If your organization is experiencing poor network performance that’s impacting productivity, it may be time to consider upgrading your network. SD-WAN is a modern networking solution designed to improve performance, reliability, and speed across distributed environments.
However, without a clear understanding of the potential challenges associated with SD-WAN and how to avoid them, you may be unprepared if issues arise after implementation.
No organization wants to uncover problems with a network solution shortly after purchasing and deploying it. These issues can lead to frustration, downtime, and a negative experience with both the technology and the provider.
To avoid this, it’s critical to educate yourself on SD-WAN before making a purchasing decision. Understanding both the benefits and the potential pitfalls will help you make a more informed choice and set realistic expectations.
As a telecommunications provider, COEO offers SD-WAN as one of its core solutions and has deep experience with the advantages, challenges, and common misconceptions surrounding the technology.
Our goal is to provide you with the insight you need to avoid common SD-WAN problems and deploy a solution that delivers real value.
By the end of this article, you’ll understand the three most common SD-WAN challenges and how to avoid them so you can determine whether SD-WAN is the right fit for your organization.
The Problems of SD-WAN
To implement a successful SD-WAN solution, it’s important to understand the potential challenges that may arise. Being aware of these issues in advance allows organizations to plan effectively and avoid common pitfalls during implementation.
There are three primary challenges associated with SD-WAN: vendor selection, network performance, and operational complexity.
Understanding each of these areas will help you better prepare for deployment and ensure your SD-WAN solution delivers the performance and reliability your organization expects.
1. Vendor selection
Choosing the right SD-WAN vendor is critical. Selecting the wrong provider can result in significant costs for a solution that fails to meet your expectations or long-term needs.
When evaluating vendors, it’s important to consider not only the SD-WAN service itself, but also any additional capabilities your organization may require.
While some organizations may only need basic SD-WAN connectivity, others may require integrated security features or additional add-ons to support their network environment.
Understanding these needs in advance will help you identify a vendor that can deliver a solution aligned with your business goals both now and in the future.
Security Considerations
One of the most important questions to ask during vendor evaluation is whether additional security is needed alongside your SD-WAN solution.
At COEO, our SD-WAN offerings include multiple security options to support different organizational requirements:
- Standard SD-WAN
This option provides private connectivity and core SD-WAN functionality. It is well-suited for organizations that need reliable connectivity without additional built-in security layers. - Next-Gen Firewall
A next-generation firewall can be added to SD-WAN to enhance network protection by defending against external threats and unauthorized access.
- Universal Threat Management
UTM consolidates traditional antivirus, Intrusion Detection Prevention (IDP), and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) at the network edge. IDP and IPS monitor inbound and outbound traffic to detect and block malicious activity.
If network security is a concern, selecting a vendor that offers these security enhancements or a SASE-based approach may be the right choice. On the other hand, if your organization already has established security tools in place, it’s important to ensure those tools can integrate seamlessly with the vendor’s SD-WAN solution.
Taking the time to evaluate vendor capabilities, security options, and integration flexibility will help ensure your SD-WAN deployment supports both performance and security requirements.
Traffic Steering
Not all SD-WAN vendors include traffic steering as part of their solution, which can be an important factor when evaluating providers.
Traffic steering allows organizations to control how and where network traffic is routed based on application performance, priority, or business needs.
If this level of control is important to your organization, it’s essential to assess which vendors offer built-in traffic steering and how configurable their capabilities are.
To avoid problems after deployment, take the time to define your organization’s network requirements and understand which features are necessary for your environment.
Educating yourself on available vendors and their offerings will help ensure you select an SD-WAN solution that aligns with your performance and operational goals.
2. Performance Issues
SD-WAN performance can be directly impacted by the hardware used at each location. If a device is undersized or overloaded with too many software functions, it may struggle to process traffic efficiently leading to performance degradation.
The level of performance you can expect from an SD-WAN deployment is also closely tied to the amount of bandwidth available at a site. Ensuring the SD-WAN device is properly sized to support your bandwidth requirements is critical to maintaining reliable performance.
Selecting hardware that can scale with your bandwidth usage and application demands plays a key role in delivering consistent SD-WAN performance. Using a device that is too small for the volume of traffic at a location can result in bottlenecks, latency, and reduced network reliability.
Proper device sizing and capacity planning are essential steps in achieving the best possible performance from your SD-WAN solution.
3. Complexity Issues
SD-WAN is a powerful but highly technical solution, and the complexity of deployment and ongoing management can present challenges for some organizations.
When implementing SD-WAN, it’s important to fully understand your existing network environment. This includes identifying current infrastructure, such as switches, routers, and firewalls, and determining which network appliances can support SD-WAN software.
If these components are already integrated into your network, you’ll also need to decide what should remain in place and what can be replaced or consolidated. Navigating these decisions can be complex, especially in established environments with multiple legacy systems.
One way to minimize this complexity is to clearly define what your organization needs and take inventory of what you already have before engaging with vendors. Having this information prepared helps simplify the evaluation process and leads to more productive conversations with potential SD-WAN providers.
If you are looking to learn more about SD-WAN, you can check out our SD-WAN Buyer's Guide fr more information:
Next Steps to Determining if SD-WAN Is Right for Your Organization
You now have a clear understanding of the common challenges associated with SD-WAN and how to avoid them.
Without proper education, it’s easy to invest in an SD-WAN solution that may not fully align with your organization’s needs. Taking the time to understand these potential pitfalls can help you avoid costly mistakes and ensure the solution you choose delivers real value.
No organization wants to experience buyer’s remorse, especially when investing in technology meant to improve performance and productivity.
By learning about these challenges in advance, you’ll be better equipped to determine whether SD-WAN is the right investment for your business.
At COEO, SD-WAN remains one of our core solutions, and we’ve helped hundreds of organizations successfully deploy and optimize SD-WAN environments.
If you’d like to learn more about SD-WAN or discuss whether it’s the right fit for your organization, we invite you to schedule a conversation with our team.
Now you know the problems of SD-WAN and how you can avoid them. Read this article to learn the factors that affect the cost of SD-WAN:
