Cloud-based application use continues to grow at a fast pace, yet managing cloud software can be complex on traditional network structures. With businesses transitioning to a virtual work environment, more organizations are switching from performance-inhibited wide-area networks (WANs) to a software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN). SD-WAN can benefit your organization in many ways. Let’s look at five of them.
First, let’s review what SD-WAN is. SD-WAN solutions leverage corporate WAN as well as multi-cloud connectivity to deliver high-speed application performance at the WAN Edge of branch sites. SD-WAN provides a dynamic path selection between MPLS, 4G/5G, or broadband. This ensures organizations can quickly and easily access business-critical cloud applications. Secure SD-WAN enables organizations to enable next-generation firewall (NGFW) with SD-WAN in the simplified offering.
Here are 5 Ways SD-WAN Technology Benefits Your Organization
- Strengthens security. Security is the number one priority. Expanding your digital presence can open your organization to cybersecurity attacks. Many SD-WAN solutions offer built-in cybersecurity through integrated security features, such as NGFW, encryption, and antivirus that can help prevent data loss and downtime.
- Reduces cost. Security is the most important factor when adding new technology to your organization – so is cost. The more applications a business adds, the more the cost of data use rises. Fortunately, SD-WAN can reduce this price tag by leveraging low-cost local Internet access through direct cloud access, and reduced traffic flow through the network.
- Improves performance = improved employee productivity. SD-WAN can be configured to prioritize business-critical traffic and real-time services like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems. Your business-critical applications operate through reliable, high-performance connections and allow for reduced packet loss and latency issues.
- Lowers complexity. More technology and digital assets add layers of complexity to your network. This can hurt network performance and add difficulty to the management of the network for your IT staff. SD-WAN can simplify WAN infrastructure, using broadband to off-load non-critical business apps, automating monitoring tasks, and managing traffic through a centralized controller.
- Enables cloud usage. More and more organizations are adopting multi-cloud strategies. SD-WAN offers direct cloud access for your employees to directly and securely access their applications regardless of their location. This is done without adding extra traffic that can burden your network.
SD-WAN solutions offer features and benefits that traditional WAN is simply unable to provide. Organizations not only save money but benefit from increased business agility, worker productivity, and faster application deployment. It is the preferred choice of organizations looking to make the switch.
Yeo & Yeo Technology is the first IT company in Michigan to receive the Fortinet SD-WAN Specialization designation. Contact us today to learn more about how SD-WAN can benefit your business.
*Some information for this article was sourced from Fortinet.com.