6 SD-WAN Challenges and Benefits

Software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) has obvious advantages and is now mature. If your company has branch offices, you should consider SD-WAN. However, before deciding to deploy this technology, enterprises must weigh the challenges brought by SD-WAN.

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Key SD-WAN Challenges

Before you try to use this new technology, please understand the main disadvantages of SD-WAN and consider the possible impact on your network environment.

Cost. Like any new investment, in the short term, SD-WAN will increase costs, but in the long term, it will increase operational efficiencies and save costs as these deployment costs are amortized. Also, in the short term, the underlying WAN circuit costs may not change immediately, but additional software licenses may need to be purchased for this new software layer.

Technical skills. SD-WAN completely disrupts the WAN status quo, and because of the new approach to WAN management, enterprises will need to do a lot of training for IT teams. IT professionals can’t simply deploy SD-WAN and leave it to the team to manage. IT departments must also ensure that sufficient funds are allocated for training budgets.

Security. The WAN represents a huge risk because it is externally facing and relies on transport outside the firewall. Deploying any new WAN technology introduces unexpected security issues. In addition, vulnerabilities can now exist across WAN layers.

Complexity. Typically, WAN connections are a single service from one company. SD-WAN adds complexity by adding additional components on top, bringing an overlay to the existing WAN connection (underlay).

Software. Software is more prone to bugs, vulnerabilities, and failures, which is why WAN vendors over the years have tended to hardcode functionality into hardware in the hopes of increasing stability. By moving to SD-WAN, customers will gain tremendous operational flexibility, but the price of doing so is the need to deal with the idiosyncrasies and limitations of software.

Troubleshooting. Because SD-WAN includes both the underlay and overlay layers in the WAN service, which may come from two different vendors, troubleshooting becomes more complicated. Enterprises need to investigate WAN problems in two different places before they can finally isolate the problem.

Advantages of SD-WAN

Despite these SD-WAN challenges, SD-WAN also has clear advantages in each of the above aspects.

While SD-WAN deployments add costs, over time, enterprises will be able to save money by optimizing circuit costs as well as offsetting initial deployment costs, which can ultimately lead to greater long-term savings.

Security is another common deployment issue, and SD-WAN can better centralize and standardize security practices. Although SD-WAN uses both an overlay and an underlay, the centralized controller of SD-WAN can better maintain security for the entire network rather than maintaining security for each endpoint.

The complexity that SD-WAN brings ultimately leads to more streamlined operations, especially through automation and orchestration. One way to reduce complexity is to choose the right managed service provider, who can minimize the headaches that come with configuration, link procurement, and creating policies. SD-WAN alone won’t make life easier, but a well-designed and well-deployed platform can reduce headaches.

The software benefits are not as clear because SD-WAN adds more layers and costs, but these higher licensing costs can offset costs in the operational area. IT teams may find it more effective to look at IT costs as a whole rather than in isolation.

The training and development challenges SD-WAN presents also present opportunities for more forward-thinking IT departments. This new technology gives businesses the opportunity to train their employees on cutting-edge technologies, thereby improving employees’ technical and troubleshooting skills and promoting professional development across the department.

How to Overcome SD-WAN Challenges

Although SD-WAN has its drawbacks, IT teams should not completely dismiss the technology because of these drawbacks. These issues are important considerations in the planning process, and IT teams should balance the potential drawbacks with the business benefits to determine if SD-WAN makes sense for the enterprise. IT departments and business leaders should consider the pros and cons of SD-WAN comprehensively to determine the best course of action in their SD-WAN plans.