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What is The Meraki Dashboard + 6 Key Benefits

Remote and hybrid work is the future. According to Forbes a surprising 32% of hybrid workers state they would consider a pay cut to work remotely full-time. This statistic alone demonstrates the high value that workers have on flexibility and autonomy.


Numbers don’t lie, that’s why thousands of businesses are switching to cloud networking solutions because it allows administrators the ability to manage, configure, and deploy their networks remotely while providing employees the autonomy and flexibility that they need to feel comfortable on their daily tasks.


Everything has a downside, and most of the time one of the cons of cloud networking solutions is complicated management. But what if I told you that the Meraki Dashboard makes managing your network as simple as it gets?


Read this blog to discover what is the Meraki Dashboard is and the amazing features that it has to offer!


Man monitoring a server and using his laptop.


Table of Contents


What is the Meraki Dashboard?

The Meraki Dashboard is Cisco Meraki’s cloud-based centralized management platform. This solution allows you to manage all your Meraki devices through a simple, safe, and easy-to-use platform while eliminating the need to be in the office or have 24x7 on-site management.


Administrating your devices through the Meraki Dashboard will allow you to:

  • Improve Network Visibility

  • Manage all your network devices through the cloud

  • Easily scale your network to fit your specific needs

  • & more!


Cisco Meraki Dashboard Overview.

Amazing Meraki Dashboard Features

Application Performance Indicator


In the past, network management and application performance monitoring were handled separately. Separate products were purchased for each function and separate teams were assigned to manage them.


In the Meraki Dashboard, network management and application performance monitoring are seamlessly combined, making it easier for IT departments to efficiently manage and monitor their networks including your day-to-day applications like Microsoft Office, ERP systems, or your accounting software.


Get detailed insights into application failures, analyze application performance and statistics from the user's perspective, and pinpoint the network devices impacting their experience.


Per Network View

Application performance is key to providing a smooth user experience. Monitor the performance metrics of your applications no matter where they are being accessed to ensure they’re operating at peak efficiency. The aggregated data in the Meraki Dashboard enables proactive monitoring of application performance.


WAN Monitoring

Get detailed insights into your network's performance for every location and device. From latency and throughput to packet loss and jitter, the Meraki dashboard covers it all. Stay on top of issues with timely alerts or provide rapid troubleshooting feedback to your engineers.


The Meraki dashboard brings all the information together in one central place, ensuring a stable infrastructure. Experience the convenience of monitoring everything at a glance.


Imagine you're experiencing problems with your Web Applications or WAN Links, and you're not sure where the issue lies. Is it the network? Is it the application? That's where Meraki Insight steps in. It monitors performance and pinpoints the root cause of any problems, helping you to identify and resolve issues more effectively, and keep things running smoothly.


Meraki WAN Health is a nifty tool designed to keep an eye on your ISP connections. If you're having problems with your internet, it's the go-to for troubleshooting and creating reports. It doesn't just look after your main ISP uplink, but also your backup connections like WAN2 and LTE. So, if your network goes down, WAN Health steps in to help figure out if the problem is within your local network or if it's an issue with the wider internet connection from your ISP.


Sustainability

Features like port-scheduling have recently been improved to add port notification suppression and allow administrators to remotely power down switching ports that are not in use resulting in up to 50% cost reduction in some cases!


Actionable Alerting on Insight Data

Campuses, data centers, multi-site companies, and thousands of big organizations leverage the Meraki Insight and RCA alert hub to easily keep track of the performance and network devices inside large and complex networks.

With this amazing feature, your Meraki Dashboard manager can easily set personalized alerts to allow your IT team to stay vigilant and receive instant notification via email when an issue arises.


Smart Root Cause Analysis

According to Verizon, 60% of issues are discovered within days but the other 40% of issues take weeks or months to be resolved!


The Meraki Root Cause Analysis (RCA) feature upgrade is designed to empower both IT admins and users with comprehensive insight into the root causes of application problems. When an alert pops up concerning your LAN, WAN, or server, RCA springs into action, leading you straight to a troubleshooting page for a deeper exploration of the issue.


But it's not just about identifying the problem; RCA takes a step further. It provides concrete actions you can take to resolve the problem, ensuring you're not left in the dark after diagnosis. Therefore, with RCA, you're not just getting a wealth of data to sift through; you're getting a solution-centric service that aids in swift issue resolution.


Benefits Meraki Dashboard


The Meraki Dashboard Saves You Time and Money

Did you know that 70% of cybersecurity professionals believe that network security incidents could have been prevented if they had better data visibility? Being able to have a complete overview of your network's health and performance will allow you to increase your network efficiency while reducing the number of resources and staff needed to maintain your network in optimal conditions.


The added visibility obtained by the Meraki Dashboard allows your IT team to focus on profitable business tasks without investing lots of time in maintenance, hardware upgrades, and training!


The Meraki Dashboard Simplifies Management

With the Meraki Dashboard, you can manage all your devices and networks in one place. Monitor your network's health, performance, connected devices, and more on one platform and with just a click.


The Meraki Dashboard Needs Minimal to No Configuration

The Meraki Dashboard can be deployed with just a click. Just log into your account and start managing your network from the cloud!

The Meraki Dashboard Fits Both Small Businesses and Enterprise Level Organizations

Both small and enterprise-level organizations see great benefits when adopting the Meraki dashboard. Small businesses can manage their networks efficiently without the need to invest heavily in time and resources, while enterprise-level organizations can ensure all their compliance and performance requirements are met while having an extremely scalable solution that grows with their business.


The Meraki Dashboard License is Cost Efficient

Meraki device licenses grant you access to the Meraki dashboard! Licensing includes 24x7 support and a hardware warranty.


New Meraki equipment requires a minimum one-year license for each device, but there are great savings with the 3,5,7 and 10-year options.


Once your license's expiration date hits, you're granted a short grace period. You should know that all your devices will stop working if licensing is not renewed. You might still be able to use a few functions but be aware that the dashboard, through which you manage visibility, configuration, and control, can only be accessed with an active Meraki license.


The Meraki Dashboard API With the Meraki Dashboard API, you can manage and monitor all your network and endpoint devices at once! Some of the capabilities of the Meraki Dashboard API include:

  • Add new organizations, admins, networks, devices, VLANs

  • Configure thousands of networks in minutes

  • On-board and off-board new employees’ teleworker setup automatically

  • Build your own dashboard for store managers, field techs, unique use cases, and more!


Schedule Your Meraki Dashboard Demo Today!

Would you like to experience the full power of the Cisco Meraki and the Meraki Dashboard? Give us a call or send us an email to schedule your free Meraki Dashboard Demo and discover if this solution meets your specific needs.


BTI, The Meraki Dealer Near Me

With Meraki and BTI, managing your network is easy and cost-efficient! If you are looking for a professional partner that can provide, maintain, and support all your networking needs you are in the right place.


Are you ready to experience the full power of Cisco Meraki and BTI? Contact us today


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