Inevitability is a powerful force that makes the world go round. 2020 has become strong evidence that working from home is feasible and is likely accepted as the new norm that’s well overdue – so much so that the future generation may no longer see office cubicles synonymous to the typical working life.
Hand-in-hand, the new-age dynamic disruption in the form of a global pandemic and its trigger-effect on enterprises’ digital transformations may push employers to think outside the box when it comes to ensuring a sustainable experience for employees working from home, or anywhere for that matter.
SD-WAN: A new value in the WFH wave
Numbers from a Gartner survey in July show that 82% of companies plan to permit employees to work remotely partially after COVID-19 settles down, and 47% intend to offer full-time remote work options moving forward. As the WFH trend pushes a networking rethink on how to deliver an exceptional employee experience, keeping the workforce connected through and through also becomes a concern for these enterprises. Where most companies’ digital transformations partially included the utilisation of SD-WAN to cater to the rising demand of comprehensively setting workloads, tasks, and apps in the cloud, this brings the platform into the spotlight.
Despite its minor fall-off in the first half inflicted by the pandemic on supply chain and sales, the SD-WAN market witnessed a rebound in the second half of 2020 and into 2021, according to Futuriom. The features of SD-WAN continue to serve a growing cloud demand, but with a WFH twist: instead of branch offices, SD-WAN took a favourable turn for boosting connectivity to employees’ homes.
Tapping in on the benefits of SD-WAN technology, some of the common answers include improved performance of cloud applications, cost-saving bandwidth optimisation, enhanced security and overall greater management and agility. With growing awareness and recognition of SD-WAN capabilities within the industry, more end-clients are drawn into SD-WAN and other services and software alike, justifying predictions for its growing market size well into 2023 and forward.
The capacity of integrating VPN for both branch offices and remote workers is also another notable cause as to why SD-WAN rose back in demand and became extremely popular during the peak of WFH trend amidst the pandemic.
SD-WAN and DIA: A Network Powerhouse
Enterprises also greatly benefit from an all-in-one solution to fit their various needs, in which the SD-WAN and DIA (Dedicated Internet Access) architecture gains its own fair share in the growing demand and popularity among end-clients. Threading multiple network services together into a single solution allows enterprises to greatly reduce costs, simplify network management, as well as expedite the automation of their services.
Inevitability is a powerful force – it disrupts, but most importantly, it emerges new solutions when it is most needed. As 2020 flips the SD-WAN edge to reach employee residence, the swift rebound of the SD-WAN market goes to show that dynamic disruptions can bring light to new advantages, and vendors should work to provide solutions alongside trends that will likely drive the market forward.
Enable your SD-WAN journey with IX
SD-WAN has taken its throne in this era of remote working and is effectively accelerating digital transformation for enterprises globally. At IX, our experts are ready to assist all your queries on SD-WAN and other network services. Reach out to us at sales@ixtelecom.net and find the best solution to fit your business today!
