4 signs that your network is ready for digital transformation

When people think of digital transformation, they often think of next-generation technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), but what is often overlooked is the underlying technology that enables all of these innovations. Here at SAVECALL, when we think of digital transformation, we think of the network first and foremost. Data-intensive technologies need a strong foundation to function optimally.

You can easily determine whether your network is ready for the digital transformation using four criteria:

Available bandwidth

You have enough bandwidth to support your current digital transformation efforts while ensuring scalability for future requirements. Modern technologies such as cloud and edge computing require huge bandwidths in the right places to handle increased data flow. How much bandwidth you need depends on several factors: how many users and devices you need to supply, whether they work from home or in the office, whether you plan to hire more employees soon, and how much bandwidth individual applications such as web surfing, email, software applications or video conferencing require. One of the advantages of using the cloud or edge over legacy systems is scalability, ideally your network will be similarly scalable. Also consider the cost of additional bandwidth: working with a provider that lets you scale bandwidth on demand can help you avoid unnecessary costs.

Latency and speed of real-time applications

Your network should offer low latency and high speed for real-time applications. One of the most important advantages of big data is its use in real-time applications. Many companies today use real-time applications to make decisions in real time. These applications require near-zero latency to function optimally, for example real-time analytics and monitoring: analytics dashboards allow you to monitor customer behavior, sales, website traffic, product performance and much more. Gaining real-time insight into this data as it comes in allows you to quickly gain insights and make faster decisions. Video conferencing is another example: teleconferencing software like Zoom requires near-zero latency to avoid delays between users that can lead to misunderstandings. Using a network with the lowest possible latency ensures that you can use these technologies to your advantage if you decide to do so in the future.

Resilience and agility

Your network should be resilient and agile. These days it is vital that your network is resilient to all types of threats to ensure business continuity. The pandemic tested the resilience of many corporate networks as entire workforces were suddenly relocated from on-site offices to remote locations. In response, many companies accelerated their digital transformation efforts as they quickly realized that digital environments are better suited for a hybrid or decentralized workforce. Your network needs to be able to handle sudden or gradual changes in bandwidth and latency requirements and adapt to infrequent situations. In addition to moving to more secure, resilient cloud environments, it is important to have a resilient and secure infrastructure. A diverse, redundant fiber foundation with physical routing between sites can help ensure greater resilience.

Security of your network

With the influx of data needed to support digital technologies and make informed decisions, data integrity is more important than ever. This valuable data is often the target of today’s cyberattacks. Therefore, you need to make sure your network is secure before proceeding with digital initiatives. Attackers today have become increasingly sophisticated and coordinate attacks at multiple levels of the network. For this reason, it is crucial to ensure security at every level of your network. Simply filtering network traffic with firewalls is no longer enough, especially in a world where employees access company resources from anywhere and on any device. In addition to a secure fiber optic network and software to secure applications, digitally-focused companies have begun to implement Zero Trust policies to secure their resources. This concept means that users who want to access company resources are not automatically considered trustworthy. Instead, every transaction must be authorized individually.