SD-WAN for Remote Connectivity: Secure and Reliable Access Anywhere
SD-WAN is a secure option for remote branches and home offices, as it delivers a rich network experience and high security. The requirements for remote workers are no different from those working from the office. Organisations are scaling their operations beyond their office premises, which calls for remote access capabilities to expand the network architecture across boundaries securely and efficiently.
Remote access has taken a new turn post-2020, where many people have chosen to work remotely. Organisations find it hard to provide fast and secure connectivity to remote workers. Here, SD-WAN comes in handy to speed up connectivity in remote and branch offices without compromising security. Remote branches need IaaS and SaaS applications as they are moving to the cloud. There is a dire need for application prioritisation, ease of provisioning, and centralised management. This can be achieved in a cost-effective, scalable, and versatile format with SD-WAN.
SD-WAN for remote branches
SD-WAN solutions come with a host of benefits for the remote branches, and some are listed below:
- Prioritising latency-sensitive and mission-critical applications
- High-speed access to cloud-based services
- Encryption, firewalls, integration, and VPNs improve security
- Dashboard for centralised management
Scaled-down SD-WAN solutions can work fine for a remote office as they are designed to combat security issues. The SMOAD-managed SD-WAN solution interlinks hybrid workers, distributed offices, mobile users, and cloud workloads to transport data till the last mile. It includes 4G LTE and 5G connectivity. The managed SD-WAN solutions are comprehensively bundled and customised for unique WAN connectivity. It offers a superior customer experience with simplified operations at affordable prices. The scalable design offers round-the-clock monitoring and analytics. SMOAD offers consolidated multiple service providers, meaning you must pay only one bill.
The SD-WAN technology is easy to use and deploy. Yet, it is not without its challenges. IT organisations may face challenges when scaling out to hundreds of sites. Each provider has their methods for application prioritisation, management, and security. SD-WAN is used for branch offices, and it is priced accordingly. Remote branches can benefit from SD-WAN, yet it could be overpriced as it uses the 4G LTE option and is suitable for power users.
Remote offices are a necessity
Remote offices are no longer a trend but a necessity for many, and the pandemic has taught us new lessons on how to keep your business going, even during testing times. It is time for organisations to plan short-term and long-term strategies to deliver flawless services to customers with scalable and secure options for remote workers. Some of the strategies that could help in this scenario are:
- Easy access to the cloud applications and the internal data centre
- Providing high-speed and low-latency experience
- Protecting from security threats, irrespective of location and network
- Centralised management and easy deployment options
- Easy upscaling and downscaling to meet challenging situations
Remote workers can get the maximum out of SD-WAN technology. Features like traffic steering, application prioritisation, security, and cloud acceleration come as an advantage. Being reliable, scalable, and cost-effective, it is one of the best options for remote branches.
Undoubtedly, SD-WAN is helping remote branches to a great extent. SD-WAN is more functional than VPNs and easy to deploy and manage. Remote workers can connect the SD-WAN device to the router or hotspot and connect the other end to the laptop or desktop. It provides a secure connection to withstand the organisation’s growing demands. Once the installation is complete, it is easy to set up, monitor and manage with simple software. The setup is efficient and secure and adheres to QoS standards. The centralised management controls the remote workers as if they work from the office.
The QoS improves performance when multiple applications run through the same tunnel. It can adapt to the bandwidth and services. The SD-WAN balances the multiple parallel connections and provides reliable and secure performance for VoIP. With SD-WAN, voice and video streaming can be maximised. Moreover, it helps to reduce latency issues and packet loss by providing reliable and high-performing connectivity. Using multi-path dynamic optimisation enhances the performance of SaaS, VoIP, UCaaS, and VDI.
The SMOAD Managed Enterprise Mobile Broadband offers bonding of various cellular connections for high throughput of wireless internet for remote connectivity. For more on the product, call us for a demo.