Simplify network management, access and growth

Is working with multiple network service providers increasing the complexities and costs of managing your network?

Learn how partnering with a single service provider can simplify network management, build a strategy to meet growing demands and streamline issue resolution while freeing up your IT for strategic initiatives.
 

Multi-site networks are complex, but managing them doesn’t have to be

Network modernization offers the potential to streamline IT with solutions that evolve alongside your organization. The right partner can provide a single resource with the expertise to design, install and maintain a network to your unique requirements. One provider for seamless connectivity, access and security. One number to call for personalized support. And one financial relationship so you get more value from your technology investment.

For many organizations, that’s not the case. They manage multiple providers that service a patchwork of legacy components and systems. This can make it hard to pin down which vendor to call for troubleshooting — let alone guidance on the strategic challenges of a growing network. Complexity also introduces more risk of performance issues, security vulnerabilities and inefficient IT spending.

At the same time, most organizations rely on lean IT teams to meet the rising demands of their users. But that comes with challenges. An IT skills shortage is expected to impact nine out of 10 organizations by 2026.¹ Leaders often struggle to self-manage a complex and evolving network environment with limited internal resources. As a result, a growing share of businesses are asking more from their service providers.
 

Top reasons companies seek to partner with a managed services provider:²

• 54% have increasing concerns about cybersecurity risks.
• 50% need more expertise than they possess internally.
• 47% require help managing a hybrid or remote workforce.
   

Discover how the right technology partner can design and integrate comprehensive solutions that match your specific business goals. Working with a single service provider that can support networking, connectivity, hardware maintenance, security and other IT needs can streamline your operations and prepare your organization for the future.
 

Simplify day-to-day network management

Consolidating service providers creates an opportunity to gain better network visibility and optimize performance. When you have different vendors providing internet connections, Ethernet, routing hardware and WiFi solutions, none of them understand your network as a whole. Each maintains its own processes for security updates, service upgrades and issue resolution. It’s then up to the often lean IT teams to coordinate maintenance and ensure overall performance for end users.

A single partner providing multiple services can monitor the entire network, optimize its settings and reveal efficiencies across components engineered to work together. This approach also reduces the risk of network downtime. Routine monitoring can keep your organization one step ahead of potential problems with an expert team standing by to react if something does go wrong. Recent field research indicates that the average cost of an unplanned IT outage is over $14,000 per minute.³

Cybersecurity risks are also easier to manage with a provider that understands your entire network landscape. During network design, the right partner can tailor solutions for site-to-site Ethernet, employee and guest internet access, firewalls, unified threat management (UTM), private connections to cloud service providers and other measures that isolate sensitive data and protect the organization from online threats. With visibility across multiple network components, IT can rely on one vendor to consistently identify security risks and respond immediately to an attack.

Additionally, the experts that make your day-to-day IT management simpler and more secure are well-positioned to help you plan for the future. A single provider delivering multiple networking services brings an in-depth understanding of your requirements, goals and challenges. You’ll have a partner you can trust to create or expand your network architecture and the services to support it effectively as your organization grows.
 

The average cost of an unplanned IT outage is over $14,000 per minute.⁴
 

The right capabilities for network modernization

With the rise of emerging technologies, network modernization is top-of-mind for many organizations. Modernizing a network supports digital transformation and drives performance. To realize the benefits of consolidating multiple services with a single provider, look for a partner with a broad portfolio of capabilities. These should include networking services that address your most time- and risk-intensive IT challenges, as well as the connectivity that ties them together. Just as important, choose a collaborative partner offering the latest technology to provide agility, security and operational efficiency as your organization innovates.
 

Agility

Modern IT is moving away from one-time hardware purchases and service contracts with limited options to scale. Rapid shifts to cloud computing, remote work and bandwidth-heavy applications like video streaming have emphasized the importance of having an agile network to keep pace with the new ways of doing business. In 2024, CIOs ranked staying ahead of emerging technologies and solutions as the top priority for their organizations.⁵ Most executives (78%) worry that their companies are struggling to keep up with the pace of technological change.⁶

To stay competitive in this environment, organizations and their partners must become more agile. Working with the right service provider gives your network the ability to adapt to day-to-day changes in usage patterns, application requirements, connections and devices as your organization grows. It also enables IT teams with limited personnel to streamline routine maintenance and offload the management of network components. Evaluate potential partners by the flexibility of their services, the breadth of the technologies they offer and their ability to take the lead on network design and management so your team can focus on innovation.
 

