Technology is constantly evolving, just like the business landscape it supports. This evolution may have prompted your organization to transition to SD-WAN years ago, as it offered significant advantages over MPLS at the time. However, with the rapid pace of innovation, it’s worth asking: Is SD-WAN still the right investment, or is it time to embrace the next generation of technology?
In my previous article, I wanted to show people what SASE is, what SASE is NOT, what ZTNA 2.0 means, and how this architecture and mindset can benefit your organization. Here, I want to take things to the next step and discuss the common pain points that lead customers towards a SASE solution as well as help answer any key questions that may lead to a network/security/WAN transformation.
Finally, I wanted to remind anyone reading this article: The SASE help you need is here! Now, let’s dive in.
Imagine this: you’re leading an important video conference presentation for a long-sought-after prospect. Suddenly, the call stutters, pixelates, and then drops entirely. To no fault of your own, your dynamite presentation and prepared notes are of no use as the prospect is left with a sour taste. This frustrating scenario, which many have experienced either during a virtual sales pitch or during internal team meetings, exposes the faults of a complex network environment.
In the competitive world of technology, one of the biggest challenges for IT leaders is adapting to evolving tactics and changes in network connectivity. This is similar to professional sports, as offensive and defensive schemes often change during a season due to trending playbook wrinkles. Team leaders that deploy dated scheming eventually fall behind in on-field play and their win-loss record will reflect this. In the world of IT, outdated network architectures and middleware lead to more serious burdens with hindered device management and security. As a result, many enterprises can’t fully enjoy the benefits of cloud technologies and digital transformation.
It is no surprise most enterprises are prioritizing network modernization in the day and age of digital transformation. Outdated infrastructure harms productivity and hinders security, making it a challenge to build a future-ready network that meets evolving expectations. All too often, our team will assess networks based on traditional VLAN architectures that will 100% struggle to accommodate hundreds of thousands of users and devices. A modern network should seamlessly connect remote workers to physical locations, data centers, and the cloud, following an edge-centric and data-driven approach.
Some secrets are worth keeping, but we’re here to spill the beans on reliable, secure network connectivity for fixed retail locations. Overall, the retail industry has some of the most advanced data centers and hybrid cloud networks within today’s IT landscape. But the corporate center is not where the majority of business operations take place as many retail transactions occur at the outer edge. Some of these edge locations are more remote than others, yet they still rely on the same level of network connectivity. Overall, retail edge locations face unique connectivity challenges that urban, metro, and suburban locations simply do not. These challenges include:
Enterprises everywhere are leveraging their computer networks to attain a competitive advantage for not just operational efficiency, but also employee satisfaction. Network information systems are being utilized to improve communication and collaboration amongst employees, increase productivity, and accelerate decision-making.
By collecting, storing, and analyzing large amounts of data, companies gain insights into customer behavior and market trends that allow them to act preemptively ahead of their competitors. In a time when economic inflation is on everyone’s mind, digital technologies are streamlining business processes to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and achieve pricing advantages.
Back in 2016, Georgia State University decided to address the annual phenomenon known as “summer melt” in which a sizable number of students enrolled during the summer session would fail to enroll in the fall. The school implemented a chatbot project called Pouncethat wasdesigned to regularly connect with incoming students. This practice, commonly referred to as nudge technology by Gartner, reminds students of upcoming meetings and deadlines. Additionally, and in the interest of this blog article, nudge technology also uses AI to answer frequently asked questions that incoming students often have.
We’ve written plenty on how the professional world has changed since COVID-19. All industries experienced one significant change or another, and it can be argued that the IT sector was affected more than any other due to the many industries it supports. The IT landscape has witnessed vast shifts in workplace environments, devices, technology needs, and application hosting. This massive amount of change in a short period of time has made it challenging for IT personnel and organizations to stay up to date on evolving technology needs and issues.
Hybrid work is quickly becoming the predominant model for many organizations. Its popularity stems from the fact people can work from home, the office, or anywhere else. Approximately 59% of employees in the U.S. prefer a hybrid work environment compared to fully remote or fully on-site. This creates the essential need for office networks to accommodate increased bandwidth and other adaptations. In this article, we cover the importance of a flexible wireless architecture and five strategies to help enterprises meet their needs with hybrid workforce solutions.
