Cisco Meraki SM vs. Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security

It is very helpful if you need to restrict the apps a student or employee can have on their device. I had teachers using Netflix on the iPads before I brought them under management. Restricting them will make you unpopular with some of your employees, however, I advise them the device is being provided for business use and, therefore we have the right and responsibility to manage it.

Incentivized

Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security has been ideal for our organization (and would be for any I can think of) for securing user accounts through MFA and admin accounts through PIM. Its end-point management is also great for set-up and configuration as well as management of your devices. It also provides you with useful metrics and feedback on your devices.

Incentivized

• We can create templates for our mobile devices that make new hardware deployments a breeze.
• Pushing out new with Apple Business Manager is easy and efficient.
• We get tons of real-time information on our devices and useful historical information and logs.
• Kiosk and Single App mode is great for single purpose tablets.

Incentivized

• Simple pre-packed solution for many popular Microsoft products
• Advanced threat protection
• Simplified end user management with Intune

Incentivized

• Limited ability for "command line" functions. For example, we had a laptop that was stolen and showed to be online, but we could not wipe it. We were able to access a command prompt, but it would not accept DISKPART or FORMAT commands to try and make the PC unusable.
• The GPS location is not terribly accurate and frequently it "guesses" location based off of an IP address rather than actually activating the GPS on the device. This makes tracking lost/stolen devices very difficult.
• Difficulty getting devices to correctly show their status in the dashboard. For example, I can have a PC that is online and connected to the Internet, but shows to be offline in the dashboard. Only after refreshing many times would it indicate that the PC was actually online, thus allowing me to administer it.

Incentivized

• InTune deployment via Hybrid Azure AD. The instructions seem very simple but there are lots of little areas you can get tripped up and there is little logging to see where you've gone wrong.
• Advanced Threat Protection anti-impersonation. It is WAY too sensitive. Users emailing themselves from personal accounts get their mail sent to quarantine just because the name/label of the personal account matches their Office 365 mailbox name/label? HUH???
• Licensing. Typical of Microsoft, what you're actually getting and details of licensing are confusing.

Incentivized

It has is easy to use overall and is very powerful. The learning curve for the system is very small and I have found it easy to train members of our team to use it. It can fit any size organization and the support is excellent. The ROI is well worth it. If you have a multiplatform ecosystem, this tool is near perfect.

Incentivized

We have found that Cisco Meraki has always had very good customer support. In the rare case, when we have needed assistance they have always been quick to respond and solve the issue.

Incentivized

The only product I have used that is similar is Apple Configurator. While a powerful solution, it requires physical access to the devices which is not always possible, especially on a large site. Meraki is able to achieve many of the same functions as the Apple configurator but without ever needing to physically access the device, other than initial setup and registration.

Incentivized

Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is better than any of the products I have used that do similar things. There is a huge convenience to all the things Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security brings together in one place. Also, the speed and streamlining nature of Intune helps with the management and set up of devices.

Incentivized

It’s scalable up to a point and will scale well from small to a medium business, however, as a business grows and policies get more mature or detailed, you might have to later upgrade to a more appropriate enterprise solution such as MaaS360 or AirWatch. This solution however, will last quite a long tome for a growing business.

Incentivized

• Our immediate take away has been a savings of thousands a year in MDM fees. We were paying around $3.00 a device with our previous MDM and our average with Meraki is about $1.88 per device. That while providing far more functionality than our previous provider.

Incentivized

• Increased productivity, including service requests for our customers
• Reduced operational costs, and threat/risk of cyber-attacks

Incentivized