@Ramblin Tech  Thanks for the excellent feedback.. i will try to add a section on that... It really depends on the day and complexity. You can get 8 easy cases in a day and close them out all in 1 day, or 1 complex case that can take you the entire day or more like a sev 1. TAC engineers have to do a balancing act. Kind of like a CPU giving each process some time.. There is a lot of juggling   There are  a few videos  on life in the day of a TAC engineer that shed some of what they do, but I think having something in the doc. about lifecycle of a case would be helpful as you mentioned. Let me try to come up something.. Thanks again. Please let all of your colleagues, customers etc know so they can benefit from this.