Is SD-WAN right for your Baton Rouge business?
SD-WAN makes sense once your business is juggling more than one office, more remote workers than your old network was built for, or bandwidth costs that keep climbing. Baton Rouge businesses running multiple locations across Louisiana, or supporting hybrid teams, typically see the fastest payoff, since SD-WAN replaces expensive dedicated circuits with software-defined routing over standard internet connections.
Not sure if SD-WAN fits how your business actually runs?
SD-WAN is Worth Considering
An unpredictable and fast-changing business landscape requires technologies that can keep pace. Industry trends are coupled with demands for efficient and cost-effective processes. This causes some to question switching their network architectures from WAN to a software defined wide area network.
Those questions may lead to considering whether SD-WAN, a virtual way to leverage transport services and keep users securely connected, is truly the right option for your business
Should Your Company Make the Investment in SD-WAN?
Intelligent connectivity is king for efficiently running a successful business in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Traditionally, a WAN requires physical hardware to connect computer networks. That meant adding the expense of installing a complete system at new locations.
In addition to budget concerns, this is not the most viable option for IT leaders who want a fast and reliable network solution. Managing a traditional network and minimizing security issues are major problems that hamper network performance.
With a software defined wide area network, you invest in a software-based intelligent connection for distributing critical business services. From connectivity to management and service, you receive secure application performance through cloud computing.
Not only are you able to manage connections between multiple locations more efficiently, but you also have a cost-effective option for remote workers and adding new branch offices.
Ways to Determine if SD-WAN is Right for Your Business
Being able to connect multiple office locations is just the beginning. Other considerations for making the switch include:
- Less expensive option for capital and operational expenditures
- Agile for quick implementation of changes that complement market and customer trends
- Centralized monitoring of all network activity for prompt response to problems
- Remote remediation of system issues
- Optimal application performance
- Real-time reporting and analytics
Ultimately, your decision to implement SD-WAN technology hinges on current needs as well as other considerations for the future.
Need to Boost Security
One of the primary needs for doing business in the 21st century is dealing with the increase in cybercrimes. Lowering your business’s exposure to risks requires improving digital security measures. The first step depends on the type of network infrastructure you choose for your business.
A software defined wide area network offers an intelligent way to protect business data. It enables you to lower the threats of cybersecurity risks. With this type of investment, you have comprehensive encryption that protects your data from malware attacks.
Heavy Reliance on the Internet
How much will it cost your business if employees have 30 minutes of downtime? If the short answer is a lot, then you should give serious consideration to upgrading to a software defined wide area network.
Multiple internet connections can act as one with SD-WAN. Therefore, the system issues an automatic backup if one connection fails. You will not lose time waiting for the network provider to respond to your call.
Instead, you have real-time internet insurance for securing business continuity and better uptime for your business operations.
Use of Cloud Business Applications
If your business uses SaaS cloud applications, a software defined wide area network ensures adequate support. The inability of traditional WAN architecture to support these applications effectively causes wasted bandwidth, higher latency and increased costs.
On the other hand, SD-WAN can intelligently steer traffic when an application is hosted in the cloud. Overall, your business experiences higher application performance that translates into better productivity rates.
Specific Technology Needs
Focusing on strategic projects is critical to driving growth and increasing revenue. These priorities get thwarted if all the attention goes to what is happening behind the scenes. Having an adaptive network in place means the infrastructure is designed with your business’s specific needs in mind.
For instance, high-demand applications should get routed through a more reliable and faster connection. This intelligent connectivity option reduces latency and other network issues that will improve how your office functions on a daily basis. It’s part of why more Baton Rouge businesses are working with a local IT partner who already understands the connectivity challenges specific to running a business here.
Use of Video and Voice Conferencing
Conferences plagued with stuttering connections and clipped words are frustrating and unproductive. Having a reliable connection ensures that business-critical applications such as voice and video calling perform uninterrupted.
A software defined wide area network solves these problems. Implementing Forward Error Correction compensates for packet losses. You also have the option of routing a voice or video connection to a path that delivers clear conversations.
Get Help Making the Right Decision for Your Business
An inflexible and static network architecture is no longer a plausible option for organizations competing in an Internet-based business world. Costs of downtime and compromised application security and performance can hamper your company’s success. Meriplex offers a seamless solution.
