Why Managed Network Services?
Information is the fuel of contemporary business. For most white collared workers, information tools are the only non-human ‘thing’ they work with everyday. Work From Home at such a large scale and remote working in the last 1 year has proved that as long as you can ensure the flow of information, businesses will continue. Sure, factories, goods, stores and such other physical infrastructure do matter, but information is what keeps business going.
If information is the life blood, then data networks are the blood vessels that ensure it continues flowing. To some extent, information has always been central to management. But what makes it critical now is that information is expected to be transmitted and used in real time.
All digital solutions eventually require robust, reliable, scalable and flexible data networks that are secure. Building and running such networks has been an internal IT function in large companies. Although networks are more critical to business then they have ever been, we see a strong trend of organisations moving to managed services. What is causing this?
Here are 7 reasons why should you consider managed network services as part of your digital and IT strategy:
1. Security
Managed Services come with high security standards which are based on the requirements of some of the most demanding enterprise customers such as banks. Those security protocols become the default offering for others too. Besides, managed service providers can be tasked with customized security implementation which is difficult for individual firms as they have a better control between the hardware, firmware, application and physical network elements.
2. Benefits of Specialization
Internal IT is pulled in various directions. When it comes to network, they are mostly satisfied with maintaining traditional performance metrics such as uptime, latency, packet drops at a regularly dropping cost per GB. Managed Network services, on the other hand, constantly improve and innovate to stay competitive. With increased complexity of networks, a specialist is better equipped to keep the pipeline unclogged and efficient.
3. Hybrid Networks
The nature of enterprise networks itself has changed and become more complex. You now need to offer real time access to your network not just to your distributed enterprise but also to your customers and the extended enterprise. One size no longer fits all. IT networks are a combination of multiple types of last miles connecting to a large variety of dedicated data centres and clouds. Managing such a hybrid network with real time performance expectations is driving greater adoption of managed networks.
4. Avoid Obsolescence
Until a few years ago, companies were investing on MPLS networks. Then with SD WAN, the tide has turned in the direction of SD WAN and NFV. Now there is a trend towards SASE. Investing in building and running your enterprise network can tie you in to yesterday’s technology severely limiting your business competitiveness when compared to more agile disruptors.
5. Accountability
With so many moving parts and given the role of IT in keeping the business running, organisations want to have end-to-end accountability for performance. The days of apportioning blame on the hardware vendors, network service providers and network application providers are over. Organisations demand one entity that is accountable.
6. Cost Efficiency
Managed network services optimize network resources without compromising security and performance. These efficiencies can be passed on to the enterprise resulting in better total cost of ownership for the business.
7. Focus effort on high impact initiatives
CIOs and CDOs have an urgent strategic responsibility. That is to steer the digital transformation of their company in the rapidly changing business world. They need to pick the battles that they want to fight. Many of them are better off outsourcing the plumbing to specialists while they focus on fortifying the edifice.
At Axon Networks, we help our clients adopt a managed network services approach that delivers many of the above benefits. Do reach out to us to explore how you can bring in a better performing, future ready network for your business.
Ratnesh Mittal | Co-Founder | Axon Networks
Originally Published On : Axon Networks Blogs
