The internet of the 1990s has become something of a running joke among those of us old enough to remember it. Everything from the dial-up modem tone to the necessity of terminating the web connection to make a phone call has become part of the lore of those days of digital infancy. They have been consigned to history, and so we can laugh about them now.
But, give your customers, clients, partners, or employees a taste of this unreliability at your peril. Today’s internet is super-fast, ultra-reliable, and highly-capable. What’s more, we have come to expect this level of efficiency all the time. This means that you, your business, and your online presence are held to extremely high standards.
Let’s take a look at the critical importance of reliable bandwidth to your organization, as well as how you can use SD-WAN and other secure methods to secure this for your team and for your users.
Why your business needs reliable bandwidth
Full-capacity operation
There is nothing to be gained from hindering yourself and from hampering your operating capabilities. Similarly, you are wasting all that carefully planned investment if you are not optimizing the deployment of your technology and your personnel.
If your teams are finding themselves unable to complete critical tasks as a result of limited bandwidth, this is simply an unacceptable situation for your business.
Secured business reputation
Research from CloudRadar suggests that one hour of downtime costs businesses $10k, on average. While your business may not suffer such huge financial losses, you are likely to experience severe reputational damage if your bandwidth is not up to scratch.
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes: if a business cannot provide you with the products or services you need, where do you go? In all likelihood, you will simply go to a competitor who can provide.
Options for making the most of your bandwidth
SD-WAN
SD-WAN, or software-defined wide area network, offers an effective solution for businesses seeking to get the most of their bandwidth. The solution offers increased efficacy for deployed applications, dynamically shifting traffic to match the requirements of each application as and when required.What is SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN) and How Does It Work?
This dynamic moderation is also applied to links. Traffic is redirected from failed or congested links, supporting a seamless user experience, even at higher volumes. Data defined as low-risk and low-sensitivity may be transferred using public internet connections, keeping secure, private channels open for when they are really required.
A smart approach to bandwidth makes SD-WAN perfectly suited for businesses that want to optimize bandwidth without indefinite investment.
WAP
WAP solutions can also be deployed to provide users with the additional bandwidth they need when they access your web services. More modern WAP solutions can deliver high levels of performance even when close to bandwidth capacity.
Usage audit and cloud agility
It is important for you and your organization to gain a good understanding of your bandwidth requirements and your usage patterns. For example, it is likely that your bandwidth use does not follow a uniform pattern. Instead, you may experience use spikes at certain times of the day or during certain seasonal periods.
Managed IT services can help with monitoring this, and you may be able to predict extra-high usage levels. This enables you to adopt an agile approach to your digital architecture, deploying effective cloud solutions and staying one step ahead of the game and eliminating downtime.
Learn more about maximizing your uptime, being available to your customers every second of every day, and operating at 100% capacity. Get in touch with our team today.