With organisations depending more on secure, reliable connections between multiple sites, hybrid workers, and customers than ever before, the demand for high-performance connectivity is at an all-time high. The rapid rise of SD-WAN has played a key role here, providing unparalleled freedom and flexibility when it comes to choosing carriers and ISPs with which to interconnect customer sites, while providing full control and visibility through a single pane of glass, and the ability to utilise Public Cloud resources, as needed. With these numerous advantages, the uptake across organisations who are keen to optimise their overall agility and operational resilience is unsurprising.
However, the advantages for customers and end users present a number of new challenges for Channel Partner Resellers. While customers certainly appreciate the freedom to source the cheapest connectivity available, this puts providers in the position of having to source and manage multiple third-party links of variable quality, without allowing this to compromise performance or value for money.
Developing a one-stop-shop approach to nationwide connectivity
For many years, quality of nationwide coverage varied widely between the UK's connectivity providers, with few if any able to provide consistent QoS to all customer sites, having to buy additional connections from their competitors or deploy them themselves - a costly and time-consuming process much of the time.
Channel partnerships proved the answer here, allowing forward-thinking providers to extend their own networks in a cost-effective way that allowed for stress-free upscaling in response to customer requirements.
As such partnerships gained currency, we saw the rise of the network aggregator - a specialist supplier who focused on intelligently integrating multiple carrier networks to deliver the best most competitive pricing for multiple sites across the UK.
This model has certainly proven its worth in the years since, but as connectivity providers continue to expand their networks, and new players enter the field to provide localised connectivity in areas that would not previously have been considered commercially viable, aggregators are beginning to question whether the number of partnerships they are required to form and connections that must be maintained (which may include the deployment of dedicated teams and service desks) is still an effective, sustainable operating model.
World-class connectivity as the foundation for SD-WAN innovations
At EXPO.e, we work closely with a select network of Channel Partner resellers to deliver world-class connectivity to their customers and end users, tailoring solutions to stay ahead in a changing digital landscape. Throughout these conversations, we have seen the roles of network provider and network aggregator blur, as connectivity specialists look to combine the best elements of both models.
To this end, we allow Carrier partners to combine the capabilities of our enterprise-class, business-only network with their own networks, combining this with self-service pricing and the ability to incorporate additional services, where necessary, delivering tangible savings that can be passed on to customers. In this way, our Carrier Partners are able to enjoy the control, visibility, and autonomy that a self-owned network delivers, combined with the flexibility, scalability, and geographical reach network aggregators typically enjoy. This provides the ideal foundation for the successful design, delivery, and development of SD-WAN solutions and other innovations.
It's a common assumption that the underlying network doesn't matter when it comes to the deployment of critical applications, but as we always say at EXPO.e, "Your Cloud is only as good as your network". With organisations needing to provide secure, resilient connections for an increasingly dispersed range of sites, hybrid working staff, and customers, consistent performance at a nationwide level is a critical priority.
Fortunately, close collaboration between Carrier Partners and a software-defined networking approach is driving a new model for the delivery of high-quality connectivity, ensuring customers and end users enjoy the performance and security they require, for the best possible price. This way, they are free to focus on the delivery of critical services and applications, wherever their own customers are based, with complete peace of mind that the underlying connections are in safe hands.
To find out more about becoming an EXPO.e Carrier Partner. One of our Channel team will be more than happy to advise you.
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