cisco Meraki Organizations Head Cloud-First into Success User Guide

: June 10, 2024
: Cisco

Table of Contents

cisco Meraki Organizations Head Cloud-First into Success
Product Information
Product Usage Instructions
By design, cloud technology
Creating agility and building resilience
Improving productivity in a digital world
Cutting costs and inefficiencies
Driving revenue through innovation
Enhancing experiences for all
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

cisco Meraki Organizations Head Cloud-First into Success

Product Information

The product is a cloud-managed platform that enables organizations to adopt a digital-first approach, providing agility, savings, cost optimization, resilience, and flexibility. The cloud technology provides a unified approach that removes the complexity usually associated with bringing together information technology,devices, and physical environments. By using this product, organizations can achieve digital resiliency, business resilience enabled by technology, and improve productivity while reducing costs and inefficiencies.

Product Usage Instructions

Sign up for the cloud-managed platform at meraki.com.
Follow the instructions to set up the platform.
Access the cloud-based data and tools from anywhere to improve productivity and streamline operations.
Integrate IoT devices such as sensors and cameras into the network to reduce errors and detect risks proactively.
Combine physical security and cybersecurity onto one network to take advantage of cloud-based efficiencies and cut costs.
Partner with IT and security teams to create a distributed, reliable, cloud-first architecture to achieve digital resiliency.

Security threats? Supply chain disruptions? Changes in the workforce?

Today’s leaders must be prepared for any challenges—or opportunities—that may come their way. To remain resilient in a world of constant change, organizations are turning to a digital-first approach.
The cloud has become the primary enabler of digital-first businesses, delivering agility, savings and cost optimization, resilience, and flexibility. Indeed, there are no digital-first businesses without the cloud.

But not just any cloud approach will do.
To get the full benefit of the cloud, organizations require a unified approach that removes the complexity usually associated with bringing together information technology, devices, and physical environments.
They need a cloud-managed platform.

So why should business leaders seeking to better steer their organizations in times of disruption—and in times of growth—look to the cloud?

By design, cloud technology

Enables agility and resilience
Improves productivity
Reduces costs and inefficiencies
Drives revenue through innovation
Enhances experiences

Creating agility and building resilience

Having the best product or service does no good if your infrastructure can’t scale to quickly meet demand or is unreliable. Indeed, according to Gartner, resilience is now a “business differentiator.”
Resilience is also about being secure. The more an organization’s IT and security teams partner to create a distributed, reliable, cloud-first architecture, the more resilient and prepared that enterprise will be for whatever lies ahead, a Cisco study found.

Organizations want to achieve “digital resiliency,” or business resilience enabled by technology, said Dr. William Lee, Research Director for IDC Cloud Services Asia/Pacific.
In the same discussion—which focused
on how a digital approach is at the core of business transformation to enable leaner operations, digital-at-scale, and speed to scale—Lee went on to say, “The platform has to be cloud because cloud will be the natural platform to bring this all together.”

Improving productivity in a digital world

Dispersed workforces, talent shortages, supply chain disruptions, and pricing pressures are forcing organizations to improve productivity and streamline operations—and they’re discovering help in the cloud.
With access to cloud-based data and tools, employees can work from practically anywhere, securely collaborating with colleagues and customers. Enterprises can extend their hiring reach and connect with new geographies and markets.
They also can expand productivity by reducing expensive errors. For example, integrating IoT devices such as sensors and cameras into the network helps manufacturers spot defective parts or proactively detect risks like improper
use or lack of safety gear.

Cutting costs and inefficiencies

Along with increased productivity, businesses can rely on the cloud to help curtail costs and inefficiencies. In fact, many leading organizations are combining physical security and cybersecurity onto one network to take advantage of cloud-based efficiencies.
They’re benefiting from the centralized management a single network dashboard brings, such as the ease of deployment for nontechnical staff and its associated cost savings, automated updates that avoid the time and errors typically associated with manual processes, and dramatically reduced inefficiencies with automation at scale.

After manual processes delayed a project timeline,Starbucks switched to an automated solution. As a result,over 40,000 manual labor hours were reclaimed,$20 million was realized in operational expense savings across one domain alone, and the average infrastructure configuration time per store was reduced from six-plus hours to seven minutes. Equally compelling is that these improvements have equated to 14 days of process efficiencies for new store openings, wrote Will Townsend, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Networking Infrastructure and Security, at Moor Insights & Strategy.

Driving revenue through innovation

These days, technology plays a big part in innovation. In fact, 84% of IT leaders say the CIO is “becoming a change-maker, increasingly leading business and IT initiatives,” according to IDG. To ensure an innovator’s idea doesn’t become a pipe dream requires an agile team supported by a flexible and secure infrastructure of connected technologies.

For example, retail leaders aren’t simply recommending security systems with cloud-managed smart cameras. Instead, they’re using data from these camera security solutions to provide actionable insights into customer foot traffic within stores, which managers can use to enhance floor planning, manage lines during busy seasons, and reduce shrinkage.

Other organizations—including manufacturers, retailers, and government agencies—are using complementary Wi-Fi to enhance customer and employee experience and drive demand. That was the case at Perfumes e Companhia, which deployed guest Wi-Fi but wanted to do more than connect customers to the online world. Since it controlled about 50% of the perfume retail market in Portugal, according to CIO Diego Caldeira Pinto, Perfumes e Companhia wanted to keep its lead as a digital innovator.
Wi-Fi provided the foundation for the retailer to embrace digital transformation. “[We] could create our dream customer journey,” he said. “At every step of the way, the customer feels connected to our brand, and we can meet their needs—anywhere those might be.”

Enhancing experiences for all

Going beyond what people expect is rarely smooth sailing, but it is easier to be agile with the right cloud infrastructure. For instance, what if the employees who currently work from home want to work from headquarters tomorrow? No problem. With a cloud-based approach, employees can be effective wherever they want—whether it’s in a hotel, coffee shop, or corporate office.
Enterprises can deliver better experiences to employees, enabling them to connect and work however they prefer, without the price tag typically associated with personalization, and they can do the same for customers.

Like many hospitality businesses, Lindbergh Hotels knows guest Wi-Fi is a commodity. In addition to providing this service, the five-star Italian luxury resort expects to use the Wi-Fi for more guest offerings such as opening room doors and accessing hotel services.
“For a hotel, the guest experience is everything, and my mission is to provide our guests with the most amazing connectivity experience possible,” said Francesco Italiani, IT Manager at Lindbergh Hotels. “When I travel, I notice the difference between our Wi-Fi experience and that at other hotels. Cisco Meraki helps Lindbergh deliver the top-quality experience that our guests expect.”

Springing into the future
With the cloud as the enabler, organizations have the resilience, agility, and strength necessary to reach their digital destination.

Discover how the Cisco Meraki platform can help you on your journey.

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