7 Industries That Should Adopt SD-WAN Solutions
SD-WAN technology is inherently useful to companies of any size; if a company relies upon its network for its productivity, then it will be able to see benefits through SD-WAN. But companies may not always see how SD-WAN interacts with their industries. Here’s what you need to know about how SD-WAN solutions are impacting different sectors, and the different advantages of SD-WAN these sectors can leverage.
Finance
For financial services, it’s incredibly important that all information is kept secure. Regardless of an organization’s role within the financial sector, they’re often trading large volumes of data that has to be protected. Financial services also need to be reliable; when customers call in regarding their information, they need to be given that information quickly. This creates a series of needs that are perfectly addressed by SD-WAN technology. SD-WAN solutions can improve upon both security and stability within the financial sector, making it easier to protect information and distribute it more effectively.
Retail
Retail companies have multiple locations and need to be able to connect those locations into a singular network. More than that, they also need to make sure that this singular network is both high-performance and secure. Security is most important because retail companies need to transmit personally identifiable information and credit card information, both of which must be highly encrypted and protected. SD-WAN can be used to improve upon internal network performance while also improving upon speed.
Education
Education is moving online. Not only has this accelerated in 2020, but many were already studying remotely and abroad. As people continue their lifelong learning, they are often studying online while working their jobs. And as globalization increases, people expect to be able to work on their education from anywhere, even if programs are in another state or another country altogether. SD-WAN technology can make it easier for academic institutions to organize and improve upon their traffic, reducing their overhead and improving upon their security.
Manufacturing
Within the manufacturing sector, organizations are increasingly using smart technology, sensors and other automated utilities. With the use of SD-WAN technology, manufacturers are able to experience higher levels of connectivity with their equipment, in addition to being able to mitigate potential failures and reduce downtime. As the manufacturing sector becomes more highly technical and highly automated, it becomes even more important for manufacturers to have reliable network connectivity and fast systems.
Warehousing
Similar to the manufacturing sector, warehouses are also becoming more automated. Warehouses now use technology to pick, ship and sort, identifying inventory on the fly and keeping running counts of stock through the use of sensors and other automated technology. But the warehousing sector has limitations as well, usually due to its network connectivity. The better the network connectivity is, the more quickly and reliably the warehouse can operate.
Healthcare
Healthcare companies are now adjusting to the fact that many individuals want a direct connection to their healthcare records. Individuals want to be able to review their own healthcare data, and that means that they need to be able to connect with highly secured information in a way that doesn’t compromise that information. Further, the healthcare sector is also being asked to connect with an unprecedented number of third parties, with the healthcare industry as a whole fragmenting and becoming more self-service, boutique and custom. The healthcare sector can benefit from SD-WAN technology for the improvement of its network security as well as increased connectivity.
Events
Seminars, conferences, concerts and other large-scale events are now finding that connectivity is a must. Not only are there many IoT devices that are now used at events (such as those controlling A/V equipment, security systems and more), but many people expect that they should be able to take advantage of WiFi at an event. In addition to that, many events now have their own internal WiFi solutions, provided through gated access, which tell people more about the event itself. SD-WAN solutions can be used throughout an event to provide customers with the experience that they are now used to.
There are multiple advantages to SD-WAN technology. SD-WAN technology results in lower costs, as organizations are able to use multiple, interconnected MPLS resources. SD-WAN provides higher performance by connecting these MPLS resources together and improves upon network agility for the same reason. SD-WAN technology can be leveraged throughout a number of different sectors, but it does have to be applied correctly.
Are you wondering how your organization can adopt to SD-WAN solutions? Connect with Red River today to find out more.
