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Simplify Cisco Meraki EA Management with Boundless Smart Track: Step-by-Step Guide

  • Blog

Managing software licenses across vast networks rarely falls into the “enjoyable tasks” category. Research confirms this, with up to 25% of an organisation’s software budget allocated just for dealing with the complexities of license management alone. 

From decentralized visibility and manual processes to budgeting uncertainties, these obstacles frequently result in overspending, compliance risks, and burdensome administrative overheads.

In this article, we explore how Boundless Smart Track helps overcoming these obstacles by streamlining every aspect of your Cisco EA management.

Table of Contents

Cisco Enterprise Agreements: A Promising Solution

Cisco Enterprise Agreements (EAs) offer a streamlined approach for organizations to acquire and manage software licenses across the Cisco portfolio, including popular solutions like Cisco Meraki’s networking architecture. EAs consolidate purchasing under a single agreement, delivering advantages such as:

  • Predictable budgeting through consistent pricing
  • Access to the latest software updates and innovations
  • Cost savings via volume discounts
  • Flexibility to scale as requirements evolve

Figure 1. Cisco EA Cross-Portfolio Buying Platform. Source: Cisco Blogs.

While EAs offer clear benefits, their management can still present hurdles:
  • License Tracking: Accurately monitoring license consumption across distributed sites often relies on manual, error-prone processes.
  • Cost Allocation and Budgeting: Assigning software costs to the appropriate departments or locations for precise budgeting can be complex without granular visibility.
  • Internal Billing (Chargebacks): Implementing efficient chargebacks based on individual site/network usage demands considerable administrative effort.
  • Consumption Visibility: Lack of centralized, real-time insights into license utilization hampers optimization and decision-making agility.
These hurdles make it clear there’s still room for improvement. To truly maximize the benefits of your Cisco EA, you need a solution that takes the hassle out of the equation.

The Solution to Cisco EA Challenges: Boundless Smart Track

Boundless Smart Track is a powerful software platform designed to address the complexities of Cisco EA management head-on. It provides organizations with the following key capabilities:

CENTRALIZED LICENSE TRACKING AND MANAGEMENT

  • Unified visibility into license consumption across all sites and networks
    • Smart Track consolidates all your Cisco Meraki license data into a single pane of glass, providing real-time visibility into how licenses are being consumed across every location and network in your distributed environment.
  • Automated, real-time tracking of license usage and additions
    • Instead of relying on manual processes, Smart Track automatically tracks and updates license usage as new devices are added, or licenses are provisioned. This ensures you always have an accurate, up-to-the-minute view of your consumption.
  • Elimination of manual processes and reduction of errors 
    • By automating license tracking, Smart Track eliminates the need for time-consuming manual audits and spreadsheet tracking, reducing the risk of human errors that can lead to overspending or compliance violations.
Cisco meraki EA Cost breakdown per network

Figure 2. Boundless Smart Track for Cisco EA: Cost breakdown overview.

GRANULAR COST BREAKDOWNS AND VISIBILITY INTO LICENSE CONSUMPTION

  • Multi-dimensional cost allocation reports based on consumption data
    • Smart Track generates detailed reports that break down your overall Cisco EA costs based on the actual licenses consumed by each department, location, cost center, or any other parameter relevant to your organization.
  • Costs broken down by location, department, cost center, etc.
    • These multi-dimensional reports provide a granular view of expenditure, enabling you to see precisely how much each individual site, office, division, or business unit is consuming in terms of licenses and costs.
  • Drill-down visibility to individual device and network level
    • Smart Track doesn’t just stop at high-level overviews – you can drill all the way down to seeing the specific devices and networks that are driving license consumption, empowering you to optimize deployments.

Cisco meraki EA Cost breakdown overview

Figure 3. Boundless Smart Track for Cisco EA: Cost breakdown.

INTERNAL BILLING (CHARGEBACK FACILITATION)

  • Seamless chargeback processes aligned with budgeting needs
    • Using the granular consumption data, Smart Track streamlines internal chargeback processes by automatically allocating costs to the appropriate departments, cost centers, or locations based on their license usage.
  • Accurate allocation of credits and adjustments
    • When transitioning to a new EA, Smart Track accounts for existing license credits with varying expiration dates, calculating their remaining value to be credited against the new agreement costs, enabling accurate chargebacks.

