Item: Cisco AnyConnect
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco AnyConnect

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Cisco AnyConnect to provide remote access to our users, vendors, students, etc. We are quite heavily invested in Cisco infrastructure. We decided to go with this product and replace our previous VPN (Microsoft's always-on VPN) because we have had reliability issues both with the server and the clients where the profile is installed. Remotely troubleshooting issues was very time-consuming and, oftentimes, required the user to come back on-site. Cisco AnyConnect has been reliable and makes it much easier to troubleshoot and fix issues remotely.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Reliable
It integrates well with our environment that's heavily Cisco based
Easy to fix issues with the client/connection remotely

Cons

It's been difficult to configure
Setting up RADIUS authentication was not as easy as it should be
Requires Cisco hardware

Return on Investment

Made working remotely reliable
Made troubleshooting remote connection issues much easier
Provides a secure and easy to use VPN connection

Usability

It's easy to use for the end user and reliable. They just need to login to their computer and connect to the VPN and they are on the network and have access to network resources. For the admins, it does take some time to configure things correctly but, once configured, it's quite easy to manage connection profiles and client software.

Security

A huge portion of our staff works remotely, at least partially. We needed an easy-to-use and secure remote connection platform for our users. Cisco AnyConnect has provided both of these things and has reduced the number of calls going to our support center for end-users with remote connection issues. We are able to easily manage connection profiles to limit access to resources based on the user, vendor, etc.

Support Rating

Cisco has a lot of knowledgebase articles around AnyConnect that are helpful to configure and troubleshoot issues. Beyond that, Cisco support (TAC) is helpful to provide information and troubleshoot issues with the platform. However, you do need an active subscription or EA for support beyond reading the KBs, as well as for client software updates. This is important to keep in mind when deciding on if Cisco AnyConnect is right for your organization, as this can be expensive (cheaper with an EA if you use a lot of Cisco products).

Alternatives Considered

VMware Horizon

Microsoft's always-on VPN had reliability issues both with the server and the clients where the profile is installed. Remotely troubleshooting issues was very time-consuming and, oftentimes, required the user to come back on-site. Cisco AnyConnect has been reliable and makes it much easier to troubleshoot and fix issues remotely.

VMware Horizon is not a VPN but is useful for certain scenarios where the user would benefit from connecting to a virtual machine. We have found at some of our remote offices that users experience latency issues on the VPN due to a lower bandwidth circuit, and this is where VMware Horizon has been beneficial and some other use cases.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco AnyConnect delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco AnyConnect's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco AnyConnect live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco AnyConnect go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco AnyConnect again?

Yes

Other Software Used

VMware Horizon, TeamViewer, Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365)

Likelihood to Recommend

Cisco AnyConnect is well suited for organizations that have users that connect remotely to their network. It's particularly well suited for organizations that already have Cisco hardware/firewalls and other products, such as Cisco DUO. This would not be well suited for organizations that do not have Cisco hardware/firewalls or small organizations, as licensing costs are quite expensive. These become cheaper with an enterprise agreement if you use several other Cisco products.

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Cisco AnyConnect - Reliable and Easy to Use