Running a reliable network across multiple locations is one of the most demanding IT challenges for growing businesses. Here are the six biggest challenges and how to address them.
1. Inconsistent performance across locations
One of the most frustrating aspects of multi-site networking is that performance can vary dramatically from one location to another. A location with an older cable connection might struggle while a location with fiber service performs excellently. Users notice these differences and expect consistent performance regardless of where they're working.
The solution is a unified approach to connectivity planning that evaluates each location's options and selects the best available service - combined with SD-WAN technology that can bond multiple connections and optimize routing.
2. Managing multiple carrier relationships
A multi-site business typically has connectivity from multiple ISPs - and managing those relationships is a significant administrative burden. Different contract terms, renewal dates, billing systems, and support contacts create complexity that consumes IT time and attention.
Consolidating connectivity management under a single Managed Connectivity provider eliminates this complexity. One contract, one bill, one support contact.
3. Ensuring redundancy and high availability
Every location needs redundant connectivity to ensure business continuity. But purchasing, configuring, and monitoring redundant connections across dozens or hundreds of locations is complex and expensive.
SD-WAN with Same IP Failover provides an elegant solution - active-active WAN configurations that automatically route around failures while maintaining session continuity for users.
4. Applying consistent security policies
Security policy consistency across multiple locations is difficult to achieve with hardware-centric approaches. When each location has its own firewall with its own configuration, ensuring that policies are consistent - and consistently updated - is nearly impossible.
SD-Security with centralized policy management solves this problem. Security policies are defined once and applied to all locations simultaneously.
5. Visibility across the entire network
IT teams at multi-site businesses often lack visibility into what's happening on the network at branch locations. When an issue occurs, diagnosing it remotely is difficult without good monitoring tools.
Modern SD-WAN platforms provide centralized dashboards that show network status and performance across all locations in real time. This visibility enables proactive issue identification and faster resolution when problems do occur.
6. Scaling as the business grows
Adding new locations is a recurring operational challenge. Procuring connectivity, deploying hardware, and configuring the network for each new location takes time and resources.
Managed connectivity services with standardized deployment processes can dramatically reduce the time and effort required to bring new locations online. With the right provider, a new location can be up and running in days rather than weeks.
Capcon Networks addresses all six of these challenges through our Managed Connectivity platform. We handle carrier procurement, hardware deployment, network configuration, monitoring, and ongoing support - so multi-site businesses can focus on their core operations instead of their network infrastructure.