Category: Articles

SD-WAN systems have been receiving a lot of hype recently and for good reason. In fact, according to Avant Communications, SD-WAN has the highest RDI in the State of Disruption study. 

SD-WAN is taking off and there are many benefits to adding an SD-WAN system to your network’s infrastructure. But, there are some myths circulating out there about what it can do versus traditional systems as well. Let’s cut through the confusion and explore five common myths about it.

SD-WAN will totally replace MPLS.

In one word, no. There is no way for SD-WAN to provide guaranteed Quality of Service (see myth #2) which means that businesses will always need reliable transportation for their data, whether it’s MPLS or another form. It will change the way that your Internet connectivity and MPLS combine to give you the connectivity to your business needs. However, as long as you need to ensure your business traffic and applications run uninterrupted, there will always be a need for MPLS.

SD-WAN can ensure Quality of Service (QoS).

This one may seem counterintuitive as one of the many benefits touted by SD-WAN enthusiasts is that they guarantee QoS by measuring packet loss, jitter, and latency and compensate for them. That is true but, and this is a big one, it only compensates for them by finding a better path. What it does is make real-time, policy-based routing decisions based on current network performance indicators. But, if there is no good path available, it cannot guarantee you QoS. 

SD-WAN is the same as WAN optimization.

While these two are complementary concepts, they are not the same thing. The goal of WAN optimization is to reduce the bandwidth consumed within a WAN. This service is designed for TCP traffic that is not delay-sensitive. A side benefit of this is that it will make more room for delay-sensitive traffic, like VOIP, and boost its quality. SD-WAN deals with delay-sensitive and real-time traffic differently. Rather than having to optimize your network for better bandwidth, it actively searches out a better path for your traffic. Combining these two is a powerful way to boost your network’s performance.

SD-WAN is only superior to MPLS because of cost.

It is true that SD-WANs are cheaper than MPLS but there are more benefits than just lower costs. They are also easier to manage, operate, and maintain. You don’t need to be an expert to run an SD-WAN. Their controls are centralized, GUI based, and easier to work with than a traditional MPLS. This argument also makes a false dichotomy; you don’t have to choose one over the other. As we have mentioned before, it is not going to replace MPLS. SD-WAN will enhance MPLS, making your network traffic more reliable and smoother.

An SD-WAN will cut down on overall networking costs.

This system will optimize your business’s IT spend. It allows your network to be optimized for price and performance. Whether it reduces your overall spend depends on the applications you are using. However, it can reduce your commercial and operational costs by allowing you to support multiple network functions, like routing, firewall, and WAN acceleration, in one, rather than purchasing and maintaining multiple devices.

If you’re looking to make the migration to SD-WAN, we can help. Contact us for a free consultation. 

SD-WAN, or software-defined wide-area network, can bring many benefits to companies large and small but can be tricky to deploy. You know the benefits of bringing on a managed partner for your SD-WAN needs, but now you’re faced with many partner choices and don’t know which one to choose. Here are some questions to consider in helping you find the best SD-WAN partner.

What is their quality assurance process like? 

SD-WAN relies heavily on software, so it’s crucial that any managed partner you choose has a strong quality assurance, or QA, arm that’s able to vet any code before it’s rolled out system-wide. You don’t want a bug to infect your system because your partner didn’t fully test the code before rolling it out.

Do they have deep domain expertise? 

You’ll want to choose a partner that specializes in SD-WAN while also understanding that SD-WAN is a relatively new field and there are many aspects to it. Your chosen partner should have more than just expertise in SD-WAN. They should understand what your existing network looks like and all your application requirements, and how that will impact your SD-WAN needs.

Do they have flexible deployment plans? 

Many companies like to test SD-WAN in a few locations or areas before rolling it out company-wide. The best managed partners will be flexible enough to accommodate these kinds of tests before managing a full-scale rollout. They will also work on your schedule and with your requirements in mind.

How agile are they? 

What if you want to use your SD-WAN technology for other forms of virtualization, such as consuming network functions on demand? Your managed partner should have adaptive network control that can let you dial up or dial down network capacity on-demand to meet your needs. They should also easily manage virtual connections to cloud providers. SD-WAN should complement the agility that the cloud has brought to business, not hinder it.

