Choosing the Right Strategy
Prior to making that transition, leaders will need to do work with their IT staffs to determine what strategy would best be applicable for the organization. By utilizing the ‘do it yourself’ (DIY) model, you will have to rely on the technical competencies and expertise of your IT staff to install and deploy the network once the vendor gives you the necessary equipment.
On the other hand, the managed solution gives you the option of having the vendor send certified techs to conduct the execution and completion of the installation process. Or you can opt for the hybrid solution so that your company and the vendor providing services to you will share in the management of the SD network.
Choosing the right strategy for your company will be based on the size of the company, the location of other offices relative to the headquarters, and whether the company will have the funding necessary to execute the deployment in a timely manner. They will also need to determine what their business and network requirements will be before the migration starts. Here are six steps that you can use to ensure that your SD-WAN deployment is a successful one:
-
Assess Connectivity Needs
Multinational corporations on average have 23 connectivity providers. Since there is a wide array of MSPs to choose from, your procurement team will be responsible in tracking service bills and contracts and will need to step in to resolve disputes in the language of each country’s ISP.
In-house IT personnel will have to work with multiple tech support entities when problems start to crop up. Sometimes businesses may end up finding out that certain ISPs do not work on weekends, or conduct maintenance periods at the most inconvenient moment. These factors make ISPs difficult to manage at times.
-
Consider Working with an MSP
Consider having a multisourcing service integration (MSI) partner managing ISPs and other service providers on your behalf. Enterprises do not want to be left while struggling to figure out what’s going on with the network. Leaving a single team in charge of managing the underlying hardware and the SD-WAN infrastructure, including ISP global peer relationships, makes the problem go away.
-
Take Your Pick from the DIY, Managed SD-WAN or Hybrid Model
Businesses have the option of choosing between the DIY model, the managed SD-WAN model, or the hybrid model. They will need to conduct self-assessments on their financial and technical abilities before making a commitment to either one. The hybrid model and the DIY model are used by larger organizations that have the staff necessary to handle the implementation of the SD-WAN network, while the managed SD-WAN model is geared more towards smaller companies who do not have IT staff with the technical expertise to handle the deployment process and need to rely on external vendors to handle it for them.
-
SD-WAN Management
Monitor your traffic closely to pinpoint issues with performance across the SasS application, network, device and data center stacks. Having a unified dashboard to look at these metrics closely can provide valuable information on the health and performance of all connectivity links. It makes it easier for personnel to report and identify network issues, and provide visibility on performance for the end-user. In addition, having a central portal should allow you to implement SD-WAN configurations and network changes without difficulty.
-
Service Level Agreements
SLAs that extend to the customer premise equipment of SD-WANs will be crucial. Repair or replacement periods of CPE equipment at remote locations will be is absolutely critical to ensure that they remain operational. Forward stocking locations of equipment would reduce downtime if issues
-
Make Decisions on Individual Site Capabilities
Requirements tend to vary across locations and applications. This especially holds true for the largest businesses in the world. Use micro-segmentation and service chaining, so that WAN optimization and security functions can be added in a concentrated fashion at specific target areas where there is a need for them.
The Key Advantage of Managed Services
The key takeaway from the managed service for SD-WAN is that it is focused on performance. We at ExterNetworks will not only provide your company the equipment necessary to set up the network but send fully qualified personnel to help ease the installation of your SD-WAN network. Our SD-WAN services are flexible, helping customers like you meet the evolution and transformation of your legacy WAN to the software-defined architecture. The onsite engineer will work with the service provider to installer the CPE and activate your SD-WAN connection.
