Whether you’re trying to address the complexity of cloud connectivity, remove latency and congestion in a multi-branch corporation, or equip your remote workers for a consistent experience, you’ve likely heard that software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) could address your challenges. But with all the misconceptions surrounding this technology, it’s a good idea to get your SD-WAN facts straight.

Take a look at four commonly misunderstood ideas about SD-WAN:

SD-WAN Will Automatically Save You Money: It all depends. Cost savings often motivates the initial conversation around SD-WAN solutions because as you implement cloud solutions and attempt to meet their bandwidth requirements, you may start to realize that WAN costs are out of control.

But it’s important to note that implementing a virtual networking solution doesn’t necessarily reduce networking costs; it may simply slow the pace of the increase. You will continue to shift toward cloud solutions with high bandwidth demands, but SD-WAN architecture may keep costs from spiraling.

Every SD-WAN Solution Is the Same: There’s a lot to consider when choosing an SD-WAN solution and provider. You need to think about whether you want a premise-based solution with hardware at the location, or if a cloud-based option is better. It’s also important to consider the provider’s approach to security, and whether security tools are part of the design or were simply tacked onto an existing solution.

Your SD-WAN Architecture Will Completely Replace All Network Components: Many companies expect that their SD-WAN solution is a way to replace multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) pathways with broadband internet, with all devices swapped out in the process.

This may be true in rare cases, but in most situations, MPLS will still be necessary because it’s so reliable and secure. You may still need it for solutions that rely heavily on a solid network connection, like video conferencing or shared workspaces, while email and other non-critical transmissions occur over broadband.

You Should Always Choose DIY, if Possible: While managed services are more costly at face value, a DIY approach could prove more expensive in the long run. You are unlikely to have the in-house talent to handle the implementation and ongoing management expertise for a virtualized networking solution.

Look for a managed services provider who has experience with a business like yours, both in terms of size and industry. Ask them what challenges they have encountered during a deployment to see if they have been able to overcome the types of issues that may come with your transition.

There are also co-managed solutions that allow your business to do the basic troubleshooting and management but turn over implementation and configuration to the experts.

To discuss more SD-WAN facts and how the networking approach may benefit your company, contact us at Cloud Source. We can help you identify your priorities and the solution that fits best with your objectives.