Do they offer multiple connectivity options? 

MPLS. Internet. Wireless. SD-WAN can work with them all. It will be easier to build a best-in-class network if you choose a managed partner that offers a variety of transport options. Better partners will let you use your existing services, even if they are through a competing carrier. The best partners will take on the management of those relationships.

What security options do they offer? 

Security is more important now than it ever has been. Your managed partner should have substantial security options that you can opt in to, if you choose. These are features like intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS), unified threat management, distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) prevention, and encryption.

If you’re looking to find a partner for your SD-WAN managed services, we can help. Contact us for a free consultation. 

There are many reasons why you might choose to outsource services for your IT department. Sometimes it’s more cost-effective, sometimes it’s to allow your IT staff to allocate their time to other projects. Primarily, it’s because it’s a more efficient way to get things done. This is especially true for your NOC Services. Your IT staff has more valuable work to do than to implement and maintain monitoring systems, rotating shifts to ensure someone is on call 24/7, and responding to trouble alerts that turn out to be nothing.

Not only is keeping your networking monitoring in house costing your staff their time and attention, but it is also costing you money. There are high costs of attrition and training when you lose people who don’t want to be on call 24/7. Additionally, if you are a 24/7 help desk, you will have more payroll costs for additional IT staff to cover the extra shifts. All this and you could still lose $5,600 per minute or $300,000 per hour of network downtime. Your reputation will still take a hit. Your customer satisfaction will decline, as will your employee morale. 

Outsourcing your network operating center services can save you all of these headaches. There are also other benefits to outsourcing your NOC services:

It’s more efficient and cost-effective. 

By choosing one management partner for your NOC services, you have one point of contact, one person to talk to when there are problems or you want to make changes. You don’t have to worry about payroll or hiring or retention. Rather than paying your valuable IT staff to man a NOC desk, you will be paying them to work on projects that add value to your company. 

Help is available 24/7. 

A managed services partner will supply the personnel to make sure that your NOC is available whenever your customers need them. Even if you didn’t have the bandwidth to have a 24/7 desk without a managed services partner, your managed services partner will provide it for you.

Take the burden of deployment and management off your IT staff’s plate – focus on other important things. 

Your IT staff wanted to work for you because of the incredible things that you are doing in the tech arena, not to work a NOC desk. By working with a managed services partner, they are freed up to focus on the critical projects that you need them to work on. 

Reduce training, headaches and potential downtime by giving it to the experts. 

No matter how well trained your staff is, they are not the NOC experts that you get with a managed services firm. A managed service firm can lessen the burden your NOC experiences.

There are risks and challenges that come with operating a NOC that a managed services firm can help you mitigate, and at a lower cost than operating one on your own. No matter how you calculate your IT costs, it would be difficult to find a scenario where an in-house network monitoring center is more cost-effective than hiring a partner. Now, all you need to do is find the partner that’s best for you.

At BlackFin Square, we have over 20 years of experience helping companies save money, time, and supporting CIO’s to focus on what matters most. Contact us today to learn more. 

Trends come and go. By definition, they are ephemeral. However, there’s one trend for Global Connectivity with Financial Integrity services that have stood the test of time: the need for managed services. 

You may be asking yourself why that’s the case. One reason is that the full scope of Managed Global Connectivity with Financial Integrity services is not captured in the name. Better names could be “Technology Lifecycle Management” or “Communications Lifecycle Management,” depending on what technologies are being supported.

To understand why managed services are the way to go, consider that managing the full lifecycle of Global Connectivity with Financial Integrity services requires managing all of these capabilities:

Inventory Optimization: This requires a company to track all hardware, software, maintenance, services, and contingent labor for each category of enterprise communications.

Sourcing & Contract Negotiation: This requires procurement skill sets that are specialized for each spend management category covered by your enterprise communications.

Fulfillment: You have to ensure that each employee receives the correct devices, services, and documents that they have been promised.

Invoice Reviews: Unfortunately, bill formats vary widely across all aspects of global connectivity, mobility, and apps. Companies are required to handle this combination of paper, EDI, and non-standard electronic formats, along with some payment processing.

