Software Engineer in Engineering at Neosalpha Technologies (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am Cisco Secure Connect cloud service for distributed teams, taking secure solutions to protect the organization for remote users.
Majorly it is providing secure internet access and strong VPN connectivity without depending on very high hardware.
From business purpose it addressing the biggest issue for the employees who are working remotely from different locations, it provide a encrypted access to the resource from which it protects the business from cyber threat

Pros

It provides Secure and seamless access to the remote users. It is easy for them to use the resources efficiently or securely with the strong VPN connection.
Cisco Secure Connect is providing everything in a single tool. It means, instead of managing firewall, VPN, DNS from separate tools, we can manage everything in one platform using Cisco Secure Connect.
Without need of setting up any physical hardware or critical configurations, branch offices can onboard themselves easily which makes the deployment fast and easy.
A company having different branch locations can follow the similar security rules like web filtering, threat protection, access policies across all sites using Meraki SD-WAN integration.

Cons

For teams which are growing, it is very costly to purchase the capabilities that protects the business and even identifying the right subscription like advance threat protection.
The one who does not have any advance or high level Cisco Secure Connect experience, for them it is hard to use the Cisco Secure Connect UI. So, you should make the UI quite extra user friendly.
Finding the root cause is very tricky for large datasets.
Third party integrations are also not that easy with Cisco.

Return on Investment

The positive impact is that businesses has reduced the dependency on physical hardware by moving and adapting its cloud services and on-prem security.
Due to the centralized management, it is easy for developer like us to manage the dashboard and also reduces the time spent on security task and routine networks.
Cisco Secure Connect is providing a strong ROI because it reduces infrastructure cists, improved IT tasks, enhances security which is very beneficial for long term businesses.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Zscaler B2B and Fortinet Secure SD-WAN

Other Software Used

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Okta, Splunk Cloud Platform

Karanveer singh View profile

Software Engineer in Information Technology at IBM India (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In my organization, we use this Cisco Secure Connect for secure remote access and connectivity for employees. From my perspective it has been become a key tool that allows me to work from anywhere without comprising security. The big issue it helps with the visibility and control. From IT perspective, there is a clear view of who is connecting from where and to what resources.

Pros

One thing it does well is making remote connectivity feel almost invisible
It enforces the security policies very well without interrupting the users.
As on enterprise level it provides IT teams a clear, centralized view of what activity is going on.

Cons

Actually the end user experience is very smooth, getting everything set up on the backend is not straightforward, it can be improve via better guided configurations for common use cases, better error messages.
Team face issues in troubleshooting it can be improve in easy troubleshooting, plain language for error messages.

Return on Investment

It really reduced the security risk, people use to connect from unmanaged devices or unsecure networks, this increase the risk of breaches.
It helps avoid costly investments in the on premise.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Zscaler Zero Trust for Branch and Cloud and FortiClient

Other Software Used

IntelliJ IDEA, Microsoft Teams, Webex Meetings

Chris Mwenda View profile

Data analyst in Information Technology at Heart To Heart Orphans Center (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Cisco Secure Connect to ensure the workers can access Internet-based resources and internal apps through a secure. Cloud-based platform. When on a traditional VPN, the problem of Lateral Movement and over-priviliged access is addressed, where, the access to the entire network is broad, which raises the risk of malware and unauthorised data access. By implementing Zero Trust Network Access, workers are allowed access only to specific applications they need based on identity. The scope of my use is secure access to internal apps. The scope moves toward a Zero Trust for private applications hosted in data centers.

Pros

Agent access for contractors. In the case of a contractor needing access to a specific web-based financial app, Secure Connect evaluates browser type,operating system version and geolocation, granting access only to that application with no ability for the user to move laterally across the network.
Simplified Troubleshooting. The dashboard gives end-to-end visibility, which allows IT teams to see if a connectivity issue is at user endpoint, or within the cloud security layer.
High performance connectivity. Like Optimised Remote Experience our clients utilizes the MASQUE Protocol to proxy QUIC connections, which improves setup speed and provides robust, low-latency performance for remote workers accessing applications over high-latency networks.

Cons

Management Complexity. Like the need of managing multiple consoles to achieve full functionality which adds Complexity.
On Troubleshooting and visibility, like error reporting, the systems can be improved with clearer, more auctonable and plain-language error messages to help in troubleshooting.
Identity and Access Management. As a cloud-based platform, improvements in the area of local user integration are needed.

Return on Investment

It has improved operational Efficiency and reduced IT costs. By tool consolidation, we eliminate the need for multiple siloed security tools by unifying SD-WAN ans SSE into a single platform.
Accelerated business growth. There is rapid market expansion since Secure Connect allows us to onboard new branch offices in hours rather than months.
It has enhanced employee productivity and retention. With seemless remote work, workers gain secure, fast access to applications from any location without the difficulty of traditional VPNs, directly boosting engagement and productivity.

Usability

Other Software Used

Cato Networks, Fortinet FortiExtender, Tailscale

Verified User

Employee in Sales (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use it for my own lab testing. Along with that, I use it for the demonstration capabilities. Basically, I try to talk with the partners on a daily basis, where they want to understand the product. I leverage this platform in order to help them understand what this product is about, how they can leverage the features, and the benefits of this product.

Pros

I think it integrates very well with Meraki, and that's the best thing I like about this product. Meraki is all about simplicity, and when a customer has the same user interface to get their network and security experience just right out of the Meraki dashboard, it really works. Very great. For example, if you want to secure the internet user, you want to use any, sorry, you want to secure any application, you want to secure any brand, it's just a matter of minutes. You can do it.

Cons

I think it's a very hard question or a tricky question to answer right now. Some capabilities are handled by the Umbrella at the backend. So basically it's not that bad. What we do is if we want to enable some of the capabilities, sometimes it actually does a close launch to a different route. So if we can have more and more features to be integrated right out of the Meraki dashboard, that is the only improvement that I see. Other than that, this product is really, really good.

Return on Investment

I think negative. I can't see anything. I think, on the positive side, now I have one platform to manage network and security.

Verified User

Analyst in Social Media (5001-10,000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Virtual meetings for hybrid work

Pros

Video to see remote team members faces
Connection to share screens with team members
Dial in from a conference rool

Cons

Something learning the Cisco Secure Connect technology is hard
Sometimes Cisco Secure Connect won’t connect fast
Sometimes it’s hard to knows who’s dialed in if their camera is off

Return on Investment

If I can tell who’s present with cameras off information could be missed
Early to stay in touch remotely
Great to make conference rooms collaborative

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