The traditional WAN function often struggles with the current unprecedented explosion of WAN traffic due to widespread cloud adoption and as a result, is no longer the most effective way to provide satisfactory user application experiences.
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The need for SD wan Solutions
Hence, the introduction of software-defined WAN solutions. SD-WAN solutions are invaluable to companies seeking to upgrade their network and optimize user experience significantly. Most importantly, they offer security features that protect the traffic they manage, as well as functions that protect the offerings themselves. In this article, we will be exploring a checklist of capabilities that an enterprise should look for when choosing SD-WAN solutions. This SD wan checklist will help you to select the right SD wan Solutions for your company.
SD-WAN (Software Defined Networking) Checklist:
- Accessibility
- Cost of Ownership
- Easy and remote deployment
- Simple Management
- Effective Pricing
Accessibility
Cloud migration is, of course, fast-rising among enterprises and is the foremost reason for adopting SD-WAN solutions. In 2018, the cloud migration rate grew 15% more than the previous year and will keep rising. Businesses use hundreds of unique cloud services for apps, services, and platforms and expect SD-WAN to optimize their performance.
Service providers who are accessible to clients can provide hybrid cloud optimization, hybrid WAN, and granular policy-based network administration. The best service providers do not only offer cloud-based SD-WAN deployment but also create better WANs and networking strategies physically and in the cloud.
This will help clients to achieve long-term optimization of components such as network security and extensibility. Accessibility should also extend to the availability of account reps for face-to-face interactions, on-site support, and individualized guidance as customers’ satisfaction depends on it.
Cost of Ownership
SD-WAN solutions offer companies simpler administration jobs, better workload performance, avoided cost of MLPS, enhanced agility, fewer days bottlenecks, and as a result, instant return on investments and increased savings. However, not all vendors provide an equal ratio of value to cost. Businesses need to evaluate the TCO for SD-WAN solutions to determine which of the providers will most likely drive cost optimization and savings benefits.
They are searching for providers that will ensure cost savings on initial technology investments in hardware, software subscriptions, support monthly subscription costs for managed services and savings on security safeguards such as firewalls and so on.
Easy and remote deployment
Companies researching SD-WAN are often struggling with complex technical migrations and require a solution that would perform these tasks effectively. The right service providers offer easy deployment and intelligently designed solutions.
An intelligible SD-WAN solution should be built based on an in-depth investigation into the company’s network needs such as sites managed, budget, number of users, workload patterns, anticipated WAN usage and technology goals. They should also provide a deployment plan that includes a comprehensive strategy for monitoring network data after migration for continuous improvements.
Furthermore, companies want to provide remote users with secure, high-performing access to applications and data, without burdening IT resources. To do this, they require an SD-WAN tool that is capable of performing configurations remotely and enabling all users to connect a branch location to the network just by plugging in power and data cables. These solutions should also include security offerings that incorporate built-in firewall, encryption and filtering capabilities. According to a study on Next-Generation Networking, 66% of SD-WAN users intend to replace all their existing firewall branches with SD-WAN solutions.
Simple Management
Most SD-WAN technologies today provide a centralized and intuitive administration portal and allow configuration based on point-and-click workflows. However, these features don’t necessarily guarantee ease of successful management or simpler optimization of network performance. Hence, the best SD-WAN approach is one that fits the company’s needs and requirements for complexities. In other words, solutions must be able to provide improved user experience, integrate seamlessly with your existing designs and systems, offer appropriate accommodations for traffic prioritization and ensure transparency across WAN, users and hybrid environments.
Pricing
Pricing is another significant factor companies evaluate when choosing SD-WAN solutions. They want solutions that fit into their budget but most importantly, ones that offer clear cut value for their cost. Companies must keep in mind the cheapest service provider might not be the best in this regard because their features and support might be significantly limited and insufficient to drive ROI.
Instead, organizations should seek to identify providers with better TCO. These providers might appear slightly more costly but offer advanced support systems, expert engineering, active monitoring, optimized network agility and flexibility that will save money in the long run.
Conclusion
Choosing the right SD-WAN can be confusing and complicated but with SD-WAN Checklist You can. However, companies can unlock the full potential of SD-WAN by partnering with Cynexlink to find the best-managed services vendor. During the evaluation processes, we help companies review IT strategy, test-drive solutions, understand the ROI and develop an SD-WAN migration strategy that ensures success.