Portfolio Optimization: Where possible, it’s important to think strategically about the purchasing of MPLS, DIA and WAN services to improve productivity, while minimizing downtime and maximizing collaboration and innovation.

Carrier Optimization: Companies can increase the scope and reach of their communications portfolio to all employees while minimizing costs and negotiating pricing with current providers.

In addition to all of these responsibilities, companies also need to keep on top of contract enforcement and disputes. Companies need to keep on top of their contracts and invoices to find any egregious billing errors and have the bandwidth to walk through billing disputes, which can involve lots of red tape and stall tactics. In fact, 35% of all telecom invoices have some sort of “hidden error,” most of which are in the provider’s favor. These errors can include slamming and cramming, unprocessed disconnections, contract compliance, and multiplicity.

Organizations that have Managed Global Connectivity with Financial Integrity services save up to 22% on overall annual global connectivity spend. Beyond the money saved, organizations with Managed Global Connectivity with Financial Integrity services also save time that can be spent on real innovation and growth. Today is the day you can figure out how this can help your organization save time, save money, and experience real growth.

A Managed Global Connectivity Partner

A Managed Global Connectivity partner will not only save your company’s Global Connectivity budget in a big way but will also free up time to focus on the strategic bigger picture. At BlackFin Square, we have more than two decades of experience in helping CIOs get back to work on creating company growth through innovation. Contact us today to learn more. 

While many companies outside of the United States have embraced managed services for their SD-WAN needs, many US-based companies, especially larger ones, have stuck to a DIY approach. Before your next SD-WAN refresh, take a moment to evaluate all that SD-WAN managed services has to offer. Working with a partner will allow you and your team to focus on other strategic initiatives, confident in the fact that your SD-WAN refresh is being handled by a team of professionals that are looking out for you every step of the way.

4 Benefits of SD-WAN Managed Services

Eliminates Risk

Your team is undoubtedly great at their jobs but, odds are, they are not SD-WAN experts. When you decide to implement an SD-WAN solution, or are looking to upgrade or refresh your current SD-WAN, finding a managed services partner ensures that you are working with SD-WAN experts who have a world of experience in designing and implementing SD-WAN solutions. A managed services partner will have done many, many more SD-WAN deployments than your team, and has more experience with the obstacles and problems that can crop up during the deployment of new technology.

Access to More Vendors & Solutions

Working with a managed services partner allows you to avoid becoming locked-in to a single vendor or technology solution. Your partner will design an end-to-end custom solution for your company’s SD-WAN needs. They will also have existing relationships with many vendors and a greater understanding of their offerings, and how they would best serve your needs. A traditional RFP process won’t necessarily bring in the best vendors for your needs. Same for a vendor search conducted by your company. A managed services partner that has been working in the field will have a deep knowledge of vendors and their products that you need to find the best match.

Quicker Implementation

This quote from a recent Networkworld article on SD-WAN and managed services sums it up the benefits of quicker implementation perfectly:

“Harrison Lewis, CIO, and chief privacy officer at Northgate Markets, settled on an SD-WAN deployment. After evaluating the pros and cons of the do-it-yourself (DIY) option versus a managed service, Lewis decided that a managed approach was preferable for multiple reasons, with speed at the top of the list. “We had a compressed timeline,” he says. “We didn’t have the luxury of saying, ‘Let’s take our time with it.”’ 

The managed route is simply faster, as you only have to manage one vendor selection process and implementation can begin almost immediately.

End-to-End Management

Or no more balancing multiple vendors. Your department is probably already managing multiple vendor contracts and vendor relationships. You don’t need to add more on top of it with a new SD-WAN infrastructure. By working with a managed services partner, there’s only one point of contact. Your partner will also manage any needed updates, routine maintenance, required service, and the other minor nuisances that can come with new technology. They will also ensure that all pieces of equipment are optimized for the best performance. 

Managed SD-WAN services are an ideal way to implement the latest in SD-WAN technology for your company. They can save you time, money, and headaches while freeing up your time to focus on other strategic initiatives. Contact us today to learn more. 

As you and your team have moved toward a telecommunications service suite that is more digitally enabled and service-focused, you may have had the thought that not all telecommunications tasks need to be done in-house. Maybe, if you had a trusted partner that could handle the day-to-day details of your telecommunications tasks, you could focus on more strategic, bigger picture initiatives as Chief Information Officer.

