SD-WAN: A Lifeline for Global Business Connectivity

Virtual wide area network (WAN) architecture is ultimately reshaping how businesses connect.

By working to optimise network traffic and efficiently manage resources, the technology has significant impact across a wide range of areas. Notably, SD-WAN - which is a virtual WAN architecture that allows enterprises to leverage any combination of services to securely connect users to applications.

In this exclusive interview, Martin McFadyen, Director of Enterprise & Public Sector at Virgin Media O2 Business, explains how SD-WAN can be transformative for organisations. He highlights how SD-WAN has the capabilities to enhance both public and private sector operations and how Virgin Media O2 Business has adopted a consultative approach to the technology to address customer needs.

What are some of the benefits SD-WAN can offer businesses?

The benefits of SD-WAN for both public and private sector organisations are significant yet can be different for individual customers, largely based on the segment within which they operate and the specific business outcomes they’re looking to deliver. 

As a virtual WAN architecture that connects users to a centralised cloud system, no matter where they are, SD-WAN optimises network traffic and provides centralised control. This means businesses can take advantage of the now ubiquitous ‘Cloud’ for a myriad of applications, whilst also managing their network resources more efficiently and in a more resilient, secure and flexible way than before.

From the broad range of customers we support, we’ve seen how SD-WAN can transform businesses of all types. For instance, we worked with a chain of hotels to deploy SD-WAN, leveraging its automation to reduce network congestion and have a positive impact on both guest experiences and back-office functions, resulting in happier customers and employees alike.

SD-WAN also helped reduce operational overheads by 100% for a local council, delivering all parts of the service as a package solution, encompassing hardware, software, connectivity, analytics and proactive service upgrades. This is critical for the public sector, at a time of increasing budget constraints, and supports them achieving more from the resources they have, both technical & personnel, whilst continuing to deliver invaluable citizen outcomes, and value.

At Virgin Media O2 Business, we see SD-WAN as a highly flexible service, which we can use to deliver specific customer outcomes and solve real-world problems. It allows us to adopt a more consultative approach, bringing us closer to a business’ given needs and what they are trying to achieve for their end users and customers.

How can SD-WAN work to optimise bandwidth and critical applications?

Customers today are very focused on the adoption of hybrid cloud solutions and SaaS technologies. The impact of these has been transformational for organisations across sectors, as have the returns on investment. 

But we’ve found that organisations have repeatedly highlighted that these applications and services are often only as good as the underlying connectivity that they access them on. 

SD-WAN enables us to natively identify and prioritise over 2,700 applications to really ensure that organisations are optimising bandwidth and network resources to get the most out of their critical applications and enhance their users’ experience.

Ultimately, performance is often only as good as what you can see and report on. If a business doesn’t have oversight of what’s going on in its underlying network, it can’t fine tune it to better support key IT investments. Therefore, future budget decisions can be more soundly made with real time data and insights that our customers know will make a difference to their organisation, their employees and those they serve. 

At Virgin Media O2 Business, we take an ‘all in’, holistic approach and include big data analytics so that customers can see how the network is performing, and which apps and services are consuming the most bandwidth. Tools such as these move the WAN beyond static infrastructure to an IT enabler supported by data led insights to continuously improve it.

Why is it important for telco businesses to boost their productivity? Can technology help them to do this?

Boosting productivity is crucial for any business, telcos included. It drives competitiveness, profitability and innovation. Embracing digital transformation through emerging technologies is key to achieving this. 

We hear a lot about the impact poor technology has on employee engagement and productivity.  When the tools and systems don’t work, it has a negative impact.  When they do work, it makes for a far happier, more engaged and productive workforce, who deliver significantly more benefit to their employer.  

How can SD-WAN help to better connect the remote workforce?

SD-WAN supports consistent performance, leading to a uniform experience for employees, regardless of their location, whether in a head office, branch location, working from home or remotely.  Where we have deployed SD-WAN in the home for businesses with remote workforces, it has been a useful way to seamlessly extend the WAN to a home working setting, enabling secure, high-quality access to business apps.  

SD-WAN continuously monitors the performance of remote connections, allowing employees to access necessary applications and data to work more smoothly from any location.  Through the prioritisation and management of network traffic, SD-WAN ensures a better user experience, especially when using bandwidth sensitive applications like video conferencing, which is now commonplace in most organisations.

How does Virgin Media O2 Business stay ahead of the competition in the SD-WAN market?

At Virgin Media O2 Business, we pride ourselves on being a ‘Customer First’ organisation.  What this means is that we invest time in truly understanding our customers’ needs, challenges and ambitions, before discussing technology.  Once we have this understanding, we can then work together, in partnership, to ensure that we achieve the desired outcomes we both want.

When it comes to technology, we’re committed to innovation, customer-centric solutions and strategic partnerships. We continuously invest millions of pounds into the latest technologies and adapt to market trends, so that our products meet the evolving needs of our customers.

Having both Liberty Global and Telefonica as our parent companies means we benefit from access to leading players in telecoms, infrastructure, green energy, media and much more. We can leverage the best technology possible. And we work collaboratively with a rich network of partners and suppliers to ensure customers are getting more from the tech they have while showing a faster return on new investments too.

It’s crucial that we always take our customers’ challenges into consideration first and then provide tailored solutions that drive value. This is how we can stay at the forefront of the market and deliver superior outcomes for our customers. 

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