Here at Cisco, we take customer listening seriously. From the Global Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey to customer advisory boards to social media monitoring -and other avenues -we are constantly listening to what our customers and partners tell us they need from Cisco to enable their business success. One trend we hear in every feedback source is mobility: you want more options for managing your network from your mobile devices.

One way we've acted on this feedback is to develop the Cisco Technical Support mobile application, which allows you to:

• Manage and update open support cases
• Ask and answer questions in discussion forums
• Research Cisco products and services.

Many of you are already using the Tech Support app, but we've recently added some great features that make it even easier to open a case and look up a contract. I've asked Jim Fuller, Senior Director of Services Entitlement, to share details on these new capabilities so that you can do more with Cisco while on the go.

 By Guest Author Jim Fuller

Move over PCs - mobile devices are taking over.

Today, smartphones and tablets outsell PCs by a factor of more than two-to-one. You might think that the power and speed of the desktop would trump handheld convenience. Not so. Increased productivity has always driven innovations in computing, and it's hard to argue against the productivity enabled by the mobile convenience .

You've told us that you want access to information at the time and place that you need it, and that increasingly, this means having the information available via your smartphone. We heard your feedback, and that's why we're introducing new features to the Cisco Technical Support mobile application.

Imagine you have an access point that's gone down. You head to the hardware closet, find the affected device, and want to determine the service entitlement attached to the product-then and there.

With the latest update of the Cisco Technical Support mobile application, you can troubleshoot a device, verify support and initiate a service request on-site by scanning the bar code with the mobile device's camera. You can check a product serial number and see its service contract status. You can instantly have access to information such as if you have a valid contract, when it expires and what level of service is entitled. From there you can take actions such as opening a service request or accessing the technical information you need -all from the convenience of your mobile device.

These new functions add to the existing capabilities of the Cisco Tech Support app, which already allows you access to critical support documentation and service request tracking from your smartphone or tablet.

With more than 175,000 downloads, the Cisco Technical Support app has been a huge success, and we think that the new scanning feature makes it even better. But we want to continue to meet your ever-evolving needs, so tell us what else you want to see by accessing the feedback option within the app, and check out the Cisco Technical Support Mobile App community for the latest app updates. We promise to keep listening, and to keep taking action on what we hear to improve your experience doing business with Cisco.