ChannelVision Magazine

virtual reality For sales partners formulating a plan for SD-WAN, the temptation is to focus on tried-and-true cost savings, most often a cost-saving replacement for MPLS service. A good case can be made for such a move. SD-WAN com- panies have shown, sometimes signifi- cant, cost savings compared to MPLS, and customers, quite simply, like the idea of saving money. When asked to provide the priorities achieved from an SD-WAN deployment, 42 percent of IT pros surveyed for Cato Networks specifically cited the reduced cost of MPLS service. Savings was second only to “increased network flexibility and agility” (51 percent). Agents saw much the same thing when VoIP initially attacked the market. First out of the box was “save on phone service,” and for an upside, “we add some features and upgrade your box.” And similar to VoIP, forms of SD-WAN will likely sell even if that’s all they do. On the other hand, pitching SD-WAN as simply a cost-cutting mechanism or another “replacement” service, is akin to selling business IP telephony as a cheaper way to make office phone calls rather than positioning it as a platform that enables new ways to collaborate, crossover, customer engage and unify. “SD-WAN is a platform for service delivery,” said Knight, “and the winners are the ones who are going to be able to deliver everything.” Of course, getting buyers to visual- ize those types of grand transformations ain’t always easy, especially among those faced with extensive ripping and replacing. One way to help customers see the forest through the trees, sug- gested Jeff Burchett, co-founder of Big- leaf Networks, is to take a “cloud-first” or “application-first” approach. Much how IP telephony became a platform for the consumption and deliv- ery of all types of communications ser- vices way beyond office “phone calls,” SD-WAN promises to provide reliable- enough access to the applications, employees and devices that reside “out in the cloud” or well beyond the direct links to data centers and other connected locations. “Applications don’t live at head- quarters anymore but live in the cloud,” said Burchett, while presenting at Tech+Connect. “So the question be- comes, what is the strategy to make sure you can get to those applica- tions? Because at the end of the day, the cloud is only as good as your con- nection to it.” Within this positioning, “SD-WAN is about ensuring the applications work the way they are supposed to, while giving employees the experience they need relative to the most important tools they need to do their jobs,” con- tinued Burchett. Cloud-first conversations, he said, often start with the very same problems and services agents already are dis- cussing with customers and prospects. “Talk about UCaaS,” said Burchett. “Talk about contact center in the cloud, about desktop-as-a-service. Talk about Office365, Salesforce, health records in the cloud – all the things that if your customers aren’t using now, they will be in the future. It’s incumbent on you guys, the telecom experts, to under- stand how we are going to build net- works relative to these applications.” Consider a customer with a prob- lem, said Burchett. “It’s a bad VoIP deployment; it’s an issue with desktop- as-a-service or messy video confer- encing, or it’s something that is not working the way they want it to. Come to us and we’ll roll up our sleeves.” SD-WAN is often positioned with VoIP failover, for instance, “but what are the other failovers your customers need?” asked Burchett. Ultimately, SD-WAN can be sold right alongside familiar business appli- cations, say its proponents. “It’s part of everything done in terms of cloud, SaaS, anything that your customer is moving out to the internet that is part of their business,” explained Burchett. And that’s when the pitch becomes something along the lines of, “I usu- ally don’t even sell UCaaS or DRaaS without providing an SD-WAN from brand ABC.” “The cloud is too important to sell without SD-WAN,” said Burchett. Indeed, more than three-quarters of IT pros surveyed for Cato connected a successful SD-WAN deployment to improved internet/cloud performance. All the while, customers tend to look to buy products and things not “technology,” added Knight. “They are productized” he said. “They need managed Wi-Fi or managed firewall or are looking at cybersecurity. They are looking for a product, so you have to productize this – figure out what is the most important thing.” Which priorities did you achieve after your SD-WAN deployment? Source: Cato Networks ’t know % 16% 51% Increased network flexibility and agility 42% Reduced cost of MPLS service 27% Other (please specify) 26% Improved Internet or cloud performance 51% Increased network security Cloud Application Challenges Source: Cato Networks 30% 32% 34% 36% 38% 40% 42% 31 March - April, 2018 | Channel Vision