Building a future-focused business network

Is your network moving you forward, or holding you back?

Businesses must implement and support an ever-growing number of hardware and software applications. IT departments are tasked with making sure these various systems work together seamlessly and are used effectively to improve operations. With each new system that’s added, there is rarely a proportional increase in IT resources.

For a midsized business to compete effectively in the marketplace, it must implement a fast, reliable and cost-effective network.

Managed network and security services can help solve this challenge. With managed services, IT departments can keep up with rapidly evolving needs without investing in costly equipment that’s quickly obsolete. They can extend the capabilities of their IT staff, allowing team members to focus on more strategic priorities. They can also achieve predictable costs, making it simpler to budget for IT needs. Building a network in partnership with an experienced network solutions provider delivers the following benefits:

• Access to equipment and software expertise to operate effectively, upgrade in a timely fashion and maintain systems successfully over the long term.
• Opportunity for key IT staff to work on the strategic initiatives your company must implement to move forward instead of focusing on routine maintenance and troubleshooting duties required to keep the network running efficiently.
• Ability to leverage innovative network solutions (e.g., AI, machine learning, optical wireless technology, etc.) as they become available — to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

5 keys to developing a future-focused business network

Help ensure your business is leading the way, rather than lagging behind the competition. To build a network that can power your business both today and tomorrow, adopt these five best practices.

1. Ensure speed and reliability

A poor-performing network can prevent your employees, customers and partners from gaining access to data and applications. Slow uploads and downloads are likely to impact productivity — and the end-user experience — and drive up costs. Instead, for a fast network that you can rely on, partner with a trusted network services provider. Select network technologies and solutions that deliver high uptime and can deliver maximum network performance.

2. Focus on security

Cyberattacks on businesses are increasing in frequency. In 2023, 84% of organizations experienced one or more breaches and 29% had five or more intrusions.¹ Given the growing technological sophistication required to maintain cybersecurity in the face of increasingly ingenious attacks, 80% of CIOs plan to increase spending on cyber and information security in 2024.² Partnering with a network services provider allows your business to tap into the broad and deep security expertise of professionals who make it their business to keep abreast of the latest security risks and appropriate solutions. By enlisting the assistance of these experts, you can be confident that your business network is secure and your business is protected against risk, while freeing your IT staff to focus on more strategic projects.

3. Be prepared to scale

When opportunity strikes, will your business be ready to take advantage of it — or will an inadequate network slow you down? Rapid growth puts greater demands on business networks, yet scaling a network rapidly requires both capital investment and technological expertise that are often outside the scope of a midsized business’s financial and human resources. Partnering with a network services provider that allows you to scale and reconfigure your network with less risk and shorter lead times enables you to quickly harness growth opportunities.

“We needed a network that not only works with the latest technologies but allows us to be flexible in the face of continuing innovation. Thanks to Spectrum Enterprise, we now have that.”

^{Jasmine Lee, Director of Studio Operations, Red Studios Hollywood}

4. Concentrate on your core business

Continuous network monitoring and 24/7/365 support are essential to keep business operations running smoothly. However, such resource-intensive priorities can be cost-prohibitive to manage internally and may divert limited IT staff from core business issues. Teaming with a network services provider that offers best-in-class customer service enables your IT employees to focus on strategic tasks rather than routine network operations. To take network management off your IT team’s hands, seek a provider that has a firm commitment to meeting service-level agreements and offers local service and support resources to ensure rapid response when needed.

5. Weigh economies both of scale and of expertise

When budgeting for building a future-focused network, it’s important to consider long-term costs in addition to one-time upfront expenses. Add up the costs of planning and buying equipment, setting up your own network, keeping your IT staff properly trained, and developing the in-house expertise needed to maintain your business network over time. In addition to these ongoing expenses, don’t forget potential costs that you may be exposed to as a result of building and maintaining your own network. These can include the cost of lost productivity from network downtime, expenses related to security breaches, or the cost of the hours involved in retrieving or reconstructing lost data. Obtain bids from network service providers that can provide a single source for setting up, monitoring and operating your business network. Then compare these costs to those of the do-it-yourself approach.

Simplify your business, network management and IT operations with managed services from Spectrum Enterprise

Our end-to-end managed services provide the design expertise, implementation and ongoing support businesses need to fulfill their transformation and growth initiatives.

Whether you take an active role in network management or leave it to us, our expertly trained team will provide hardware infrastructure and handle upgrades and service scaling while providing your team 100%, 24/7/365 U.S.-based support. Together, we’ll design, implement and fully manage network services that fit your needs.

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3. “2023 Cybersecurity Skills Gap,” Fortinet Training Institute, 2023.

4. “Gartner Survey of Over 2,400 CIOs Reveals That 45% of CIOs are Driving a Shift to Co-Ownership of Digital Leadership,” Gartner press release, October 17, 2023. Gartner is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.