Top 3 Reasons Why Enterprises Should Choose SD-WAN as a Managed Service

The cloud-first era is here. Most global organizations have embraced this and recognized that in order to stay relevant and to compete, they need to transform their network from a traditional WAN to SD-WAN. According to IDC, the SD-WAN market should reach $4.5 billion by 2022.

But there’s a lot of noise in the SD-WAN market. From Do-it-Yourself (DIY) solutions to managed services that aren’t truly fully managed, not all pathways to SD-WAN are equal.

IT organizations that choose to build their own SD-WAN are responsible for everything from evaluating vendors to implementing the solution, solving application performance issues and re-configuring the network every time the organization rolls out a new application.

In some cases, DIY can mean lower costs and more control. But it also requires more of the IT organization’s valuable time. More time solving application latency issues. More time managing and monitoring the network. More time juggling multiple vendors and all of the complexities (read: headaches) that brings – multiple time zones, multiple points of contact and multiple contracts.

For any IT team, this a major time suck. For the leaner IT team, this could make or break an organization’s ability to adopt new technologies at the speed the business requires.

A managed SD-WAN solution offers the best option for the forward-thinking enterprise: the foundational technology needed to migrate to the cloud combined with the simplicity of having a single partner to manage that network.

Here are the top 3 reasons why global enterprises moving to SD-WAN should consider managed services:

#1: Managed SD-WAN is the now and the future

Transforming the WAN is the first step in any digital transformation because it provides the building blocks to migrate to the cloud and adopt emerging technologies. A managed SD-WAN goes further than that, allowing organizations to migrate to a consumption model and reduce capital expenses. Long-term, this is more cost effective and flexible.

#2: Flexibility!

With a managed SD-WAN, you’ll have a partner that enables your network to be as dynamic as your business.

Take, for example, the chemical company Element Solutions Inc. For many years, ESI grew through acquisitions inheriting multiple different routing platforms, hardware and data centers around the globe. In switching to Aryaka’s managed SD-WAN solution, they were able to consolidate their global infrastructure of 200+ sites in under four months. Earlier this year, when ESI divested a large portion of its business, Aryaka managed the infrastructure split in less than two months with zero downtime.

With the right managed SD-WAN partner, IT teams can rest easy knowing that major business shifts like mergers and acquisitions won’t be held up by their network infrastructure.

#3: IT teams can add more value

When your networking team doesn’t have to spend the majority of its time solving application issues and managing multiple vendors, they’re able to focus on other business priorities.

According to Mark Baker, CTO of Pilot Freight Services, “When we talk about evolving IT departments where they become business partners and having the technology to enable that – that’s really the position that Aryaka gives an IT organization.”

When Pilot Freight Services, a transportation and logistics company, adopted Aryaka as part of a large-scale digital transformation initiative, one of the key issues they were able to solve was servicing remote sites. Freed from managing tedious installations and configurations, the networking team was able to shift focus to other priorities adding more value to the business.

At the end of the day, it’s construction vs consumption. Organizations will need to determine whether to spend valuable IT resources building and maintaining a network or opt for a managed service that provides operational simplicity and guaranteed network performance.

Learn More about Aryaka’s managed SD-WAN solution

About the author

Jillian Sweeney

Jillian Sweeney is the Sr. Marketing Manager at Aryaka, where she focuses on customer marketing. Jillian has experience managing marketing programs, campaigns and brand marketing initiatives. She holds a B.A. in Literary Journalism from the University of California, Irvine.