06 June 2025
Anthony Senter, CEO, & Toby Sturridge, CTO, SDWAN & SASE Solutions
Deploying SD-WAN can transform business connectivity, improve application performance and reduce costs - but success depends on careful planning and execution - and most importantly the expertise and experience of the provider.
Define clear business objectives: Start by identifying your primary goals: improved performance, cost reduction, enhanced security and better remote connectivity. Tailoring your SD-WAN deployment to these objectives ensures the solution delivers the intended value. If you’re looking for digital transformation, you need essential underpinning technologies like SD-WAN and all connected businesses need robust cybersecurity and data assurance.
Prioritise security from the outset: Ensure your SD-WAN solution includes robust security features such as end-to-end encryption, firewalls, segmentation and support for zero trust models. Consider additional security tools if built-in features are insufficient for your risk profile.
Assess your existing network infrastructure: Conduct a thorough audit of your current WAN setup, including bandwidth usage, application types, performance bottlenecks and security protocols. This helps identify where SD-WAN can address specific challenges and guides configuration decisions.
Select a proven expert SD-WAN solution and provider: Evaluate solutions based on scalability, built-in security, cloud integration and support services. Not all SD-WAN vendors offer the same features or support, so choose one that aligns with your business needs and your future plans.
Look for innovative solutions: Look closely at innovative solutions. The usual Big Tech providers often do not score highly on individual design, customer service and support (both pre and post sales). Some globally recognised names have consistently scored poorly on security, while others have 5-minute failover times - if an SD-WAN solution doesn’t have sub-second failover your business is likely to experience costly downtime.
Seek flexible payment and contact terms: Monthly payment terms (PAYG) are becoming more common recently, however there are often large up-front costs and initial outlays that can make SD-WAN prohibitive for smaller businesses. If you’re an SME check that you provide SD-WAN for smaller businesses, and crucially, give you and your team the support that is required for SMEs who often have smaller IT teams.
Pilot and phase your deployment: Begin with a POC and pilot program to test SD-WAN in a controlled environment. This allows for real-world adjustments before a full rollout, minimising disruption and ensuring the chosen solution meets your needs.
Plan for redundancy and reliability: Leverage SD-WAN’s ability to use multiple connections (broadband, MPLS, LTE) and configure automatic failover. This ensures high availability and minimizes downtime in case of network failures. Use intelligent path selection and application-aware routing to ensure that business-critical applications (like VoIP, video conferencing and SaaS) always have the necessary bandwidth and lowest latency.
Ensure seamless integration with existing infrastructure: SD-WAN should integrate seamlessly with your current network and cloud services. Consider compatibility with legacy systems and ensure the solution can support your cloud and SaaS connectivity strategies.
Seek references from potential providers’ customers: Check your provider’s integration experience and ask to speak to current customers about integration and support. Seamless integration is easier said than done – several well-known tech providers are revising their SD-WAN offers, due to the intricacies of integration. This is where real experts with experience stand out from the crowd.
Continuous monitoring and optimisation: After deployment, continuously monitor network performance and application experience using analytics tools. Ongoing optimisation ensures the network adapts to changing business needs and maintains high service levels.
Invest in training and support: A truly collaborative and supportive SD-WAN provider should happily upskill in-house IT teams to ensure the project runs smoothly before, during and after installation.
SD-WAN bundles will reduce time, cost and complexity: Just as continual fast connectivity – like that provided by true SD-WAN – is a given need for 99.9% of businesses, so is cybersecurity, data, voice and video encryption, XDR and secure access to multi-clouds and IoT. Progressive providers are creating technology bundles with their SD-WAN offers, knowing customer concerns about integration, multiple vendors and dozens of solutions.
By following these best practices, businesses can maximise the benefits of SD-WAN, ensuring a secure, reliable and cost-effective network transformation.
