How to Get the Most from Your Network in an Uncertain Economy

Many IT teams are accustomed to conflicting priorities. They are often asked to deliver enhanced applications and services to increasing numbers of users while keeping a lid on costs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened that challenge. According to an IDC study of enterprise networking decision-makers conducted in May and June of 2020, organizations are relying more heavily on their networks to enable secure connectivity for work-from-home users. At the same time, the economic downturn caused by the pandemic is putting downward pressure on IT budgets. Networking budgets have taken a significant hit.

Surprisingly, 38 percent of survey respondents said planned WAN upgrades have been placed on hold, with 14 percent stating those initiatives have been canceled altogether. Another 37 percent said that changes to the campus network have been postponed, with 15 percent stating those changes had been canceled.

A qualified managed network services provider such as SageNet can help you uncover ways to lower total cost of ownership while enhancing performance, reliability and security. Our experienced team can help you do more with less while meeting today’s remote work mandates.

Assessment Is Key

We take a collaborative approach in the delivery of our Network Consulting Services. We recognize that robust, future-proof networks are built on a thorough understanding of an organization’s current and future needs. Our team will sit down (virtually) with your IT team and business stakeholders to discuss business needs and requirements and gain insight into what’s working and what’s not.

Our experts will then conduct a detailed assessment of the existing network, leveraging our 30 years of experience and the insight gained supporting more than 220,000 endpoints and more than 34 billion transactions annually. Our focus is not on representing a particular vendor’s products but on bringing you an objective and unbiased analysis of where your network is today compared with where it needs to be.

Putting It All Together

Armed with the results of the assessment, the SageNet team works with you to develop a plan for bridging that gap and addressing security, compliance and other concerns. We will design the network architecture based upon industry best practices, with an eye toward enhancing application performance. Our engineers understand the importance of supporting legacy protocols for point-of-sale equipment and other devices so that you can avoid costly and disruptive upgrades.

Our network architects will design the network infrastructure based upon industry best practices and outline a phased migration that minimizes business disruption. The wireless design will cover access point placement to optimize both coverage and capacity.

SageNet can then handle the deployment of your network based upon the agreed design. Our project managers will plan the installation of networking equipment at each site and the provisioning and turnup of WAN connectivity. We can also pre-stage equipment for customers that opt to handle the implementation themselves.

Conclusion

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting even greater pressure on IT teams to ensure highly reliable IT services while minimizing expenses. SageNet can help you meet these demands with assessment, design, implementation and management services delivered by our knowledgeable and experienced consultants and engineers.