The Cisco Meraki Dashboard: What are the Benefits Over and Above Other Solutions?

Intelligent, intuitive, scalable and centralised, the dashboard is one of the biggest benefits of a Cisco Meraki solution. There are so many reasons our clients find it game-changing from a network management perspective, setting it miles apart from other vendors within a similar price-point.

So what makes the Cisco Meraki dashboard worth the hype?

1. Meraki is a cloud-first focused vendor – and the dashboard proves it

The Meraki dashboard is fully cloud-based, and was designed to be so from the off. Trust us when we say that this makes a difference. This is a game-changer for organisations with large, multi-site, or diverse networks, bringing the entire IT architecture together in one place, accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. This shift removes the need for on-site hardware, software installations, and on-site IT staff.

2. The most powerful, user-friendly interface on the market

The Meraki dashboard’s extensive tools and comprehensiveness might lead you to think that – as with many network dashboards – it’s complex, clunky and difficult to navigate. It’s rare to find a control centre that delivers both technically impressive controls and an intuitive experience for IT teams. Here’s where Meraki makes a huge difference; its dashboard was designed with simplicity in mind, which saves organisations time, and supports staff with less industry knowledge or experience by simplifying network management.

3. Your entire network in a single pane of glass

Meraki’s cloud-first approach means that your dashboard is designed to house your entire network, including switches, APs, security, IoT, and device management – plus so much more. This is truly transformative for organisations with scaling networks, removing the need to log in to separate platforms and manage devices disparately.

4. Real-time analysis, monitoring and remedial actions

The Meraki dashboard allows administrators to monitor their network in real-time, offering instant visibility into network traffic, device status, and performance metrics. Additionally, it can be configured to send alerts and notifications for specific events, ensuring timely responses to critical network issues. Longer term, the dashboard offers detailed analytics and reporting capabilities, allowing administrators to gain insights into network performance, event logs filterable by device, hardware type, or event type, as well as user behaviour, and application usage. This information can be valuable for making informed decisions about network optimisation and resource allocation.

5. Automated updates and optimisation that cut costs

The dashboard simplifies the process of keeping network devices up to date with the latest firmware and security patches. Automated updates ensure that devices are running optimally and protected against vulnerabilities. Wi-Fi in particular can be set to auto-optimise based on user behaviour to improve performance, reduce energy usage, and allocate bandwidth intelligently. When manual intervention is required, IT teams can identify and resolve network issues without needing to be physically present at the network location thanks to cloud-first technology.

6. Smarter security, sown network-wide

Meraki’s dashboard makes security simpler and stronger simultaneously. Digitisation has made networking the backbone of organisations, and as networks continue to grow in size and scope, the responsibility of managing them also scales. Meraki’s dashboard has powerful tools for creating network segments, applying role-based and/or device-based security policies, as well as multiple access permissions for the dash, ensuring just the right amount of visibility and control for every job function.

The Meraki dashboard really is a game-changer when it comes to network management. Don’t just take our word for it – take a look at our client case studies. From cutting costs in time to supporting staff with an easier management experience, it has the capacity to hugely simplify how you monitor, manage and master your networks.

If you’d like to find out more about Meraki’s portfolio – and dashboard – you can visit our partner page, or get in touch with our team for a full demo.