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BINESH GEORGE, CEO OF
REDVINE NETWORKS
EDITOR’S QUESTION
CIOs are telling us that the move
to Digital Transformation can be
hampered by a number of barriers,
including general understanding of next
generation cloud technologies, dependency
on service providers due to lengthy contracts,
security, reliability and uptime, costs related
not only to routing traffic but also cloud
infrastructure requirements and complexity.
Thought needs to be given to whether
businesses can afford to remain on traditional
MPLS networks. The migration to SD-
WAN, we believe, is a critical step to Digital
Transformation because it not only removes
the dependency of businesses on their
incumbent service providers by providing
multiple paths for applications but provides
the scalability, agility and manageability that
can transform organisations.
But before the transition can be made,
decision-makers must understand their
network operations to be fully able to
leverage the new technology. They must
be cognisant of how much their running
costs are when it comes to routers, firewalls
and the associated network infrastructure.
Also, what is the return on investment
they are currently getting as opposed to
the potential of transitioning to a digitally
transformed environment?
Customers are increasingly cost conscious
and we need to think about solutions that
make sense, that is not just about moving
away from MPLS. Many companies, like
retail and public sector for example, have
branches in small towns and although the
connectivity costs are higher in more remote
towns/ cities, there is a growing need to
provide a solution that keeps the total cost
manageable and uniform across.
Part of this is to gain an understanding of
not only the cost implications of outages
but also risk exposure of remaining on the
old technology versus migrating to a new
environment. All this points to how much
the business is prepared to evolve with
technology or risk falling behind.
Connectivity is critical. Across the continent,
there are fewer types of connectivity
available in smaller, more outlying regions,
so CIOs will need to ensure they have
multiple types of connectivity available
to build redundancy across the network.
“
CUSTOMERS ARE
INCREASINGLY
COST CONSCIOUS
AND WE NEED TO
THINK ABOUT
SOLUTIONS THAT
MAKE SENSE.
Choosing to work with agnostic SD-WAN
providers enables businesses to put in place
a minimum of two different service provider
links paired with the right technology
for African customers and make sure
redundancy is built across the organisation.
We believe that CIOs need to drive SLA and
performance management from their service
and/ or solution partners as a matter of
course. They should no longer be satisfied with
solutions that don’t consider the performance
of their business critical applications.
Change management becomes a significant
challenge as there are those organisations
who feel comfortable in the status quo and
are unwilling to adapt to new data centre
requirements. But if they are to remain
relevant in a world where data access and
connectivity are fundamental to success,
they must move out of their comfort zones
and embrace the new way of networking.
www.intelligentcio.com
INTELLIGENTCIO
27