That’s where managed telecom comes in. With a managed telecom partner, you have an on-call team available 24/7 to help solve problems which means less worry for you. You have someone working proactively to save you and your company money. You can remove yourself from the detail-work of handling contracts and vendors. 

Why a Chief Information Officer Needs Managed Telecom

Going beyond the day-to-day task management, a great managed telecom partner will work with you throughout the deployment process, providing value-added services such as:

Sourcing (pre-order)

As a Chief Information Officer, your managed telecom partner should be fully equipped to manage the RFP process for any new telecommunications program, big or small. Their sourcing process will include inventory capture and comprehensive assessments to ensure that no redundant products are purchased and you are getting the biggest bang for your buck out of every contract. They will conduct scorecard completions, as well as manage the procurement and legal process throughout the project.

Project Management (post order)

Once the sourcing process is over and your order has been placed, your managed telecom partner is still working hard. They will take the lead on planning kickoff meetings for your team and other stakeholders to present the project and let everyone know what’s coming down the pipe. Additionally, they will provide detailed migration plans that cover the project from start to finish. A single point of contact will be assigned to coordinate between you and all of the providers, so you never have to worry about who to call with a question or concern. Finally, they will manage all the paperwork from contracts to porting to LOAs, letting you focus on the bigger picture.

Tenacious Client Support (post order)

A managed telecom partner is just that: a partner. That means they are there even when the project is over. They will provide you with a dedicated client account manager that will be there whenever you need something. They will provide first invoice reviews so you don’t have to worry about accurate billing. They will also use their many years of expertise to provide strategic advice and recommendations on how to best reach your goals.

Now that you know all that a managed telecom partner can help you with, what should you look for in a great managed telecom partner?

Service/Order Deployment

Your managed telecom partner should provide complete project management for the deployment of the services. They should work closely with all suppliers involved in the deployment to guarantee the smoothest deployment possible, with the fewest hiccups. They should also ensure that service is delivered to meet your time commitments. 

Account Management

Your managed telecom partner should provide reactive support and escalation for all your service needs. They should give you access to a complete communications inventory provided via secure web access. They should also be on hand to provide strategic advice and recommendations as needed throughout the partnership.

Trouble Ticket/Service issues 

Your managed telecom partner should provide reactive support when customers and employees need help. They should serve as the project manager for the identified issue and engage with the vendor and others as needed to resolve. They should remain involved until the issue is resolved, the root cause is understood, and actions are taken to mitigate the issue going forward. They should also communicate with all appropriate and requested client personnel. BlackFin Square is engaged when a service issue/trouble ticket is identified and works as Tier 2 escalation with end-user by leveraging carrier & partner relationships and escalation processes. 

Chief Information Officer + Managed Telecom Partner

A managed telecom partner may be the answer to all the questions you have as a Chief Information Officer about how to free up time to focus on the strategic bigger picture At BlackFin Square, we have more than two decades of experience in helping CIOs get back to work on creating company growth through innovation. Contact us today to learn more. 

Managed telecom: two words that can make a world of difference to your company. But what do they mean? What is managed telecom?

It is, essentially, outsourcing the management of your telecom and network providers. It’s partnering with an organization that is extremely knowledgeable about the telecom space and has partnerships to help create the right package for your company. It’s having someone on call, 24/7, whenever anything goes wrong. It’s having someone there who knows your contracts, inside and out, and can design a system that works efficiently, seamlessly, at all hours.

It can consist of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Global Connectivity options, and NOC services. At the end of the day, it is the easiest way to streamline your technology posture as well as saving your company valuable resources.

6 Steps of a Managed Telecom Solution

Assess Your Needs: Your managed telecom provider will work with you to figure out what exactly your telecom and network needs are to meet all of your business goals. Each business is unique, as are their telecom needs. A good managed telecom provider will work closely to ensure that each of the next steps is based on what your actual needs are, not what they think they are.

Evaluate and Audit Current Solutions: Next, they will look at all of your current solutions to see what’s working, and what’s not. They will look at all of your contracts and note their expiration dates, to make sure that all future solutions are implemented seamlessly with your current products. Your telecom partner should also be doing everything possible to save you money and maintain high financial integrity for your organization. 

