Don’t let supply chain woes slow down your cloud networking goals
The supply chain is a critical part of any business, and in the world of IT it plays an especially important role.
The time involved in provisioning, procuring, and deploying traditional hardware and software based components can keep digital transformation initiatives moving at a glacial pace.
Unfortunately, the seamless global supply chain business has relied on for decades has hit a critical impasse. Things have changed, previously unacceptable delays and cancellations are now commonplace, and new solutions are needed.
Multiple industry-leading technology vendors and companies, including Cisco, Microsoft, and Dell, have all publicly referenced supply chain issues when reporting quarterly numbers. They’ve unanimously attributed the strained supply chain as a primary contributor to slowing down the pace of business.
Gas Costs, COVID, and inflation: A perfect storm
What’s behind the supply chain issues? Three major factors are at play: the continuing ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the price of fuel spurned in part by the conflict in Ukraine, and surging inflation across the globe.
With COVID, sick workers means time off and short staffing at factories, mines, ports, truck drivers, and everything in between. These critical links in the supply chain infrastructure have suffered greatly by staffing shortages. When any one node on the supply chain networking falters, the ramifications are felt for weeks or months at a time.
The price of fuel is amplifying this already sub-par situation, adding extra costs to an already expensive endeavor of global shipping and receiving. As global conflicts in major energy providers like Ukraine continue, fuel costs look to remain at near-record highs for the foreseeable future. In this environment, many companies are rethinking their strategy on shipping physical equipment to sites.
Many teams are also facing budget crunches for corporate travel. Is the money it takes to send a network engineer to a remote office sustainable? For a lot of organizations, this answer is changing to no given increased prices of airfare.
It’s a similar situation with inflation. Every major market of the global economy is seeing inflation rates at the highest levels in decades. Compounding with currency fluctuations, it makes it extremely difficult to lock in on predictable budgets and estimate spend.
Say goodbye to the supply chain with Cloud Area Networking
Cloud Area Networking offers a holistic remedy for traditional IT supply chain woes. With no hardware to buy, no boxes or devices to order and deploy, your organization instantly leapfrogs any supply chain bottlenecks. This removes any obstacles to connecting your users, sites, and clouds.
On prem to cloud, cloud networking, and multi-cloud networking is all possible, right here and right now.
How does it work? At Alkira, Cloud Area Networking is built entirely in the cloud and delivered as a service. In short, the Alkira platform is already there, in service, waiting for use.
Alkira’s global network of Cloud Exchange Points, or CXPs, serve as virtualized PoPs to facilitate seamless cloud connectivity. IT leaders and network engineers simply click the services they want, and the cloud networking resources are allocated in a flash.
Because Alkira has already built the infrastructure, there’s no waiting. No delays. No canceled shipments that move deadlines further and further off into the horizon. Cloud Area Networking is the fastest way to get to the cloud and deliver enterprise-grade cloud networking.
For the business, this means a more consistent, reliable, and predictable way to manage cloud networking.
Cloud Area Networking enables IT leaders to connect users to mission-critical applications in AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and more. And easily deploy robust security services like virtual firewalls from Fortinet, Palo Alto, and Cisco with just a click.
Projects that could take days, weeks, or months to complete can now be accomplished in a matter of minutes. Vendor procurement headaches- a thing of the past.
With the traditional IT equipment supply chain in the rearview mirror, your organization can pivot to addressing more innovative and impactful projects.
New resources for end users. New services for customers. More security and visibility to protect critical business data. Whatever your goals, Alkira Cloud Area Networking can help you get there faster than ever.
Want to learn more about how Alkira Cloud Area Networking can help your business? Check out the resources below. Schedule a demo today and we’ll be glad to show you firsthand how Alkira delivers cloud networking.
