21 July 2025
Jonathan Tinner, Product Director, GTT
For many UK enterprises, SD-WAN has already proven itself as a critical enabler of agile, cloud-centric operations. First and second-generation deployments have delivered technical flexibility and visibility gains for their businesses along the way.
The challenge now is to ensure that SD-WAN evolves, providing a resilient, integrated command centre that not only connects but orchestrates and delivers long-term value amidst AI-driven disruption, cloud sprawl and escalating cyber risk.
This article will discuss how enterprises can rethink SD-WAN to meet today’s demands, align with broader business goals and empower IT teams under increasing pressure during this next wave of disruption.
Consider Security from the Start
Today’s SD-WAN solutions have moved well beyond their original role as connectivity enablers. Now often deployed as part of a broader architectural strategy such as Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), where SD-WAN provides the intelligent connectivity layer and the additional security capabilities are delivered through integrated Security Service Edge (SSE) components.
As cyber threats grow in sophistication and attack surfaces expand, tight integration of these different solution elements is essential. Research confirms that most SD-WAN deployments now involve Managed Service Providers (MSPs) who not only handle network management but actively integrate security functions to reduce risk across increasingly distributed enterprise networks.
The key takeaway is that SD-WAN must now be treated as a strategic control point for enterprise security, not just as a way to manage network traffic. This means prioritising solutions that offer end-to-end visibility, proactive threat management and seamless integration with cloud security services to support a unified, policy-driven approach.
Organisational Enablement
Every deployment of technology must hold strategic value. This is especially true for SD-WAN; your solution shouldn’t just be a fix for technical problems around latency or bandwidth utilisation – it needs to empower your teams to make smarter, safer choices as they speed up their productivity to match the relentless pace of change. The best solutions, whilst integrating security from the start, also break down silos, supporting integrated workflows and shared visibility between networking and security.
The impact of this isn’t just theory: 88% of enterprises with integrated networking and security teams report better security and faster decision-making. Solutions with integrated insights, automation and reporting across departments facilitate better team collaboration and co-management options, which are increasingly important as AI and data-driven decision-making play an ever-greater role.
SD-WAN shouldn’t just connect your sites. It should connect your people, processes, and priorities. This organisational alignment shifts SD-WAN from a tactical tool to a strategic foundation that supports agility and resilience in a volatile environment.
Choose Providers Who Understand the New Complexity
SD-WAN isn’t a “set-it-and-forget-it” solution. As AI-driven workload demands and cyber risks continue to grow in volume and complexity, the challenge of managing an enterprise network successfully is an ever evolving. To address this, businesses should focus on five key areas: security, performance, reliability, visibility and control.
However, delivering on all of these, consistently and at scale, requires more than just the right technology. It demands deep expertise, continuous optimisation and a proactive approach to risk management.
Choosing to work with an MSP as a strategic partner can support businesses in achieving dependable performance to minimise downtime and maintain user experience, strong security to protect sensitive data, and deep visibility and control to support proactive management and rapid response. They can help navigate complexity, mitigate risk and scale with confidence whenever infrastructure decisions directly shape business outcomes.
Optimise Cloud Connectivity and Manage Costs Strategically
SD-WAN’s ability to optimise cloud connectivity remains a core benefit, but enterprises should now consider it within a broader ecosystem of hybrid cloud and multi-cloud strategies.
Integration with cloud WANs from hyperscalers, combined with direct connect options, can reduce latency and improve application performance — but this complexity also requires a strategic approach to managing and governing network access, security policies, and performance baselines across potentially sprawling environments.
For larger, more complex business deployments, working with an MSP that is accountable not only to delivering the wide area network but also managing the complex components of networking can be advantageous. The right partner can bring architectural expertise, operational best practice and integrated tooling to ensure that SD-WAN delivers both for cloud elasticity and agility.
Demand Quality, Speed, and Innovation from Your SD-WAN Delivery
To remain competitive, reliability and speed of deployment are non-negotiable. Downtime is costly, and enterprises expect providers to deliver not just high-quality networks, but quick installation, responsive support, and continuous innovation.
Time and again, SD-WAN customers highlight dedicated customer support and the provider’s ability to deliver across multiple parts of the network as key reasons for their choice. And it’s not hard to see why.
Innovation in delivery is an important parameter to look at too. The strength of a provider in leveraging as-a-service delivery and service chaining for networking and security components should be a factor in any solution assessment.
SD-WAN as Your Strategic Enabler
In today’s landscape defined by AI disruption, cloud complexity and rising cyber risk, SD-WAN, security, and connectivity together form a strategic command centre — not just a technical utility. An SD-WAN journey aligned with broader business goals, prioritising flexibility and scalability, will give any enterprise a competitive edge over those which make these buying decisions in siloes.
IT leaders and network managers, your work is more critical than ever. We are navigating unprecedented complexity and scale. Recognising SD-WAN’s evolving role empowers you to deliver strategic value, drive innovation, and safeguard your enterprise in a rapidly changing world.
