In today’s digital era, a fast, reliable network keeps users productive and customers happy.
It means employees can connect and collaborate in the latest ways − via mobile devices, cloud-based applications and internet of things (IOT) − and respond to customers faster than ever.
But ensuring the network performs at its best can be a huge challenge, especially for midsize businesses with limited IT staff and budgets.
In a series of three articles, I will discuss how cloud-managed networking provides midsize businesses with a simple, smart and secure way to increase productivity and drive business growth.
To stay competitive, midsize business networks must provide the same reliability, performance, security and scalability of large-scale enterprise networks, but without the same resources.
Gartner found that midsized businesses spend 1.5x more on infrastructure technologies than large enterprises. Yet, they must deploy and maintain this technology with limited staff, many of whom are IT generalists.
Meanwhile, technology is changing at a blistering pace. Bandwidth demands continue to climb higher, requiring infrastructure that can carry your needs into the future.
That’s where a cloud-managed network can step in and help. It’s built around fast, reliable and scalable WiFi and switching solutions, and has easy-to-use, web-based operations and assurance management.
It’s the best option for an end-to-end solution that is easy to deploy, includes built-in security, and has the right tools for collecting and analysing network performance data.
I will explore how cloud-managed networking delivers an intuitive and more satisfying networking experience for every user − including IT, employees and customers. You will learn how it can help the business support IOT devices and accelerate growth, even with a tight budget.
Simple, smart, secure
Midsize businesses are embracing technology to gain a competitive-edge − using everything from cloud-hosted voice and customer engagement applications, to a growing list of IOT devices.
Like large enterprises, these businesses run the majority (78%) of their workloads in the cloud. But limited IT resources make it difficult to ensure their network can securely support increasing demands and changing business goals.
A robust network infrastructure is more important for leveraging cloud services, boosting user productivity and protecting against cyber threats.
Benefits of cloud-managed networking:
- Infrastructure that is easy to deploy with built-in tools to collect and analyse network performance data.
- A flexible network management solution that can grow with the business.
- More insight into users, devices and apps running on the network to ensure it runs smoothly.
- Intelligence and automation take the guesswork out of troubleshooting and provide guidance on where to focus remediation efforts.
- Integrated security controls and intrusion detection protect data from malware and unauthorised users.
Why consider cloud-based network management?
Simplicity: Deploy the network in minutes and manage it from anywhere.
Strategic value: Spend less on hardware, maintenance and overhead. Get the latest network capabilities without requiring manual intervention.
Visibility: Get deeper insights into network health and eliminate time-consuming troubleshooting tasks, so the IT team can focus on other initiatives.
Security: Shield the network from attacks and threats, block unauthorised usage, and ensure the appropriate level of access for users.
Fewer complaints: Leverage real-time insights about what’s causing network performance issues, to keep users and IT productive and happy.
In my next article, I’ll discuss how network management can be simplified and the key features you should look for in a smarter network.
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