Bandwidth: Is Your Network Ready for the Cloud?

Cloud computing is growing exponentially as evidenced by software as a service applications like CRM, marketing automation, and virtual storage to name a few. Businesses rely on access to critical information to operate and grow. At a time when “do more with less” is the mantra executives are foisting on IT, harnessing the cloud to address the needs of the business for cost efficiencies has definite appeal.

When you’re considering which cloud-based applications and services can improve the way you do business, you can’t afford to overlook connectivity to that cloud. Without a reliable network and enough bandwidth to scale based on transmission needs, your ability to access your business data can fluctuate, separating your employees from the critical information and applications they need to do their jobs.

Downtime is costly. The direct costs like lost productivity and the overtime required to make it up are serious enough. But you also have to account for the indirect costs associated with any related impact to your customers, brand and reputation. The consequences of downtime are evidence your network is not a commodity—and you can’t afford to treat it like one. Reliable connectivity is the critical support system for your company’s sustainability. In fact, the ability to tap the amount of bandwidth you need—whenever you need it—is critical to growing your business today, and into the future.

An IBM report projects that, by 2010, the world’s information stock will double every 11 hours.

The innovations for information creation and distribution made possible by technology are creating increasingly heavy bandwidth demands. Video, web conferencing and moving voice onto your network mean heavier loads for transmission. Disparate work forces that need access to the WAN to upload and download larger files add to local demand. Transferring information from office to office in real time is now the de facto need for better decision making and operations management in a fast-paced, distributed business world. These are a few of the factors to think about when you consider shifting how your network supports your business.

Before you stake your business on the cloud, evaluate your bandwidth limitations realistically and make sure the changes you make to business processes can be supported appropriately.

How would you answer these questions in relation to your existing network?

1. What options do you have if your need for bandwidth suddenly scales dramatically?

      a. Do you know what bandwidth will cost if that kind of growth happens?

      b. Is a bigger pipe an available option from your existing network provider?

2. What if your connection drops a couple of times per year?

      a. What are the consequences if that drop lasts for two days…more than once?

      b. Can you afford to be disconnected from your information locations for an extended period of time.

3. Do you have redundancy in case your main connectivity option is taken out by disaster?

      a. Options are the only way to proactively manage uncertainty.

      b. Downtime happens. You need to have a continuity plan.

4. What if you can’t get resolution for chronics issues that affect connectivity?

      a. Does your provider own and have access to the entire network to ensure timely issue resolution?

      b. Does your Service Level Agreement (SLA) scale when issues reach the chronic stage?

      c. Can you afford the business interruption if your network issues escalate to that degree?

These evaluations need to be made and appropriately addressed before moving business-critical information out to the cloud. With every single application dependent upon an underlying connection to the Internet as an aggregation point, you’ve got to be certain that your network is dependable, as well as have a plan for an instance when Murphy’s Law happens.

The best way to assess the viability of your network is to think of it as an organic ecosystem. As your business grows and changes, so will your network needs. New, more complex applications will require growth in bandwidth availability. So will the increasing amounts and varieties of information your company produces and uses to do business. Assuming possibilities exist to correct issues that may occur simply isn’t good enough.

Once you realize that all networks are not created equally, you can take the appropriate steps to ensure your network’s agility in the face of change. Requiring that your network provider be a trusted advisor and responsive partner should be a given.

And, once that’s true, you’ll sleep better at night knowing that all it takes to scale your bandwidth is the flip of a switch.