Many businesses face issues related to increased network complexity and constraints in internal IT resources. Many challenges stemming from the more traditional build-manage-own networks are solved in many NaaS solutions because the focus is on balancing shifting business priorities and IT resources, budget, and time constraints by bundling continually refreshed technology and reliable, high-performance network experiences.
Additionally, NaaS is built to be resilient ensuring network continuity, whether it’s redundant fiber internet connectivity to guard against ISP outages, protecting against power fluctuations, or managing hardware failures through automatic failovers.
But equally important is the quality-of-life improvements NaaS introduces to the market. Some common challenges NaaS solves for modern IT organizations are:
Consolidating the fragmented network vendor ecosystem
Managing multiple network hardware vendors, software providers, managed services providers, and physical installers and contractors is challenging. Coordination requires significant time and resources, as each may have different processes, support protocols, and compatibility issues. Where can vendor consolidation help?
- Integrated Platform vs Fragmentation: NaaS is an integrated platform that combines hardware, software, and operations. This eliminates the administrative overhead to juggle multiple vendors, and sidesteps common inefficiencies, communication breakdowns, schedule and budget overruns, or potentially disruptive performance issues throughout the network lifecycle.
- Compatibility and Predictability: Unlike building a one-off network, NaaS uses streamlined processes and best practices, together with packaged purpose-built technologies, integrations, and established partnerships. Interoperability of various components is a critical function and is designed to provide predictable performance, mission critical reliability, and a holistic network experience.
Performance-based network infrastructure upgrades and optimizations
Because NaaS includes network hardware and software as part of the service, NaaS providers will typically replace network infrastructure as needed in the event of any hardware or software issues, maintenance, or feature upgrades.
- Failing Hardware: At some point in the network lifecycle, there is going to be hardware failures, performance degradation from wear-and-tear, or equipment phased out from support. In addition to having network resilience like automatic failures, NaaS providers should offer quick replacements and upgrades to ensure continuous performance and availability.
- Technology Upgrades: Networks deployed never follow the same upgrade path as hardware and software vendors. While schedules and availability depend on the provider, some NaaS providers offer performance-based upgrades like upgrading wireless access points with latest Wi-Fi standards for faster performance or upgrading network switches to support increased capacity for growing workforces.
- Software and Firmware: Updating or patching software often juggles tradeoffs, whether its limited resources, performance or outage concerns, or security risks due to manual misconfigurations. Like any SaaS product, a core function of NaaS covers updating software, patching security issues, or provisioning new features eliminating the burden from in-house IT resources.
- Network Optimizations: For NaaS providers operating enterprise networks through a Network Operations Center (NOC), they offer a centralized function for real-time monitoring, automated troubleshooting and remediations, and predictive network analytics. Using AI-driven operations and automations, NaaS can address a wide range of optimizations so the network can dynamically adapt to changing traffic patterns, usage demands, and potential threats, maintaining optimal performance and network security without constant oversight from IT staff.
Simplified, purpose-built network infrastructure without sacrificing customizability
Using NaaS, companies can take advantage of best practices network design with custom business requirements to get the necessary network capacity and capabilities to support their operations, while keeping costs predictable and manageable.
The foundational elements of network design should simplify deployment and management, enhance performance, ensure network reliability, prioritize security by design, uniqueness of the physical location, and offer scalability and flexibility that can accommodate business growth, new applications, and new technologies without disruptions or expensive capital expenditures.
While every network shares many similarities, every network environment is different. NaaS providers support customizable configurations according to each company’s business requirements, including control over user growth, application prioritization, physical workplace technology requirements, guest access controls, and security integrations and policies.
Fully managing physical deployments, installations, and contractors
Network deployments are complex and include several moving pieces that need to work in unison and, when physical construction and contractors are involved, in a specific order.
- End-to-End Deployment: NaaS providers typically run the entire deployment process from hardware and software installations, onsite configuration and testing, ISP procurement and rollout, to physical cabling and power.
