Cisco Crosswork Network Automation vs. Cisco Meraki Dashboard

Cisco Crosswork Network Automation has been great at reducing the workload our engineers face on the day to day aspects of their jobs. CNC has been able to reduce the time it takes to provision a device while using NSO and has provided valuable data to assist in troubleshooting network wide issues. CNC has been a pivotal aspect to our multi-million dollar network refresh

Incentivized

Cisco Meraki is very well-suited for enterprise scenarios with multiple branches distributed across a large geographical area. You need to manage thousands of devices, and Meraki helps you do that in minutes. The cloud dashboard lets you configure and monitor devices, and deploy new devices and policies without being there. Some scenarios where Meraki is not well-suited include situations with limited internet connectivity.

Incentivized

• DHCP and VLAN scoping is simple and easy to identify problems
• Consistent firmware updates are pushed to client devices which we can schedule for off hours
• The user interface is intuitive and easily highlights problem areas
• Content filtering has been a big bonus to offer our clients, especially within schools

Incentivized

• Cloud communication could be improved
• Rebooting network switch like an MS120 remotely takes more time vs MX64 for some reason
• Quicker response time for status updates. Cisco Meraki Dashboard take too long to update sometimes
• Uptime for all devices not just the switches but firewalls and APs would be great to have
• Timeline improvements/more detail timeline

Incentivized

Very pleased with he product overall. it is used as expecting + easy to use and very scalable if we want to add new orgs

Incentivized

Giving this a 5 as CNC classifies to a specific set of users. CNC is not an 'easy to use' product and thus requires some training to ensure that it can be used to the best of its capabilities. CNC can when used fully provide valuable data that Network Engineers would otherwise have to hunt for on their own.

Incentivized

The dashboard is easy to navigate and offers many pages that are loaded with information. Cisco Meraki adds new features to the dashboard based on customer feedback and I have seen so many updates and changes that have improved upon the previous version. Most recently they have added Cisco's AI and are looking at an Automation option that will only further improve usability.

Incentivized

Support seems very knowledgeable and provides detail summary about the call. They even follow up later to check on your case.

Incentivized

Cisco Meraki Dashboard is more intuitive but does have a cut back feel to it, MistAI does seem to offer more variable to offer, while this is great for initial setup it is more complex for the site tech and service desk to get a high level view, so Cisco Meraki Dashboard has the better support feel.

Incentivized

• The dashboard saves literal hours of drive time with its options. Locations that are states apart save actual days worth of travel time just by allowing us to enact simple solutions without needing boots on the ground. This saves manpower and keeps personnel open for more severe situations.
• The ability to perform most networking operations via the dashboard allows many employees to do their job remotely. This gives them the opportunity to perform non-severe work from their homes and makes it feasible to let employees leave work early to beat traffic without sacrificing company time or efficiency.

Incentivized