How to Improve Teleworker Productivity using SD-WAN
How to Improve Teleworker Productivity using SD-WAN
For years, businesses have been striving for greater productivity, higher security, and less time spent resolving unexpected issues. When all end user devices shared a single network location, setting priority levels to network traffic and enforcing access policies to achieve these goals was no big deal.
Fast forward to March 2020, and instantly everything changed. Employees worldwide were sent home to work remotely, and work devices began communicating with each other from a variety of locations. As a result, companies lost their ability to easily manage the workplace infrastructure.
Challenges of Teleworking
For businesses accustomed to a traditional office setup, the transition from in-house employee to teleworker has introduced new factors that have complicated the corporate environment. ISP, internet data plans, home network equipment, and location all vary per employee, so companies desiring to retain a productive workforce need to take these factors into account.
If you currently work from home or manage employees who do, you have likely experienced some of the challenges of teleworking already. Slow internet connections, consumer and work applications fighting for internet speed, and outages are all influenced by the factors mentioned above, and these issues can have a big impact on the workday for teleworkers.
Here's the good news! You don't have to settle for long file uploads or downloads, poor videoconferencing quality, and generally slow internet speed. You can have a seamless home internet connection with constant uptime and network traffic prioritization through the usage of an SD-WAN (software-defined wide area network).
The SD-WAN Solution
Traditionally, enterprises with multiple branch locations utilized a WAN to create a geographically expansive network, allowing each office to function in tandem and share the same technical resources and services.
Now, SD-WAN enables businesses to utilize network resources owned and operated by a third-party, while retaining the ability to manage these resources simply through the use of a management portal. Recent innovations in SD-WAN allow businesses to extend their corporate network to residential areas, creating one large, centralized WAN encompassing the workplace and the home of each remote employee.
Here's some common advantages teleworkers and businesses derive from adopting an SD-WAN:
- Redundancy & Constant Uptime:
SD-WAN providers connect each deployed endpoint to the network by multiple network links. If one link goes down, the other link allows for constant uptime even in the event of an outage.
- Network Traffic Prioritization: An SD-WAN enables network traffic to be automatically classified based on importance and type, so that business-critical applications are always prioritized over other traffic.
- Proactive Network Monitoring & Visibility: SD-WAN provides real-time reporting and visibility into the corporate and home network. As a result, IT Support teams always have the information they need to resolve issues quickly and effectively.
- Simplified Endpoint Setup: SD-WAN endpoint routers ship preconfigured and ready for installation by anyone, not just IT specialists.
- Cost & Time Savings: Adoption of an SD-WAN infrastructures saves businesses significant time and costs that would otherwise be incurred by owning and managing network hardware on-premises.
Companies including Bigleaf, Zero Outages, and others provide cost-effective, simple work from home SD-WAN solutions to support teleworkers and improve business productivity with a remote team.
Interested in adopting SD-WAN for your business? Want to learn more about available solutions and plans? Let us know about your business using the form below, and we would love to contact you and discuss the available solutions and which is best for you!
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