How Can the SD-WAN Cloud Empower Digital Transformation? A Closer Look

2022-09-12 12:36:08

Around 84% of South African organisations have recognised that they need to improve their IT infrastructure.

Digital transformation is a complicated subject, but understanding it will help your business succeed in the future. Organisations must transform to keep pace with the world digitally, and SD-WAN can help.

Read on for more about SD-WAN and how it empowers digital transformation. 

What Is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is a move that many businesses are making to adapt to the modern world. Regardless of the size of your business or what it does, it's more than likely that you have a lot to gain from digital transformation.

Digital transformation is a broad term, and its' implementation is slightly different for every organisation. The general concept involves integrating digital technology throughout a business to improve operations and better serve customers.

Beyond being just a mere change in how a business operates, it's also a cultural change. When you transform the digital aspects of your company, it can mean leaving behind business practices that have been in place for decades.

Implementing digital transformation is a big step, but it can improve your business's efficiency, productivity, and overall profits when done correctly.

 

SD-WAN Explained

SD-WAN (Software-Defined Wide Area Network) is a network-based solution that one can utilise across an entire company. With it, you can tie together all resources, regardless of whether they're on-site or remote.

It is a cloud-based technology that uses secure, high-speed connections to link any applications used by a business and makes them accessible over the internet. SD-WAN can control various resources such as data centres or remote branches, thus resulting in seamless connectivity that allows your employees to access any tools or resources they need to carry out their jobs from wherever they are.

 

How SD-WAN Empowers Digital Transformation

Due to the many aspects of digital transformation, empowerment varies from business to business. The nature of your company's work also determines the best practices you should adopt.

Regardless of the nature of your business, however, SD-WAN offers many advantages to a wide range of industries.

 

Simplicity

Businesses these days tend to have reasonably complex computer systems, and with so much going on, things can get complicated and quite messy. To address this, SD-WAN can consolidate entire networks onto a single interface.

This consolidation makes navigation more manageable and completes company-wide roll-outs and updates in minutes, instead of the weeks or even months it could take with a legacy system.

Furthermore, this single interface can easily and quickly implement system changes and configurations across multiple sites instead of separately and at different locations.

 

Visibility

The simplicity of this interface makes viewing and controlling analytics far easier. IT managers can see whatever they need to across entire networks, regardless of physical location.

 

Reduced Costs

An SD-WAN system eliminates the need to carry much hardware, including routers and other similar network equipment at each site. The more locations a business has, the more substantial the cost reduction.

In addition, a business requires less staff to manage and maintain the network across multiple sites, thereby reducing labour costs.

 

Performance

SD-WAN systems can allocate bandwidth when needed, thereby helping data travel across the fastest routes available and providing superior network performance. The system can perform this function automatically, or it can be programmed manually to prioritise more critical applications.

Integrating various digital technologies with your SD-WAN system is also possible, including IoT technologies, VoIP, and business productivity apps.

 

Uptime

Uptime is one of the most critical requirements for an efficient business. Whenever operations cease, it reduces profits and can negatively affect customer experience.

SD-WAN makes troubleshooting quicker and more effective by maintaining control over multiple network paths so that connections remain seamless, even when one path fails.

 

Reliability

A business's overall reliability and, thus, its capacity to consistently complete work on time are improved and optimised by enhancing the efficiency of all applications and networks. 

SD-WAN has been explicitly optimised for cloud computing and remote network activities, ensuring minimal problems.

 

Flexibility

Being locked into a contract isn't an issue for some; however, it may be problematic if you're having difficulties with a particular provider and wish to switch. SD-WAN allows you to change carriers as and when you choose.

It is even possible to create a hybrid SD-WAN network if it suits your business's needs better. A hybrid provides the advantage of having multiple connections so that you can keep things running, even if one provider is experiencing issues.

 

Remote Working

In recent years, the number of remote workers has increased dramatically. Businesses have had to adapt fast to this change, and many have had trouble at some point or another.

SD-WAN ensures the best reliability, security, and seamless network activity available, and thus, implementing it will help you now and in the future. It may even present unforeseen opportunities that have yet to arise.

 

Employee Mindset

Change can be challenging and significant when people have grown accustomed to older systems. The increased and regular use of digital technologies helps staff adapt to them and gives them a more open mindset to these new technologies.

Establishing this mindset will help your employees embrace these and other changes in the future, making it easier for your organisation to grow.

 

Implementing an SD-WAN System

Moving away from traditional systems and embracing digital transformation can be daunting. Daisy Business Solutions and our dedicated staff will help your company make this transition. We offer a wide range of connectivity solutions to migrate your business into the digital age.

A consultation to determine your specific needs will give us the information we need to set up an SD-WAN system that's perfect for your business. If you have any questions about our services, don't hesitate to contact us today.