What started during the pandemic – hybrid and remote work model – has become a continued norm. While things have settled across multiple sectors and scales, businesses remain under the same pressure to –
- remain sustainable
- handle data volumes
- provide safe network connectivity
To handle this requirement, we saw the emergence of SD-WAN (software-defined wide area networking) which moved companies connectivity requirements from hardware to software.
The next in the phase, as we expect, would be a consumption driven service model called – Network-as-a-Service.
Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) is a cloud-powered, usage-defined service model that enables companies to deliver network capabilities without the need to own, create, or manage their own infrastructure.
NaaS is here to completely change how businesses gather, deliver, and handle their networking abilities, positively changing how organizations meet the demands irrespective of the growth scale.
But is this enough for businesses to shift to the model?
In this article, we will explore the many reasons why NaaS solutions, like managed wifi, are the need of the hour for companies.
Why should your company start thinking about NaaS adoption?
Free up the IT teams to innovate and create value
To proactively support hybrid or remote work models and the continuously evolving business operations demands their companies face, IT teams have to:
- work seamlessly around multi-cloud, on-premises, and edge environments
- offer a consistent, secure search, work, and management experience to every user, irrespective of device, location, or their method of connectivity
- support both modern and traditional microservices-powered applications.
While organizations redefine managed services meaning, the need for deploying the latest network technologies like SD-WAN, Wi-Fi 6, secure access service edge (SASE), AI, and 5G has become prevalent. Merging these new expectations can affect IT teams’ capabilities to efficiently manage their business environments.
With NaaS working on a subscription-based model where the teams are not responsible for managing their current infrastructure, organizations can free up the resources and build solutions which would deploy greater value to the constituents and clients.
Improve the network agility and disruption movement
It usually takes weeks for IT teams to get through the contract signing mode with a network provider. Once that is done, the time which is spent in configuring all these network equipment tends to add another two to three months in the initiation phase.
While companies are still setting up the processes, hackers are on the edge. In all these months of new equipment and software configuration, the company is left open and vulnerable while their critical data is at a serious risk.
When you include a third-party NaaS management software in the picture, the same setup time gets cut down to a matter of a few hours.
Easy integration with hybrid work styles, edge environment, and multi-cloud
Since a majority of modern-day companies need access to a multi-cloud environment, SASE has become a common entry point to NaaS. Moreover, the self-service model that NaaS comes with helps IT teams quickly reconfigure and add on new branch locations – solely from their home office or laptop.
Safe corporate data irrespective of the employees’ work location
Although the majority of the companies tend to keep the networks secure with perimeter appliances and on-premises gateways, remote work has completely shifted the ecosystem of how teams view the organizations’ data and network. For a number of businesses, the growing dependence on virtual private networks (VPNs) have led to major security risks, especially in today’s time when cyberattacks are at an all time high.
NaaS can be a great alternative to VPNs, multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) connections, and various other legacy network configurations. Moreover, when you invest in a NaaS platform, a third party team is always active on secure browsing activity and protection of business data with industry’s best practice – freeing you up from monitoring the company’s infrastructure.
Reduce expenses with usage-driven billing
A major roadblock for organizations is the inability to minimize their network spend without giving up on security or resources. NaaS tends to save a lot of money by offering a modern networking technology stack while enabling IT teams to avoid huge, recurring investments in their network infrastructure. Its usage-based billing model leads to a situation where organizations only pay for the amount of resources they utilize.
Now that we have looked into the benefits of adopting NaaS, it is also critical to know the trends that would affect the future of this partnership.
Let us look into that as we conclude the article.
NaaS trends: What to expect from the model
Certainly! Here’s content outlining the future of Network as a Service (NaaS):
**The Future of NaaS: Embracing Tomorrow’s Networking Landscape**
As businesses continue to navigate the ever-changing technological landscape, the future of networking lies in the evolution of Network as a Service (NaaS). While NaaS has already demonstrated its potential in revolutionizing traditional networking models, its future promises even greater innovation and adaptation to emerging trends. Let’s explore what lies ahead for NaaS:
- Integration with Emerging Technologies:
NaaS will seamlessly integrate with emerging technologies such as 5G, edge computing, and artificial intelligence (AI). This integration will enable businesses to harness the power of these technologies to deliver faster, more efficient, and more intelligent networking solutions.
- Enhanced Security Features:
Security will remain a top priority for businesses, driving the development of advanced security features within NaaS platforms. From zero-trust networking to AI-driven threat detection, NaaS will provide robust security measures to protect against evolving cyber threats.
- Cloud-Native NaaS Solutions:
Cloud-native NaaS solutions will become increasingly prevalent, enabling businesses to leverage the scalability, elasticity, and cost-effectiveness of cloud computing. These solutions will simplify network management, improve performance, and facilitate seamless integration with cloud services.
- Edge-Enabled Networking:
NaaS will embrace edge computing, delivering network services closer to end-users and devices. This edge-enabled networking approach will reduce latency, enhance performance, and support emerging applications such as IoT, AR, and VR.
- Automation and AI-powered Insights:
Automation and AI-driven insights will play a central role in future NaaS deployments. From intelligent network orchestration to predictive analytics, automation and AI will optimize network performance, improve efficiency, and enable proactive issue resolution.
NaaS is defining the future of connectivity for businesses. We hope that the article gave you enough reasons to join the trend today and get a competitive edge for your IT team.
