Resilient networks, resilient communities

Just a few decades ago, if we faced the challenges we’ve experienced over the past couple of years, it would have been impossible to continue working, learning, buying necessities and accessing vital services and amenities as successfully as we have. Advancements in broadband technology have allowed us to maintain some degree of normalcy throughout lockdowns and other disruptions.

While we’ve come a long way, the past few years have also made it clear that we’ve still got some way to go to create a truly connected Australia. A country where every household, community and organisation — whether they’re in a metro, regional, rural or remote area — has equal access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.

The reality is that outages are still causing big problems, especially in areas outside the metropolitan cities. We know outages cost organisations a lot of money — Gartner estimates this cost at $5600 per minute. And that’s just immediate revenue loss. There are other intangible costs — such as productivity coming to a halt due to employees being unable to access the systems they need to do their jobs and brand reputation taking a hit as a result of customers being left hanging.

Cybersecurity threats are also growing in volume, frequency and complexity. The explosion of connected devices is creating more and more entry points into critical business systems, and hackers are now automating their attacks, making it difficult for businesses to keep up without the right systems in place.

In addition, the cost of data breaches is rising. In 2020, the average cost of a data breach in Australia went up nearly 10% year-on-year to $3.35 million per breach. The reason they cost so much is due to regulatory fines, legal expenses and breach remediation.

This is why it’s so important that you have the right IT infrastructure — including core business systems, cybersecurity and front-end workspaces — in place.

The beginning of a new networking era

Your IT is the foundation of your business. For your business to be adaptable and resilient, your IT needs to be so too. And at the heart of your IT environment is your network.

The old-fashioned data pipes and hard-wired routers of yesteryear no longer cut it.

Instead, what your organisation needs is a smart, resilient, modern network — one that’s platform-enabled, so it can easily be adapted to your changing needs.

It needs to provide your employees with workspaces where they can access the apps and core business systems they need to do their jobs, from anywhere.

Most importantly, your infrastructure has to be secure. You need to make sure there are no threats lurking inside your network ready to cause damage.

These objectives can all be achieved with SD-WAN (software-defined wireless access network).

SD-WAN is managed through smart software and cloud-based services, enabling your digital and IT systems to adapt as circumstances change.

A lifeline for businesses in a crisis

So, how does SD-WAN help organisations when the unexpected happens?

Imagine that an unforeseen event has taken out the primary internet connection or physical network cables your organisation relies on.

The first upside of SD-WAN is it’s quick and easy to implement. An SD-WAN gateway can be delivered to your premises and plugged in by someone with no technical skills. The gateway will be discovered and brought online automatically.

Additionally, with an SD-WAN that’s integrated with cloud-delivered security services, you know when there’s an issue right away. You can’t act on what you can’t see. By giving you a central point of monitoring and response — decoupled from the hardware to simplify network management — you don’t have to wait for serious damage to be done before you know about a problem.

SD-WAN also minimises downtime for your customers and staff. It allows you to set up multiple points of redundancy. That means you can easily switch over to an alternative physical connection, high-speed mobile data or even a satellite link without disruption.

Even if you have reduced network capacity, you can ensure your most critical business activities continue. That’s because SD-WAN allows you to shape your traffic so that the most important services to your organisation, customers, staff or community are prioritised over less critical activities.

Australia Post delivers on the benefits of SD-WAN

For an organisation like Australia Post, which has more than 4000 sites nationwide, staying connected is vital in a crisis.

In remote and regional towns, Australia Post provides more than just a mailing service. It’s a central hub where residents can conduct banking, pay bills and buy products. Any network downtime can leave these communities stranded.

The extensive size and spread of Australia Post’s network means that the organisation, and its IT systems, need to be prepared for natural disasters and other disruptions.

By planning ahead and transforming its network to SD-WAN, the organisation has been able to respond to disasters quickly and get back to delivering services to communities across Australia.

In fact, the massive network overhaul, completed in 2021, has already reduced outages by over 70% compared to five years ago.

SD-WAN brings security to the edge

Despite the various ways to secure, restrict or segment networks, threats are still sneaking into business systems.

The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Threat Report revealed that a cyber attack was reported every eight minutes in 2020–21, costing Australian businesses an estimated $33 billion-plus a year.

The sectors to report the highest number of cyber incident breaches last year — especially phishing and ransomware — include health care, personal services, finance, as well as legal, accounting and management services, according to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

The increasing volume, frequency and sophistication of threats is what’s driving organisations towards smart networks — previous approaches to cybersecurity don’t cut it in today’s world.

Deployed correctly, SD-WAN can significantly enhance the security of enterprise networks. You get a holistic, unified, real-time view of your networks, with a clear profile on all the users, devices and apps connected to them.

With full visibility over your estate — and the right security policies in place to ensure only the right people have access and are subject to the right policies and protocols — you can quickly identify vulnerabilities and swing into action before attackers can bring operations to a halt.

Staying ahead of the unexpected

You can’t predict when tough times will come. But you can be prepared to respond fast when they do.

Having a resilient network in place means you can continue serving communities when they need you the most, adapt your supply chains at short notice, have your staff access the systems they need to do their jobs from anywhere and keep the momentum going.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Siarhei