SD-WAN Cloud in a Remote and Hybrid Work Culture
SD-WAN stands for Software-Defined Wide Area Network. It can help you deliver effective network connectivity across your company. This technology has never been more relevant than now, in an increasingly remote workplace reality. SD-WAN Cloud can help you quickly tie together both your in-house and off-site resources, among other benefits.
Understanding WAN isn’t always simple. The Telegraph recently defined SD-WAN as “The connective tissue that links devices to business applications through secure, high-speed connectivity. SD-WANs use software to control the connectivity between data centers, remote branches or cloud instances.”
A fixed Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) back-office connection is no longer suitable to handle all business internet traffic, data and workflows. Today, your branch office must integrate into your network. It can no longer function as a last-minute add-on to a dangling WAN connection.
For your branch to operate at its full potential, you need real-time access to data and resources wherever staff members use them. These capabilities are especially relevant in the “new normal” of a remote or hybrid workforce.
Read on to learn how a WAN transformation can deliver a new level of digital connectivity for your organization.
Related: Understanding SD-WAN and SD-WAN Vendors
Improve Network Performance with SD-WAN
Many organizations depend on cloud-based applications for productivity nowadays. Resources on the cloud are essential for communicating with colleagues, deploying projects and managing workflows around the clock from anywhere.
However, organizational productivity is also dependent on WAN links. These links carry cloud-based traffic and also determine network performance. But, even though the cloud is highly beneficial, it is also highly unpredictable.
SD-WAN Cloud can help you reduce or even eliminate uncertainties. The technology will help you ensure performance across all cloud-connected networks. It will improve network and application performance by identifying and prioritizing traffic per platform.
For example, you can use SD-WAN Cloud to create rules as needed. This capability will let you use broadband internet more effectively in conjunction with existing MPLS links.
SD-WAN Cloud deployment may also help you avoid last-mile bottlenecks. You can set it up to recognize congestion and steer traffic to alternate, healthier cloud connections. The technology can drive traffic around blockages by combining SD-WAN and WAN optimization to improve performance across congested links as well as high-latency connections.
With an SD-WAN transformation, your business can make the most of its available bandwidth by automatically using other connections when bottlenecks occur.
In another scenario, your organization may experience seasonal spikes in network traffic. In this instance, IT personnel can create rules to use your failover system to relieve traffic congestion automatically.
Enhance Operations With SD-WAN Smart Network Architecture
SD-WAN is a cloud-based software-driven technology, enabling you to deliver a new level of operational efficiency by establishing intelligent networks from endpoint to endpoint. Ultimately, it will let you operate your network at its full potential.
This network modality is an agile and smart solution to empower business continuity, and it’s changing the way enterprises operate and connect to the cloud.
Now, SD-WAN Cloud is also transforming technology in other ways. First, it’s enabling IT professionals to control application-driven infrastructures more easily because, with SD-WAN, you can connect all enterprise networks.
These networks can, of course, include remote branch offices as well as dispersed data centers, all while using secure transport protocols.
Since SD-WAN Cloud is not hardware dependent, it is more agile and flexible than the more traditional WAN connectivity. You will be able to manage any application-based platform remotely, scale an overlay and run it quickly.
You can leverage SD-WAN Cloud for a multitude of WAN connections, including:
- 4G
- 5G
- Broadband
- LTE
- MPLS
This technology is an intelligent network solution designed to make your WANs more intelligent and elastic. With SD-WAN Cloud, you can step away from the bonds of proprietary hardware and deliver a flexible solution for your entire organization’s operations, independently of its multiple locations.
Related: SD-WAN Implementation: What to Look for and Watch Out for
Save Money, Time and Resources with SD-WAN Cloud Deployment
Your organization can enjoy considerable cost savings by deploying SD-WAN Cloud. However, you must rely on the services of a reputable top provider who will guarantee they are there for you through the planning, design, deployment and management stages.
Ongoing support and guaranteed uptimes are essential to make the most of SD-WAN technology at a lower cost to you. With these provisions, SD-WAN Cloud will help your organization meet budget and continuity requirements.
You can deploy SD-WAN technology with a zero-touch provisioning approach. With it, you can bring up site connections without the need to repair, replace or work with physical devices.
In some instances, SD-WAN Cloud will help your organization save money by letting you eliminate MPLS altogether, and it will also allow your network to make better traffic failover decisions.
SD-WAN Cloud services can additionally help your organization reduce expenses by performing network virtualization functions. This technology supports faster provisioning and eliminates the need for IT personnel to travel to remote branches.
SD-WAN can give you access to more bandwidth at a lower cost. It also enables you to provision network traffic for optimal speed and throttle low-priority apps.
Additionally, you can easily maintain control of your network. You only need access to a simplified dashboard when using SD-WAN Cloud. This capability reduces the need for expensive manual configuration and on-site IT personnel.
More importantly, SD-WAN will provide you with complete network transparency and will let you maintain a holistic perspective of your enterprise network.
SD-WAN Cloud at Work
After reviewing the above sections with SD-WAN Cloud advantages and benefits, it’s worth going over a fictitious scenario to better understand how it works:
- Email data does not need low latency or a high-quality path to deliver the service.
- An SD-WAN would identify any email traffic as such and transport it over the lowest-cost path available at the time.
- A voice-over IP (VoIP) call or an HD video conference call, on the other hand, demand low latency and a high-quality path.
- SD-WAN will send this traffic over a path that will efficiently and seamlessly manage these data with no delays.
In general and simpler words, SD-WAN Cloud analyzes the application the user is utilizing and then it decides the most efficient route to take it through, based on what the particular application requires to perform optimally.
Rely on The Best SD-WAN Cloud Partner
Figuring out the best approach to deploy SD-WAN Cloud in your business is not always a straightforward process. BCM One experts are ready and waiting to provide all the industry knowledge available to help you achieve your digital transformation goals.
BCM One’s objective is not simply to sell you the benefits of SD-WAN Cloud; it’s to make sure you have the best networking solution available for your enterprise’s unique needs. World-renowned engineers and technicians will help you build and maintain a strong network foundation to help your organization succeed in the new normal.
Find out how BCM One can help you use SD-WAN Cloud services to transform your communication infrastructure into a robust, secure and reliable platform. Contact us today.