Cisco meraki EA Credit breakdown

Figure 4. Boundless Smart Track for Cisco EA: Cost breakdown details.

SUPPORT FOR CISCO’S TRUE FORWARD EA MODEL

  • Transparent tracking of mid-term license/device additions
    • As new licenses or devices are added mid-way through your EA term, Smart Track transparently tracks and logs these additions at a granular level, showing exactly which sites added what resources.
  • No surprise retroactive billing at anniversary date
    • Thanks to the True Forward model, you are never hit with retroactive overages. Instead, Smart Track reconciles additions over the past year to adjust your going-forward quantities.
  • Operational agility without unforeseen cost spikes
    • True Forward gives you a 1-year buffer to add licenses as needed with no immediate charges. Smart Track provides the visibility to leverage this flexibility for operational agility without unforeseen cost spikes.

Figure 5. Boundless Smart Track for Cisco EA: True forward details.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough on Implementing Smart Track

Leveraging Smart Track’s advanced capabilities is a straightforward process:

  1. Connect Smart Track to your Cisco organizations and networks through a secure integration process within the platform.
  2. Configure user roles, permissions, and access levels to ensure appropriate visibility for stakeholders (customer teams, partners, Cisco).

  3. Smart Track will immediately begin consolidating your Cisco license data, providing a comprehensive overview of your EA consumption.

  4. Drill down into specific locations, departments, or cost centers to gain granular insights and generate multi-dimensional reports.

  5. Set up automated email reports and configure chargeback processes aligned with your budgeting cycles.
With its intuitive setup and seamless integration, Smart Track ensures you can quickly unlock its full potential for optimizing your Cisco EA experience.

Case Study: IHG

The effectiveness of Boundless Smart Track is exemplified by its deployment at IHG Hotels Group, a global hospitality chain comprising over 5,000 properties across 100 countries. IHG faced the daunting task of managing a complex network infrastructure with 80 Meraki organizations, 4,500 networks, and 340,000 Meraki devices.
To support their ambitious expansion goals of opening 1.5 new hotels per day for three years, IHG required an advanced solution to streamline their licensing, user management, and network deployment processes.

In collaboration with Cisco and partner Insight, Boundless developed a tailored solution centered around Smart Track. This involved:

  • Signing an Enterprise Agreement for over 300,000 Meraki device licenses
  • Implementing Smart Track for granular visibility into license consumption per network
  • Simplifying quarterly True Forward reconciliation and license chargeback processes

Boundless Smart Track sample data

Figure 6. Boundless Smart Track for Cisco EA: Quarterly review dashboard.

Through Smart Track, IHG was able to efficiently consolidate and track usage data across all 80 organizations, allocate costs accurately based on consumption, and structure a seamless $56 million, 5-year EA renewal.
This not only resulted in a significant Cisco win but also opened future opportunities for upselling Boundless’ Deployment and User Management solutions to IHG, enabling further automation of their network rollouts.

Conclusion

Today’s businesses rely on technology for their competitive edge, and getting the most out of your software investments is crucial. However, the complexities of Cisco Enterprise Agreements can sometimes feel like a roadblock to efficiency and agility if they aren’t well-managed.
Boundless Smart Track clears that roadblock. It’s a powerful platform designed specifically to streamline every aspect of your Cisco EA management. With its advanced features – centralized tracking, detailed cost breakdowns, easy chargebacks, and full True Forward support – Smart Track gives you the power to:
  • See It All, Control It All: Get unmatched visibility into exactly how your licenses are being used across your network.
  • Slash Errors, Save Time: Eliminate tedious, error-prone manual tasks and the budget headaches they cause.
  • Align Costs with Business Needs: Confidently connect software spending to your budgeting and forecast goals.
  • Transparency = Teamwork: Make sure all stakeholders in your organization are on the same page, preventing misunderstandings.

Take the first step towards optimizing your Cisco EA experience – request a personalized demo of Boundless Smart Track today and discover how it can transform the way you manage your networking infrastructure.

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