- Full Onsite Management: Depending on the provider, this process can be managed even without the customer onsite, eliminating the burden of coordination and oversight to deploy the network.
- ISP Procurement: Additionally, the NaaS provider should have partnerships with dark fiber and internet circuit providers to identify the optimal providers that meet redundant internet connectivity requirements as well as specific application and network usage requirements.
Eliminating IT support tickets, compliance and risk factors with network automations
More NaaS providers are including advanced automation, AI-driven operations, and network management tools that simplify the network lifecycle. These automation tools provide real-time monitoring, automated troubleshooting and remediations, and predictive network analytics.
- IT Support Ticket Management: When utilizing proactive network monitoring and remediation, much of the workload for IT teams traditionally responsible for manually identifying and resolving support tickets and issues, is automated. While this saves time and resources, the quality-of-life improvements for users of the network and IT staff are improved through less frustrating network outages and slowdowns.
- Misconfigurations: Network automations not only reduce the workload on IT personnel, but also minimizes the risk of security vulnerabilities or compliance issues due to human error and misconfigurations.
- Compliance Breaches: Utilizing proactive monitoring, potential security and compliance breaches can automate corrective actions and alert network administrators.
- Manual Intervention: In the case of providers who operate networks from a NOC, issues not suitable for automated action are then escalated for manual intervention to trained NOC personnel to ensure performance, reliability, and compliance.
Additionally, the automation capabilities of NaaS handles operations like load balancing, traffic routing, and security policy enforcement, further reducing the need for manual intervention. This level of automation is critical to ensure the network can adapt dynamically to changing traffic patterns, usage demands, and potential threats, maintaining optimal performance and network security without constant oversight from IT staff.
Fully managed network that eliminates operational burdens
With a fully managed NaaS, IT organizations can outsource the day-to-day burden of operating, troubleshooting, and upgrading network infrastructure, allowing IT departments to focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine maintenance and improvements.
- Automatic Failovers: Business continuity is critical in modern networks. NaaS includes several measures by default to improve network resilience, which can include SD-WAN, device failovers, redundant internet connections, or dynamic routing.
- Minimized Risk and Downtime: With NaaS, the service provider handles hardware updates, software patches, and network optimization, verifying that the network is always up-to-date and running at peak efficiency. While this eliminates significant burdens on IT teams, it also minimizes the risk of downtime and security vulnerabilities due to delays or unpredictable shifts in priorities.
- Scalability on Demand: As companies grow or experience changing priorities in network usage, NaaS is designed with a simple path to scale network resources with changing business needs, without significant upfront investment. This elasticity is especially useful for high growth businesses who need extra capacity or are expanding branch or distributed offices.
- Managed Upgrade Schedules: In the case of hardware upgrades, NaaS takes over responsibilities traditionally handled by IT staff, such as network architecture and design changes, provisioning and funding new hardware, and hiring third-party contractors for installations and removals.
Centralizing advanced network capabilities and services
NaaS supports the seamless integration of emerging and advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), direct connects to cloud providers, and edge computing. These technologies require robust and adaptable network infrastructure to function optimally, which NaaS can provide.
- IoT Sensors and Devices: As IoT devices generate large amounts of data that need to be processed and analyzed, NaaS can offer the necessary bandwidth and low-latency connections to handle this data efficiently. NaaS can also handle additional capacity needs for IoT devices like occupancy sensors or indoor environmental quality sensors that operate primarily through Wi-Fi.
- AI Applications: For AI applications that demand high computational power and data transfer speeds, NaaS can dynamically allocate resources to meet these needs. This flexibility makes NaaS an attractive option for businesses looking to stay competitive and utilize new technologies like AI for greater business agility.
- Video and UCaaS: Additionally, common workplace technologies like video collaboration and unified communications (UCaaS) can also be easily integrated within NaaS, configured with additional bandwidth and capacity, custom network segmentation, or guest access rules.