Is your organization’s network fully optimized to operate in today’s digital world? Even today’s most technologically-forward companies may still have some legacy hardware that is holding them back from taking full advantage of the benefits that cloud computing offers. If you’re using digital networking as a product and service delivery method, you may be missing out on an opportunity to truly turn digital transformation into a long term business development strategy.
According to Cisco, one of the top cloud services solution providers, “CEOs understand that digital transformation represents the potential for real growth by fundamentally changing the customer experience. And they are actively looking towards IT leaders for strong partnership because they recognize that these new business models will be underpinned by technologies such as cloud, mobile, social, and big data and analytics — what IDC collectively refers to as the 3rd Platform.”
Digital Readiness Breeds Flexibility
While Cisco mentions that data center optimization infrastructure has been popular toward driving more flexible, agile, and automated processes, “In many cases, network transformation has been left behind, leaving it as a vulnerability and constraint to many organizations’ digital initiatives. At the same time, deploying a digital-ready network will probably prove to be the most critical element for an organization’s successful digital transformation.”
Why should your organization adopt this strategic approach? Read on to find out how it can save you money, in addition to streamlining the way your network runs.
A Digital-Ready Network Can Be Cost-Saving
How does a digital-ready network immediately benefit your organization? Cisco recently completed an in-depth survey of IT leaders to get a sense of what networking initiatives were working best at their organization. All respondents surveyed had identified significant efforts to transform their networks for digital readiness. In many cases, multiple approaches were documented in this transformation, which further shows that the benefits of the cloud include creating a customized solution that may involve multiple products, services and vendors, specifically designed to benefit the organization’s unique needs.
According to Cisco, the results of the survey were largely positive. They found that, “The customers interviewed cited high-level benefits to their digital-ready networks, such as automating workflows and processes, lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) of network infrastructure, better leveraging cloud technologies and IoT, and being able to scale the network with more agility.” While legacy hardware creates a stilted, inflexible environment, optimizing for digital readiness can improve the speed, agility and flexibility of the network.
Other Benefits of Digital Readiness
Cisco also found that the following factors supported the benefits of a digital-ready network:
- Standardized configurations
- Faster, more streamlined WAN deployments
- Reduced time on the front end to getting the network up and running, the speed of which is reverberated throughout the entire enterprise network
- Time savings that allows IT to focus on strategic efforts that add specific business value and plan stronger security efforts
- Ability to integrate net applications to support the business, in a faster timespan
All of these benefits translate into time and cost savings for your enterprise and IT team, which frees up the ability to focus on what matters most. Overall, Cisco found that, “The primary benefits of enhancing network capabilities and initiatives are to optimize IT’s ability to align with business needs and thereby enable the business to realize the benefits of digital transformation and deliver the most business value. IDC studies have shown that organizations in advanced stages of digital network readiness exhibit stronger business performance than organizations with less developed networks.”
Is your enterprise’s network in need of a tune-up? To increase your digital readiness and implement the cost-savings of this strategy, Cisco’s solutions can help. Learn more about Cisco on their website and click here to get a free network assessment from WEI, a custom IT solutions provider!
