Questions to askwhen considering a WAN

With contract lengths ranging from 1 – 3 years, making sure your financial commitment is not only focused at the right sites but also with the right provider is extremely important.

In this SlideShare we run through not only what you should ask a provider when considering a Wide Area Network (WAN) for your business but yourself too.

Questions you need to ask yourself when

considering a WAN

What does my business need to do? Review the number of staff needing access to the network and from where, the tasks they will need to perform and applications they need to access.

ie run VoIP, transfer large files and access the internet.

Where do I see my business in 3 years? By looking at how you want your business to grow you can create a solution which can support the journey, anticipated bandwidth requirements and grow as needed.

ie you need a WAN that is flexible, scalable and easier to add sites.

What budget do I have available? Having an idea of how much you can afford to invest in the network will allow you to shape it to your budget and get the best access technology at each site.

ie making access technology decisions more straightforward.

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How business critical is the network? Can your business afford to have downtime and how do you want to find out if there’s an issue? Failovers and 100% SLA should be considered in your requirements, along with monitoring alerts to keep you up to date.

Do I have the In-house skills to manage the WAN? Whether you need to manage the network yourself is key to the type of WAN your business may need.

Questions you need to ask the provider when

considering a WAN

What SLA’s do you provide? Understanding the service level you can expect will allow you to compare between providers and decide on what is most important for your business.

What access technology do you offer and do I need to have the same at each site? A satellite office in a rural location and your head office are unlikely to need the same access technology. Can the solution be tailored to your requirements and budget?

How resilient is the service? Understand how the access technology and the core network set up can affect the resiliency of your network. Find out if backups and failovers are offered and what types are available.

How is yourservice different from other providers? When you’re contacting multiple providers for quotations this question, coupled with the previous answers should help you decide on a preferred provider.

Do you offer fully managed solutions?Check if you will need to ask the provider for changes to the network or whether you can manage the WAN in-house.

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Questions to ask when considering a WAN