Implementing SD-WAN can help organizations improve their security and agility and provide a secure and fast network for cloud environments. In addition, SD-WAN uses a centralized control function and has many benefits by enabling remote employees to access the network from anywhere in the world. Among these are fewer outages, fewer security issues, and better connectivity for remote employees.
Transition Stages of SD-WAN
Many organizations are still evaluating the capabilities of SD-WAN before they begin actively deploying it. The evaluation phase can take six months, including business justification and POC. Organizations should move quickly through the evaluation stage to avoid this stumbling block. Once deployed, SD-WAN can significantly increase the agility of networks and provide a more secure cloud connection.
SD-WAN offers many benefits, including high availability, a unified management interface, and the ability to use multiple types of transport. This flexibility makes it easy to migrate workload and eliminates the need to maintain a single vendor for each mode of transportation. This is especially beneficial for industries where the inputs and outputs of a given application can vary.
While the advantages of SD-WAN are many, there are also some risks. The best way to ensure that SD-WAN will meet your business goals is to work with a trusted partner. It can enable digital transformation while improving application performance, availability, and user experience. While internal teams may have sufficient bandwidth and expertise, working with a service provider can help them avoid costly mistakes.
As a result of these risks, organizations should invest in the implementation of an effective SD-WAN strategy. Organizations must assess their existing infrastructure and identify stakeholders to begin a successful SD-WAN rollout. Once they have identified stakeholder expectations and the technical infrastructure, SD-WAN partner organizations can prepare a comprehensive roadmap. In addition, they will help their clients minimize downtime and rollbacks. They can also provide lab POC environments for testing the capabilities of SD-WAN.
Finding the Proper Support
Retailers can leverage SD-WAN to gain a wider footprint and optimize bandwidth efficiency across all locations. SD-WAN can consolidate point solutions and provide visibility into data applications to support business-critical applications and new bandwidth-intensive digital strategies. These solutions can help retailers secure their network and stay agile as they adapt to change and improve the customer experience.
To succeed with SD-WAN, working with a partner with expertise in managing it is essential. Unfortunately, many providers outsource SD-WAN implementation work to third-party providers that may not be as knowledgeable or experienced as internal teams. Internal teams are usually more eager to learn about new technologies and rely on that knowledge to excel in their careers. If possible, they should be allowed to learn about the design and deployment of SD-WAN to reduce risk and get hands-on experience.
SD-WAN can be configured with dynamic protocols prioritizing business-critical traffic and essential services. This can help minimize packet loss and latency issues, which are common during digital transformation. However, companies should know that transitioning to a new software infrastructure can pose significant security risks. So if you’re considering SD-WAN for your business, make sure you feel all the possible security and usability requirements before making a decision.
When choosing a provider for SD-WAN implementation, it’s essential to ensure the partnership includes a partner that is an expert in digital transformation. Not only can they provide training and guidance, but they can also provide expert support through the deployment process.
Choosing an SD-WAN Partner with Experience and Expertise
Choosing an SD-WAN partner with experience, expertise, and capabilities in your industry can make a big difference in the success of your digital transformation initiatives. In addition, the right partner can help you standardize and align different technologies to meet your goals. For example, an SD-WAN partner can help your organization implement cloud applications and help you align your cloud infrastructure.
When choosing a partner, ask about the provider’s past projects. In addition, ask about the number of successful deployments and any customizations or issues encountered. This will help you avoid wasting time and money on a vendor that cannot address your needs. A partner with extensive experience can also provide consulting services to ensure you get the right technology.
SD-WAN provides enterprise IT the flexibility to manage complex networks while enabling faster response to change business demands. It also allows for zero-touch provisioning, which means new equipment can be shipped to remote locations and plugged in by a non-IT user. A central SD-WAN controller orchestrates zero-touch provisioning, while operational rules are automatically downloaded to all SD-WAN devices under management.
SD-WAN capabilities are crucial for the success of cloud transformation initiatives. Without a secure and reliable network, these plans could fail. To distribute critical enterprise applications, always-on network connectivity is essential. SD-WAN technology helps organizations achieve this by giving IT the agility they need to implement cloud-based applications while maintaining data security.
