The SD-WAN market is rising at a meteoric rate. This growth shows no signs of cooling with an expected CAGR of 65% from 2023 to 2032. While the benefits of SD-WAN are well known (hint: there are some pain points too and if you want to avoid them this blog post is a good starting point) there are some byproducts of the move away MPLS to consider.
Primary among those concerns is “What should I do with all these bills?”. MPLS forced you into arrangements where all your connectivity was purchased from a single provider. It was a one stop shop.
SD-WAN by its very nature means you can piece together a network from a plethora of telecom providers. Now you can pick and choose your circuits to optimize price and performance at a site level.
While this has created a newfound sense of freedom it also has created a newfound sense of dread when it comes to paying for, managing, and monitoring these circuits. This problem multiplies quickly if you have dual circuits to your sites from different carriers for redundancy and resiliency.
This patchwork of connectivity has created exponential growth in the number of contracts you have to manage renewal dates and terms on, the number of vendors you must troubleshoot with if you encounter problems, and the number of invoices to process and pay.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel though and telecom aggregators can address many of the pain points brought mentioned:
A single invoice – go back to the convenience of having one bill to pay. Additionally, aggregators have tools that let you setup GL codes by circuit, handle billing in multiple currencies, etc. keeping your finance team happy.
One hand to shake – instead of having 10 different places to open a ticket each with its own escalation paths you will have one place to go to get your problems resolved with an account team that knows who you are.
Scale – by consolidating your spend you gain more leverage. This makes getting the right attention when it comes to renewals, pricing, and troubleshooting easier. The aggregators also help to amplify your scale. They hold so many lines (far beyond your network) with carriers that they have considerable reach in a carrier’s organization.
Proactive monitoring – telecom aggregators are monitoring the connectivity of the circuits under their management. Have a store where no one works at night and a problem won’t be discovered until the morning and you can’t process payments? Telecom aggregators can proactively open tickets with carriers and often ensure a problem is resolved prior to you even knowing or having any negative impact on your business.
More attractive payment terms – you can negotiate payment terms with the aggregator that likely aren’t available with every carrier in your network. Want to do NET 45 across the board? Net 60? These are options that you can exercise with a telecom aggregator.
Ready to experience the benefits of a telecom aggregator? Eclipse can help you find the right fit. Contact us here to get started.