Two of our in-house specialists handle implementations for customers. 

The use case dictates the amount of time needed for implementations. The worst cases are when we have to homologate with FortiGate or Barracuda. 

For our grocery customer, we implemented between 1,000 to 2,000 devices across 200 locations within two weeks. Some of that time was spent on technology training because we like to educate our customers on use. 

We implement the solution in-house. 

I deployed the solution. Deployment for a small client takes half a day. 

One technical person is enough for the deployment. 

I handle the maintenance as well. I get the calls when they get decent support, and our philosophy is when people complain, we teach the client. So the client doesn't have to rely on us for support.

Because we are a very small operation, and so, we had support, we have hundreds of clients who can't support them all. So what we do is we train the clients. 

We generally have a training after the install of however it worked and really train them well on the things that they will have to be doing if they are gonna be managing their own. 

But our philosophy is if the client manages their own system, and with Meraki, you have direct support from the company.  

It was all done through a two-person team. Another member who wasn't on-site is an administrator and I was someone who is on-site. For example, the administrator sets up a new server from scratch and I take over from there, so we worked in collaboration all the time. I am also the person responsible for maintaining this solution.

The deployment process is easy. It's a cloud-based system that is activated by attaching the serial number, and then the system goes live. So it's easy to set up.

Cisco technical support did end up helping us with the implementation, however, we mostly did it ourselves. 

We've got one person in the team doing the maintenance, although we have somebody else who knows quite well that we do lean on external parties quite heavily, a company called Lixcel. Overall, we have a team of two people for maintenance. 

I tend to handle the implementation and configuration. I'm well-versed in Cisco. I don't need a consultant or integrator to assist me.

As a service provider, we install SD-WAN services in the sites of our customers.

The portal is hosted by Cisco Meraki, it's in their servers someplace. The way routers and firewalls typically are managed, is the way it's been done forever. The way the purists want to do it is via direct access to the unit. Going from unit to unit, configuring and troubleshooting, and doing all the magic. With Meraki, you cannot do an internal configuration from the unit directly. The advantage of this is that the configuration on the device is encrypted. Nobody can walk up to it and reconfigure it. Nobody can gain remote access into it and reconfigure it. So in my mind, the security profile on the unit is actually more secure.

But then, once the unit is installed and assigned to your organization, it's registered in the portal. From there you look at each device and define what it can do, which is the essence of software-defined networking. The portal allows you to configure security, connectivity and filters.  Changes in the portal are communicated to affected devices in a matter of minutes.

We did use the help of a consultant who knew more about the implementation of the product, but in the end, it really was just writing down which plug went from where to where. That was sort of our biggest issue.  

We were satisfied working with the consultant as they did help the process. In the end, we were sure it was set up correctly.  

We used two people for the deployment of the solution.

We did the implementation in-house. The documentation on their portal explains everything. We just had to go through the documents if we needed any assistance. It was pretty helpful.

We're a distributor. We deploy the solution on-premises for our clients.

We do the implementation and support of the solution.

We handle the deployment ourselves.

We did the implementation through the in-house or internal team.

We have an in-house team that is responsible for deployment.

We implement this product for our customers.

We also offer after-sales support. Each customer has what we call technical account managers. These are engineers with a post-sales function.

When choosing this solution, our customers most often consider the level of simplicity Meraki SD-WAN provides relative to its price.