The center of IT gravity has shifted to the Cloud Continuum. Have enterprise networks been left behind?

Enterprise networks are under more pressure than ever before. As organizations increasingly adopt new digital technologies, cloud services, and capabilities like edge computing and the Internet of Things (IoT), networks are expected to perform in ways they were never originally designed for.

Consider the sheer number of wireless laptops and mobile devices in today’s enterprises, all constantly accessing cloud services such as Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce.com, or applications hosted on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and other public cloud providers. Add to this a vast array of sensors from connected machinery and edge devices, along with the massive amounts of data they generate. Additionally, a significant number of remote workers are now accessing the network from home.

This has led to a complex landscape where a continuum of cloud solutions spans across the organization, encompassing public and private clouds, applications, data, edge devices, and IoT connectivity. The need for flexible, “anywhere, everywhere” access has created a significantly larger and more complex enterprise IT footprint, fundamentally altering the flow of data within and across the organization.

While enterprise IT has evolved with the times, many enterprise networks have not kept pace. In fact, many have seen little change over the past two decades. They were originally built for an era where static desktop PCs were the primary interface, and the corporate data center was the core of an organization’s IT infrastructure.

As the world transitioned to the cloud, many networks struggled to keep up. Those who didn’t adapt began to fall behind, with overstretched networking teams constantly fighting outages in aging infrastructure while trying to integrate new cloud and edge services as best as they could. This patchwork, “bolt-on” approach worked temporarily, but it left networking teams without the chance to implement the fundamental redesign that was desperately needed.

Networks in perpetual catchup risk throttling enterprise innovation

When the network lags behind the pace of enterprise innovation, it increasingly becomes a bottleneck for the entire organization. Consider Moore’s Law, which suggests that the price-performance of compute power and storage doubles every 18 to 24 months. In contrast, networking innovation cycles can span a decade—like the 10- to 12-year gap between 4G and 5G. Meanwhile, enterprise IT can quickly adopt new cloud services to drive innovation, but it might take the networking team six to nine months to adapt the network to support those services. Legacy network architectures often route all connectivity through a distant corporate data center before reaching the cloud, further slowing down operations.

This lag in network adaptation not only stifles the organization’s ability to innovate but also introduces security vulnerabilities and escalating costs. In large organizations, more than half of the network budget may be allocated to bandwidth, and as the demand for new cloud services grows, bandwidth needs can increase by 30% annually, driving up costs. Rising costs often signal deeper issues within the network’s design. Any organization continuously grappling with skyrocketing bandwidth expenses should investigate potential underlying design flaws.

Networks have fallen behind because the networking aspects of cloud journeys are often treated as afterthoughts or mere infrastructure fixes. This reactive, piecemeal approach only addresses problems when they arise, leading to escalating costs and a cycle of technology debt. In extreme cases, network teams spend all their time and resources maintaining and repairing outdated technology, rather than reimagining it to meet the future needs of the business.

Continue reading to explore the five essential steps for modern networks and download the report.

Related report: The race to cloud: Reaching the inflection point to long-sought value | Accenture

The Table of Contents of “Build for the cloud: Five steps to modern networks” Report:

• The center of IT gravity has shifted to the Cloud Continuum. Have enterprise networks been left behind?
• Networks in perpetual catchup risk throttling enterprise innovation
• An overhaul of networking is overdue. Here’s why it’s a priority.
• Five steps to a modern network
  1. Build a secure network foundation for cloud services
  2. Set up the software-defined network for a hybrid/multi-cloud environment
  3. Automate as a Rule
  4. Ensure Resilience by Design
  5. Build your network for new ways of working
• Take your network from tech debt to tech wealth in the cloud

Number of Pages:

• 25 pages

Pricing: 

• Free