To Renew or Not to Renew? Questions to Ask About Your SD-WAN Contract

Technology media company TechTarget defines software-defined wide-area networks (SD-WANs) as a technology that uses software-defined networking concepts to distribute network traffic across a wide area network.

In simple terms, SD-WAN is like an intelligent internet manager that helps an organization’s different offices communicate with each other better and use the internet in the smartest way possible. It ensures your data travels efficiently and securely without getting stuck in slowdowns and bottlenecks.

SD-WAN technology allows you to centrally control, configure, and manage your company's network, including connections to various cloud environments.

SD-WAN can also prioritize network traffic by intelligently categorizing and directing data based on importance. It examines applications' nature and data requirements and allocates network resources (e.g., bandwidth and routing paths) to ensure vital applications receive higher priority and optimal performance. This prioritization feature enhances user experience and maintains efficient network functioning even during high-demand or congestion periods.

Read More: What Is SD-WAN, and Does My Business Really Need It? 

Why Do Businesses Invest in SD-WAN Solutions?

While SD-WAN is not designed to meet every organization’s needs, goals, and budget, companies like you may have found the following SD-WAN benefits enough to switch to and invest in the software-defined approach to managing networks:

Network Management Simplification

With technology advancing at record-breaking speeds, business networks are getting increasingly complex, demanding more monitoring, configuration, and management tasks from IT teams.

“More users are running more applications and creating more data on more devices in more locations,” states Astound Business Solutions in their whitepaper on SD-WAN.

SD-WAN solutions allow organizations to centralize and simplify network management. They provide a single dashboard for managing and monitoring the entire network, making configuring, troubleshooting, and maintaining network operations easier.

Security Enhancement

SD-WAN technology often has advanced security features (e.g., firewalls, encryption, threat detection) built into the system to help safeguard data and maintain compliance with security regulations.

SD-WAN solutions can also help your organization implement the Zero Trust cybersecurity strategy within your network by enforcing micro-segmentation, access permissions, and multi-factor authentication.

Read More: In-House Specialist vs. Outsourced IT Security: Which Is Better? 

Cloud Readiness

Thanks to the emergence and massive adoption of cloud computing technology, organizations experienced unprecedented network traffic and needed something more powerful than traditional WAN technology. This led to management, performance, and data security challenges, which drove the need for a new network model: the SD-WAN.

Designed to address these challenges, SD-WAN seamlessly connects users to cloud applications and services, ensuring optimal performance and reducing the latency often associated with accessing cloud resources over the internet.

Mobile Workforce Support

For organizations with employees working in a static location, having a traditional network managed by WAN technology works just fine.

However, with the work-from-anywhere culture taking over work environments worldwide, many organizations have switched to SD-WAN technology for flexibility, optimized performance, improved security, and streamlined remote and hybrid work environment management.

Read More: How to Keep Track of WFH Devices 

Crucial Questions to Ask Before Renewing Your SD-WAN Technology Contract

While SD-WAN is a powerful, ground-breaking networking solution, not all SD-WAN providers are created equal. Before you continue working with your current provider for another three years, here are some helpful questions you should ask:

Is your current SD-WAN solution meeting performance requirements?

If you’ve decided to invest in SD-WAN, you want it to improve your network performance, reduce internet outages, and more effectively scale your network infrastructure as your company grows. You must determine if your current SD-WAN provider is helping you achieve these. 

• Is the SD-WAN technology meeting your network requirements?
• Is it delivering your desired uptime?
• Is it providing consistent connectivity, especially to critical applications?
• Have there been major network disruptions that affected business operations?
• Are there any persistent issues or performance bottlenecks?

Ask your IT team to conduct stress tests, generate reports, and review historical performance data. If you don’t have internal IT staff, you may want to consider partnering with a trusted managed IT services provider that can help give you expert and unbiased feedback on the technologies you use.

Read More: Top 3 IT Service Models: Which One is Best For Your Business? 

Do you find your SD-WAN provider’s support satisfactory?

Responsive and reliable technical support can make or break your client experience. As a business, you can’t afford to wait hours before your SD-WAN provider responds to an urgent issue.

• How responsive and effective has your vendor addressed issues and provided solutions?
• Are there any outstanding or recurring support concerns that need attention?
• When you bring up performance-related issues, how do they identify and resolve them?

If you want SD-WAN technology to empower your business, you need an SD-WAN provider that offers responsive, knowledgeable, and comprehensive client services.

Read More: How Responsive Is Your Medical Practice’s IT Helpdesk? 

Does the SD-WAN technology align with your business goals and strategy?

Investing in SD-WAN is a long-term strategy, laying the foundation for your organization's resilient and future-ready network infrastructure. However, for SD-WAN to help you achieve efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage over the years to come, it needs to align with your business’s direction.

• Does the SD-WAN solution support the organization's current and future business objectives?
• Can it adapt to changes in the company's growth, expansion, or restructuring plans?
• Are there new features, capabilities, or innovations that could better align with your organization's goals?

Cost is a reasonable consideration, too. If your organization is considering downsizing, reducing the number of company locations, or moving away from remote and hybrid work arrangements, staying on SD-WAN technology may not be the most practical business decision. Why spend money renewing the contract when you won’t be able to leverage SD-WAN benefits for your success?

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