Without a single doubt, you should procure SD-WAN technology for your enterprise to meet the demands of current business applications. But, SD-WAN orchestration is not something that you can perform on your own. Especially, if you are a small-scale, startup, or a mid-sized firm. However, you need a modern, agile, and secure networking infrastructure for your enterprise to run all the network-based applications. So, hiring an SD-WAN vendor becomes a convenient and affordable choice for entrepreneurs.
Here comes a question- whom to trust for being your technical partner and who to not? To solve this query, you should go ahead with this article. We hope you find this article well!
Who is an SD-WAN vendor?
We refer an SD-WAN vendor to an IT company that provides a comprehensive range of SD-WAN solutions for a wide array of industries. They get to asses your business requirements to provide you with the right SD-WAN tools. In addition, an SD-WAN vendor holds the expertise for accurate and timely SD-WAN orchestration in your enterprise.
Who is the right SD-WAN vendor for you?
Various IT companies in the market aim to provide you with the right SD-WAN tools. However, it is necessary for you to choose the right SD-WAN vendor to deploy advanced networking solutions in your company.
In that case, we advise you to remember the following points while you hunt for the right SD-WAN vendor:
Be clear with business requirements
Before you go to an IT company to procure SD-WAN solutions, you must be ready with a set of your business application requirements. For example, you can define your networking requirements like network size and complexity. Also, you should be clear about your business application performance needs including high-speed access, low latency, easy optimization, etc.
Do not forget to mention the required security features in your SD-WAN infrastructure. You can ask your SD-WAN vendor for next-generation firewalls, network encryption tools, IDS, etc. It will be good for you to ask your vendor for business scalability options and advancements like access to cloud integration, AI, machine learning tools, etc.
Evaluate vendor features
You should analyse the true potential of an SD-WAN vendor before hiring them for the actual tasks:
Is it capable of application performance optimization?
Your SD-WAN vendor must be capable of optimizing application performance using modern tools and techniques. In addition, it must be able to prioritize network traffic and optimize WAN as per business application requirements.
Is it capable of providing sufficient network security?
Network security is an essential aspect to be considered because of ever-evolving cybersecurity threats. Therefore, you must ask the vendor to offer you a proactive approach to handle emerging cybersecurity attacks and breaches.
Is it capable of integrating your networking infrastructure with cloud devices?
The modern era belongs to cloud computing, AI, ML, etc. So, you must ask your SD-WAN vendor whether it can provide you with seamless integration and deployment of cloud devices.
Is it capable of scaling up your networking infrastructure with business growth?
A business is subjected to consistent growth and your SD-WAN vendor is supposed to help you scale your business as you desire. They should be ready to deploy, manage, and configure new networking devices as per your business requirements.
Is it capable of offering centralized management to your offices located in distributed workstations?
Centralized management of networking devices can help you let go of the troubles and hassles of managing and maintaining your network in distributed workstations.
Is it capable of deploying networking devices with reliable connectivity?
Your business applications may require consistent, fast, and reliable connectivity to operate. So, your SD-WAN vendor must be capable of doing the same.
Before signing any contract with an IT company engaged in deploying SD-WAN devices or infrastructure, you can ask the above questions to get assured of their services.
Other considerations to keep in mind while hiring an SD-WAN agency
Apart from the above points, you can also consider the following points to keep in mind while you are hiring a 3rd party vendor:
Market reputation of the SD-WAN vendor
Your SD-WAN vendor must be a reputed and established name in the market owing to its quality services.
Industrial affiliations & certifications
Your SD-WAN vendor should have got standardized industrial certifications for proper SD-WAN deployment. Industrial certifications like MEF 3.0 SD-WAN certification, MEF-SDCP, I-MEDITA, etc can ensure the authenticity & reliability of the SD-WAN vendor.
Test the services
You can ask for demos or proof-of-concept trials from the SD-WAN vendor. Under this, you can assess the quality of customer support services and real-world testing of the networking apps. In addition, you must ask for testing of the SD-WAN tools for compatibility with your existing networking infrastructure.
Get accurate estimation of the budget
Deployment costs are important to be estimated first so that they doesn’t impact your overall budget. Apart from this, you must calculate TCO(Total Cost of Ownership) including deployment cost, licensing fees, and maintenance & support costs.
Ensure alignment with your future goals
Your business plans and future goals should be accomplished with the help of added innovations in your SD-WAN infrastructure. So, your SD-WAN vendor must agree to scale and modify as per your business application requirements.
Conclusion
It is not an easy task to find a suitable SD-WAN vendor for your enterprise. However, if you have went through the above article thoroughly, this task can seem simple for you. In a nutshell, you should seek the reliability, scalability, authenticity, and credibility of the 3rd party IT agency for SD-WAN orchestration in your company. To reduce costs, you should make a pre-estimation of TCO and ask your vendor whether the modern SD-WAN tools can comply with your existing networking hardware or not.
FAQs:
- How can you decide whether an SD-WAN vendor is right for you?
If an SD-WAN vendor fits your budget and meets your business requirements, it will be the right IT agency for you.
- How can an SD-WAN vendor help in cost reduction while your deploy SD-WAN tools?
If SD-WAN tools are easily integrated with your current networking infrastructure, you won’t have to buy new networking hardware and thus, your cost of deploying SD-WAN solutions can decrease to an extent.