How SD-WAN can make the cloud-first enterprise a reality
It’s been a good ten years since the IT world got its “cloud-first” appetite.
While definitions of this phrase vary, it’s essentially about businesses making a conscious effort to consider the cloud for their IT projects first, in advance of any other options.
And yet, ten years down the line, it’s still a goal that many businesses are working towards.
A decade is a long time in tech. So, the question is: what can we do to help companies make cloud-first a reality?
Arguably, the answer is to help them stop designing IT for their current ways of working.
The time is now
The cloud offers great promise to simplify operations for large, complex, global enterprises. But so many of these enterprises find themselves trapped in an outdated cycle of designing IT solutions for their current, non-cloud business culture. They’re moving from project to project, delivering tech solutions for short and mid-term business goals, and working within established cost and risk parameters which, quite simply, feel safe.
The cloud pushes many IT teams outside of their comfort zones, and for good reason. Moving entire global workloads into the cloud is a risk, and an entirely new model of service which requires a cultural shift and an appetite for change driven from the very top of the business.
But we’re at a point in cloud solution development where we can mitigate that risk. Today, technology can actually empower companies to shift their operations towards a cloud-first culture.
For success in the new cloud world, organisations need to take a step back, and turn to partners and technology they can trust to help them achieve their goals. That means choosing a reliable technical solution, delivered by a knowledgeable partner, in a way that helps them become the business they’re aspiring to be.
Embracing change through technology
Take Ixom, for instance – a global manufacturer and trader of chemicals and ingredients. They ship some 15,000 products worldwide from 45 sites in 16 countries. Their goal was for all 1,000 of their employees to be connected in order to keep operations running smoothly. Digital enablement – adopting a cloud-first culture – was their business-wide ambition. They wanted cultural change, and they needed the right technology from the right partner to help them achieve it.
We worked with them to design a tailored SD-WAN system that perfectly suited the business. Proactive monitoring and reporting are built into the solution, so the new network stays protected and runs smoothly. It’s given Ixom the confidence to be more agile, it’s boosted collaboration across the company, and it’s cut costs by up to 25 percent.
Rowan Start, Ixom CIO, said: “It’s been revolutionary for our employees – they can now run what they need when they need it. And we’ve been able to deliver solutions to the business faster than we’ve ever been able to do before.”
It’s true: having that cloud-first mindset takes some doing. But when you have trusted technology and the support of the right people, it might be easier to achieve than you think.
Find out more
To learn more about BT’s SD-WAN solution with Nuage Networks from Nokia, and to explore how SD-WAN could help you achieve your cloud-first goals, contact us.
