SD-WAN technology has numerous advantages for enterprises be it small or large one. But, many business owners think that it may not be a good option in every network situation. This gives rise to many questions such as how to know which business should deploy SD-WAN. How to determine if SD-WAN solution is the better for the business or not?

This is confusing, right? The only way to know what WAN architecture fits your business is to perform an analysis. This analysis will tell you about the business's future needs. Let’s evaluate business needs to know if this technology is good for them:

If the business requires to reduce the risk of security

With digital transformation, enterprises are getting help in improvement in client’s satisfaction and enhancing their market reach. But, one fact that no one can overlook is the increased security risks to enterprises. After the pandemic crisis, there can be seen an accelerated digital transformation which also causes cyber security threats. So, this is a concern for all the organizations that depend on digital transformation.

Enterprises that need to boost security consider SD-WAN effective for their business. There’s a solution for the security threat and that’s SD-WAN. With the deployment of this solution, your business gets built-in security.

A better option that ensures security in the network is SD-WAN solutions. This technology provides multiple security features such as encryption, NGFW, and sandboxing capabilities. Along with boosting the security of enterprise’s data, organizations can also get help in the prevention of downtime and data loss.

If a business needs to reduce the WAN cost

SD-WAN technology is good for a business if it requires cost-effective WAN architecture for network connectivity. Most enterprises deploy cloud-based applications in which the amount of data traveling over WAN increases which ultimately increases the overall operating costs. Earlier, enterprises were using MPLS lines to connect their branch offices to remote locations or corporate data centers.

MPLS lines over other WAN architecture are a bit expensive. This is a challenging situation especially when there’s a need for more bandwidth to meet the increasing connectivity demands. Businesses who want to reduce this cost or save their business funds especially small businesses or startups choose SD-WAN. Thankfully, there’s SD-WAN that can reduce this WAN cost.

It’s comforting for businesses to know that SD-WAN leverages less expensive 5G connections, provides direct cloud access, and reduces the amount of traffic.

If a business requires improvement in performance

SD-WAN technology provides multiple benefits for businesses. Can every business go for the deployment of this technology? Is there a need for the implementation of SD-WAN for all businesses? If not then how one can determine whether this technology is the right approach for a business or not? Well, those businesses that require improving their performance must go for the deployment of SD-WAN.

It is known to everyone that traditional WAN architecture is not strong as sometimes it causes complexities. If a business wants performance improvement then it must go for utilizing this newer approach of WAN.

Fortunately, the configuration of SD-WAN can be done to focus on real-time services, VoIP, and business-critical traffic. This SD-WAN architecture ensures high-performance and reliable connections. This ultimately improves the productivity of the employee and solves packet loss and latency issues.

If the business wants to reduce the network complexity

Digital transformation has surely aided businesses in network connectivity but there are various complexities that the IT team has to face. When an enterprise uses multiple devices for connectivity and their proper functioning, there are higher chances of the occurrence of complexities. This ultimately gives rise to the risk of poor network performance and over-burdened IT teams.

This is one of the ways that help businesses to determine whether they want SD-WAN or not. If the business is facing various network complexities then SD-WAN is a good option for them.

Fortunately, the deployment of SD-WAN can help businesses in reducing the risks of complexities in the network. With this solution, there will be a use of simplified WAN infrastructure that ensures automation monitoring tasks. The management of traffic through a centralized controller or software reduces the challenges of the network. When there’s the issue of slow connectivity or downtime, the IT team can feel relaxed and do other core business works efficiently.

If businesses want to reduce the network dependency on MPLS

Most companies are still stuck with MPLS lines for network connectivity. Though it is also a great WAN architecture, this is an expensive option to choose. In addition to this, MPLS doesn’t offer a strong and stable performance as SD-WAN. The dependency of businesses on MPLS also needs to be reduced it creates issues of reliable connectivity across distributed networks.

This is the reason why many organizations that are dependent on MPLS want to switch to SD-WAN architecture. Businesses deploying higher-performance WANs such as SD-WAN can save a lot on overall WAN networks. This works by relying on private links and public connections instead that are less expensive. So, if a business is having more branches and locations then the savings from using SD-WAN is beneficial.

If a business has multiple locations and branches

Many organizations have diverse branches and locations. Thus, it is crucial to maintain reliable connectivity with each other o that employees can work on projects with ease. Another concern of such organizations is the security of sensitive data. If an enterprise sends data over a long network, this increases the chances of security threats.

In such a situation, SD-WAN is the right option for them. The benefit of cost saving is visible when there are multiple locations of a business and their networks are connected with SD-WAN.

To sum up

Today, fast-paced businesses require network connectivity especially connecting remote locations and branches. SD-WAN is a good option for enterprises that require security, enhanced performance, and connectivity among different branches. So, consider looking for an SD-WAN solution that can ensure deep management of the local LAN and overall security.