Better Together: How Duo Care Helps You Get Directly Involved With Product
The Cisco Duo team is filled with excellent researchers, designers, product managers, engineers, and more who know what we are doing when it comes to building a great product - but we also know that we are better together with input from our customers.
Most people are generally familiar with the product release cycle, but for the sake of a quick refresher, below is the multi-step release process that Duo follows:
Any organization utilizing a paid edition of Duo is used to being notified about features that have become Generally Available (GA) through subscribing to updates from the Duo Release Notes section of the Cisco Community page, but today we want to highlight the other stages and how much we care about getting organizations involved.
This blog is part of the Duo Care Trusted Advisor series. Duo Care Premium Support was created because we really do care. The dedicated Customer Success Managers and Customer Solutions Engineers who make up Duo Care help with initial rollouts, but we also guide you through the life of your subscription — ensuring you maximize your investment.
One of Duo Care’s favorite ways to provide additional value is through getting our customers involved in Active Development Programs and Private Previews. Think of it like having a dedicated advocate behind the curtain who is highlighting the ideas that you’ve submitted as feature requests and proactively looking out for new functionalities that might be of interest to you or that might help you better achieve your security goals.
Active Development Program (ADP)
Duo prioritizes feedback from customers at every stage of the product process — even when we are just getting started developing features. An ADP might look like connecting you with a Product Researcher for an informational interview about a particular topic that we are exploring. An ADP could be a Product Manager walking you through the mock-up of a feature from a design perspective and gathering preferences for the admin experience before we start building. It could be a combination of conversations and demos.
Mostly, Duo Care loves it when we can find and deepen the alignment between our customers and our product team. We especially love to find those opportunities through the Active Development Program stage. The focus of an ADP might be a topic that you mentioned on a previous call that could make your life as an admin easier or something that relates to a security goal you mentioned during the previous year’s planning session or something that we know you are already thought leaders on where we could learn too. Duo Care is always actively listening and eager to connect the dots to build things together.
Private Preview
In the next stage, a select group of customers are invited to experience a particular product feature before it has officially been released. Private Previews are the “kick the tires” stage where you have a chance to test out how a feature actually works and provide feedback.
One key advantage of being a Duo Care customer is getting early access to features. Duo Care has a close relationship with our product team, and we are always looking for opportunities to collaborate. We want to make sure access management is simplified, easy to use and effective — and customer feedback is incredibly important to make sure that the features we build are in line with helping you meet your security goals.
Every Private Preview runs a bit different, but it might look like Duo Care doing a demo of a new feature during a Product Roadmap Review, facilitating a call with the Product Manager of that feature for any questions about set-up, or giving you some time to poke around and test things out on your own. After an organization has agreed to participate with us, there are always a few follow up conversations to gather opinions, thoughts, desires — and circle back on any updates that have been made from previous feedback.
Public Preview
The final stage before a feature will launch to GA is a public preview. Those customers without a dedicated Duo Care team can gain access to the product or feature either directly from the Duo Admin Panel and an “Early Access” button or by contacting Duo Support. The features will remain in this stage until they are ready for full release.
There are plenty of other smaller stages that happen behind the scenes to take an idea all the way through launching as part of the Duo product, but we hope that this overview has re-enforced how much we care about your participation, investment and feedback.
Looking to get more involved?
If you are interested in adding Duo Care Premium Support to your current contract to take advantage of additional previews and development programs, please send an email to your Cisco Cybersecurity Sales Specialist or Cisco Account Manager.
If you are brand new to Duo, welcome! Please Contact Us to start the conversation!