Recommend Vendor-Neutral Solutions: Once they have an understanding of your requirements and current solutions, they will make recommendations of the best vendors to meet your needs and budget, without bias towards certain partners.

Beta Test: Sometimes the best-laid plans have unforeseen outcomes. With that in mind, your solution will be beta tested before it is rolled out to ensure that, when the time comes, your final solution will be implemented smoothly and efficiently.

Implementation: No matter how big or small the project is, a good partner will be on hand for the rollout to handle issues that pop up, ensure everyone is trained properly, and make certain you are satisfied with how the services work together to achieve your business goals.

Management and Maintenance: Once your managed telecom solution is in place, your partner will be on hand to manage your vendors, maintain your system, and deal with any problems that occur 24/7.

This also includes maintaining financial integrity. Everything from tracking SLA credits, verifying invoices and filing invoice disputes when errors are found. All of this ensures that you save as much money as possible and never leave savings on the table. 

Your Managed Telecom Partner

BlackFin Square is your forward-thinking managed telecom partner. With more than two decades of experience in managed telecom, our partnerships and process have been honed to perfection, ensuring that you never have to worry about your technology again. Talk to us today about how we can take technology off your mind so you can keep your mind on your business.

As a CIO, you’re fully aware of the importance of maintaining a technology suite that keeps your company competitive in the marketplace. The latest technology can help you retain the organization’s workforce, provide better service to customers, and promote productivity. Staying on the cutting edge can also be a full-time job with all the research and contract management that goes into ensuring a cutting-edge suite of technology. Two words can save you all the headaches involved with technology management: managed telecom.

Managed telecom is, essentially, outsourcing the management of your telecom and network providers to a reliable partner who can help you maintain your competitive edge while freeing you up to concentrate on your core business. Need more convincing? Here are five more reasons to invest in managed telecom.

Outsourcing the management of your telecom and network providers.

You and your staff have better things to do than worry about your technology contracts or keeping up with the latest updates and upgrades. With managed telecom, all of this worry can be outsourced to a reliable partner who will take care of all of this, and more, for you. This outsourcing can also free up your IT team to think more strategically about your technology needs, rather than ensuring that everything runs the way it’s supposed to all of the time. 

Partnering with an organization that is extremely knowledgeable about the telecom space.

When you enlist a managed telecom partner, you are working with someone whose expertise and passion are managed telecom. That means they know the ins and outs of the telecom space in a deep way. It also means you will get the best advice and recommendations for your situation, maybe even solutions you hadn’t thought of before. 

Having someone on call 24/7.

It’s everyone’s nightmare. At 9 PM, your circuits go down with no warning and for no apparent reason. You need to call your team and hope they’re available to come in and figure it out. With managed telecom, when something goes wrong, you have the peace of mind that there is someone available to get it fixed. Your managed telecom partner is on call 24/7 to keep your systems running, no matter what. It’s one less thing for you to worry about.

Relying on trusted partners to design a system that works efficiently, seamlessly, at all hours.

A great managed telecom partner’s expertise will include Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), global connectivity options a 24/7 network operations center, and more. How many of your team have expertise in all those areas? With this kind of expertise in your corner, they can help you design the system of your dreams. One that works efficiently, seamlessly, and at all hours, without any extra worry on your part. 

Saving money by streamlining your technology posture.

Once you’ve identified your managed telecom partner, they will take a look at your technology contracts to identify any overlaps or redundancies in your current technology posture and how those will affect your plans moving forward. They will also be your partner in maintaining financial integrity for your technology needs too. Looking for a managed telecom partner that:

• Tracks down SLA credits for you. 
• Makes sure that invoices are always billed correctly. 
• Files invoice disputes when invoices aren’t correct.

They will use their expertise to design a plan that meets your needs while saving you money and making sure you never leave savings on the table. 

Your Managed Telecom Partner

BlackFin Square is your forward-thinking managed telecom partner. With more than two decades of experience in managed telecom, our partnerships and process have been honed to perfection, ensuring that you never have to worry about your technology again. Talk to us today about how we can take telecom and network management off your mind so you can keep your mind on your business.