July 28, 2016
This year has been the biggest work from home experiment in history. Even jobs previously thought to have been done at the office or on location suddenly could be done right out of your guest bedroom—even from your living room couch. In almost the blink of an eye, the comfortable routine of traveling to the office, brewing a cup of warm coffee and popping your head into your coworker's office to chat weekend shenanigans was gone. All of it replaced with a homemade cup of joe, more video conferencing than you ever thought possible and a couple extra minutes of sleep in the morning. I mean, it wasn't all bad, right?
And one thing many of us learned to appreciate was a strong, reliable internet connection. The kind of internet connection that can support video conference calls no matter how many tabs you have open.
Now, for businesses that run on solitary high-cost, low-speed internet/MPLS, there might not have been too much difference between connection and speeds at home and at the office. It's a lot like the ultra-slow DSL internet service most people had a handful of years ago. Many businesses run on the industrial-scale equivalent of DSL, despite the abundance of available high-speed capabilities.
And those high-speed alternatives for internet? They prevent a whole host of issues you shouldn't have to put up with when working at the office—or from home, for that matter.
For businesses looking to upgrade their internet, SD-WAN just might be the answer.
What is SD-WAN?
Software Defined Wide Area Network was developed as a more comprehensive take on WAN. SD-WAN gives YOU control over your business connectivity vs. a single provider’s contract and coverage. With WAN being a way of virtually connecting locations, SD-WAN was born by adding intelligence to the equation. In its simplest form, SD-WAN allows users to use multiple, cost-effective high-speed connections that can add redundancy while connecting multiple locations.
Problems SD-WAN can Solve
Spending time and energy resolving connection issues adds up quickly. And it's important to make every moment at the office count. Imagine how your workday could be different if the following connectivity-related issues were a thing of the past...
1. Dropped Calls
Communication certainly keeps the business world moving. Regardless of industry, both internal and external IP phone calls are a constant means of communication. A dropped call can mean lost information, a missed deadline or an angry customer. Not to mention glitch-filled video chats, which we all know can cause more problems than solutions.
2. Slow Loading Pages
We all know those cute kitten videos on the Internet are important, but there are few things more frustrating than waiting with a customer while a page loads. Today's consumer applications directly compete with the experience of our business apps, SD-WAN is able to limit and offload this application traffic.
Whether it’s in the banking, retail, healthcare or finance industry, if there’s a time to have high-speed connection, it’s while helping a customer. They may not notice lightning-fast connectivity, but they will remember the alternative.
3. Sites Going Offline
SD-WAN constantly runs over multiple internet/MPLS/4G LTE paths between devices. This means that in the event that one connection fails or degrades, there’s an alternate high-speed connection already active, and takes over. This means, even if your connection does go down, no work functions will be affected and the end users will never know.
4. Security Concerns
With SD-WAN, all electronic data is encrypted as it travels from data centers to the remote devices, ensuring user privacy. For example, people generally go to a local bank branch instead of traveling to a bank’s headquarters. While all your account data is housed through headquarters, it needs a way to safely travel to your local branch. In this scenario, your account information travels safely via SD-WAN.
The Power of SD-WAN Connectivity
Avoiding the problems outlined above comes down to enabling your business with an effective SD-WAN solution. As more and more employees return to the office and work to find their new normal, a dependable, reliable internet connection can make things easier, of course. But even more than that, it can remind them how great it is to be back at the office. And that, combined with having printer access again, can make all the difference.
We Have the Technology
Depending on your current situation, some businesses already have the necessary equipment and just need SD-WAN added as a feature, whereas other businesses may require a more extensive configuration. No extra time in the day to realize the ROI or increase the end user experience now? Don’t want to manage multiple service providers? To discover how Marco SD-WAN can help you solve your business technology problems, contact a Marco specialist.
