Enabling simple, secure, reliable internet access from anywhere
In a recent webinar, we discussed the challenging and unique times we live in as workforces around the world move to temporary remote work. While many of us are separated, we are also interconnected via the internet like never before. At Cisco Meraki, we want to help organizations continue doing what they are best at, with minimal discontinuity. Across Cisco, teams are collaborating to help communities work from home and maintain productivity through uncertain times. Working together, this is our global, collective opportunity to unlock human ingenuity and contribute to solving this crisis.
Today’s mission
Around the world, IT managers are undertaking the task of ensuring that hundreds and thousands of users experience a seamless transition to remote work. Critical work is being done at hospitals and on manufacturing floors, demanding the need for employees to stay connected. A sudden disruption of internet access can have a significant impact on an organization, as every second matters, and IT needs to just work. IT leaders want to make sure employees at home have the same simple, secure and reliable network access they get at work. This will enable them to stay connected with each other through collaboration applications such as Webex, and have access to office applications such as Office365, without a glitch.
With the current state of things, employees have enough to worry about and be distracted by. The last thing a remote worker wants to worry about is the performance of their network connection, or how to configure their VPN. Providing internet access as a remote IT manager is highly challenging as the demand for support has increased with entire workforces working remotely. New ways of working mean that corporate networks are operating in a new way, resulting in new types of trouble tickets. Not to mention the headaches caused by managing the security of hundreds or thousands of remote employee connections.
Built for immediate connectivity
Our mission at Cisco Meraki has become more important than ever as we help IT managers navigate the difficult terrain of a remote work environment. Since our founding, we have supported fast-moving organizations looking to modernize their networks quickly. For those who need help to urgently modify their networks for remote work, Meraki offers an easy and secure option. Meraki devices can be pulled out of the box, plugged in virtually anywhere in the world, and instantly deliver a seamless “in-office” experience at home. With simple Meraki cloud-management, IT managers are able to maintain visibility of employee networks, and continue to monitor potential interference to workforce productivity while at home.
Here are just a few of the tools available to the administrator looking after remote workers:
- Create a site-to-site VPN in a few clicks over a WAN link
- Seamlessly and securely provide remote network access via Wi-Fi over an encrypted tunnel
- Maintain service continuity with cellular backup
- Keep end-user devices secure when off-network
- Perform remote troubleshooting of employee connectivity and applications
The Meraki dashboard has also been updated to allow IT admins to quickly identify VPN clients within the organization.
How Cisco Meraki can help
At Cisco, we have been addressing the hurdles of remote work for years, and we want to do anything we can to help others during this unpredictable time. One of the most important things we can do right now is to empower IT managers to keep their organizations working seamlessly. Cisco has multiple offers available to help those in difficult times, such as free Webex, Cisco Security, and more. Meraki support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to help prepare your organization for remote work. If you are looking to learn more about how Meraki can help mobilize your workforce, watch our on-demand webinar.
Source: CISCO