Person looking at laptop, with network dashboard status items overlaid on the background for: Connectivity, Assurance, Security, Infrastructure, and Culture.

The IT leader's AI readiness checklist

AI opportunity is knocking—right now. Are you ready? Don't risk falling behind, missing critical insights, and exposing security gaps. For any medium enterprise, answering the questions in our BASICs checklist can help assess AI readiness and uncover ways to gain a competitive edge.

 

Business operations and management

98% of IT leaders say secure networking is important to operations and growth; 61% say it's critical.

Let's kick-start your AI readiness assessment. Do these common business operation challenges hit home?

Does your IT team feel stretched thin and overworked, making it hard to manage growing network complexity and support new AI initiatives?

Do multiple management tools create silos and blind spots, slowing down decision-making?

Does alert overload make it difficult for your teams to focus on what really matters, leading to missed issues?


Enhance IT productivity and unify your networking and security in one platform

Simplifying network management is essential for any medium enterprise. The Cisco AI Assistant on the Cisco Meraki dashboard lets you see and control everything from anywhere, gain the insights you need, and automate routine tasks with one cloud-based platform. Free up your team to focus on what matters: scaling your business.

Assurance

77% of organizations have faced major outages in the last two years.

AI intensifies demand for resilient networks. How does your network reliability stack up? Do these headaches sound familiar?

Is it tough to maintain performance and quickly resolve issues in your network?

Do isolated tools make it hard to get a complete view or troubleshoot effectively?

Are you missing visibility into external factors, leaving you unprepared for outages or performance issues?


See your whole network, inside and out

Bring your internal and external network data together in one view. With Cisco ThousandEyes, AI helps you proactively spot and fix issues before they impact your users—so you stay ahead of problems and keep your business running smoothly.

Security

Only 12% of organizations have a mature level of readiness to defend against modern threats.

With AI escalating the volume and sophistication cyberthreats, how prepared is your organization? If you check any of these, it's time to seal the gaps in your network.

Do inconsistent policies make it hard to enforce security and respond to threats?

Do you have the advanced protection needed to detect and protect against new, sophisticated threats?

Can your manual updates keep up with fast-moving risks?


Integrate and automate security for rapid defense

Protect your network with security that's built in and ready to scale without missing a beat. Get easy cloud-based management, smart AI-powered threat protection, and simple policy controls with Cisco Meraki MX. Keep your business secure and connected.

Infrastructure

Only 34% of organizations feel their IT infrastructure is fully adaptable and scalable to accommodate the evolving computational needs of AI projects.

The AI tide is rising—fast. Are these setbacks holding your business back from the big leagues?

Are growing device use and new applications straining your wireless network?

Can your older infrastructure meet the high-performance demands of AI applications?

Can your network keep up as your business and data demands grow?​


Upgrade your Wi-Fi for the AI wave ahead

Getting a network AI-ready with speed, reliability, and built-in security is critical for any medium enterprise. Easily scale to handle today's—and tomorrow's—AI workloads with next-gen Wi-Fi so you can innovate without limits.

Culture

70% of the global workforce does not meet the demand for AI skills, from LLM architecture and prompt engineering to security, ethics, and governance.

AI success begins—and ends—with your people. Are these culture gaps holding you back?

Are your teams empowered and trained to use AI tools and agents?

Does your organization have a policy on ethical, responsible AI use?

Do you trust your AI tools to do the right thing?


Empower your teams—build a culture of AI confidence

Give your team the skills to thrive with AI. Hands-on training, clear ethical guidelines, and trust in AI decisions help everyone in your organization embrace and lead the future—together.

The future is here—let's build it together.

Take charge of your AI future with Cisco Meraki

Simplify your journey to AI readiness, empower your teams, and stay ahead of the curve with Cisco Meraki. Discover how easy it is to boost security, streamline operations, and unlock new possibilities.