Security

Cybersecurity remains a top priority for IT teams. The increase in remote work and other virtual applications has multiplied network footprints and threat surfaces dramatically. In fact, 82% of companies report that they have increased their cybersecurity budget to support hybrid employees.⁷ A modernized network managed by a single service provider can offer peace of mind with comprehensive security solutions, access management and visibility into network devices. Automated firewall updates, UTM and 24/7/365 network monitoring can help safeguard the entire network with less effort required from your IT department.

Comprehensive network security is critical for protecting sensitive data and preventing costly disruptions, but staying current with patches and updates is a challenge for most organizations. Ever-evolving security threats require continual learning and action from IT teams, straining internal resources. Recruiting the right in-house talent is only getting harder, with 67% of companies indicating they had a cybersecurity staffing shortage in 2024.⁸ This reflects a workforce gap increase of more than 19% from just a year earlier.⁹ Another 64% of cybersecurity professionals believe that skills gaps can have a more significant negative impact than a staffing shortage, with 90% identifying one or more skills gaps on their cybersecurity teams.¹⁰

A single network service provider with the resources to protect network security with around-the-clock monitoring and always-on support can help keep your valuable data safe. Having a team of experts engineer and oversee your network to address threats can help prevent data breaches and cyberattacks. When an issue arises, you can tap their expertise with one phone call for fast resolution, reducing the burden on your IT staff and enabling them to spend less time on security and more time on other critical priorities.
 

Operational efficiency

Time is money, and toggling between siloed platforms to run a network is expensive. Consolidating technology adoption through a single partner makes network management simpler and more efficient. Better operational efficiency can streamline processes, increase IT sustainability, improve quality for end users and reduce network operating costs for increased profitability.

A collaborative relationship with a highly capable network service provider also opens the possibility to simplify many of the tasks that currently consume IT’s time. These can include patching and firmware updates, network traffic management, proactive security measures and adding new locations to WANs and WiFi networks. Consolidating systems with a single partner also makes it easier to implement software-defined networking to orchestrate network functionality across hardware and software components and multiple locations.

A consolidated approach to networking and connectivity services also reduces administrative overhead. Managing billing and service contracts is much faster when working with a single partner. Plus, the maintenance and life cycle of physical hardware becomes easier to plan, with many managed services options offering the potential to completely eliminate upfront capital investments.
 

The single-provider advantage

An agile, secure network is the foundation of your organization’s success. As users’ digital needs continue to transform, you need IT resources that can support today’s demands and flex to meet tomorrow’s too.

Consolidating and modernizing your network delivers measurable returns. An average of 87% of executives surveyed in 2024 said their organizations were able to increase profits through technology initiatives in the preceding two years.¹¹ Over half achieved profit uplifts of at least 11% in that time.¹²

A single network provider frees you from managing multiple vendors and systems. The right partner can deliver comprehensive network modernization that is tailored to your needs and can adapt as your business evolves. Collaborating with a highly capable service provider can deepen your technical bench and help you maintain a secure defense against evolving security threats. Consolidation also delivers significant operational efficiencies, saving you precious budget dollars and staff hours compared to managing multiple service providers.

Learn more about how network management simplification with Spectrum Business® can support your digital transformation journey.

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1. “IT Skills Shortage Expected to Impact Nine Out of Ten Organizations by 2026 With a Cost of $5.5 Trillion in Delays, Quality Issues and Revenue Loss, According to IDC,” IDC, May 14, 2024.
2. “Datto’s Global State of the MSP Report: Trends and Forecasts for 2024,” Datto, November 6, 2023.
3. “IT Outages: 2024 Costs and Containment,” BigPanda and Enterprise Management Associates, April 2024.
4. Ibid.
5. “CIO Perspectives: New Deloitte Survey Unveils Technology Leaders Current Priorities, Performance, and Competencies,” Deloitte, June 4, 2024.
6. “KPMG Global Tech Report 2024,” KPMG, September 2024.
7. “A New Era: Securing the Hybrid Workforce,” HP and HP Wolf Security, March 2023.
8. “2024 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study,” ISC2, October 31, 2024.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. “KPMG Global Tech Report 2024.”
12. Ibid.