“We’re seeing IT leaders look beyond connectivity alone as they weigh up the real cost, reliability and security demands of modern network estates. The conversation is still about performance, of course, but it’s increasingly about what sits around that performance too.”
Andy Holland, Connectivity Product Manager at Wavenet
This shift matters because SD-WAN decisions rarely sit in a neat networking box anymore.
Connectivity is now only one part of the broader challenge. The same decision may affect operational cost, user experience, policy consistency and the way security is applied across sites, users and cloud services.
In practice, that makes evaluation more complex. A solution may look strong from a connectivity perspective but will raise questions elsewhere. It may improve flexibility while introducing overlap in tooling. It may support branch performance but create inconsistency in how access is secured. That’s why a more rounded evaluation matters.
In this article, we explore the 3 most common challenges faced with SD-WAN and SASE, cost, reliability and security and how you can overcome these challenges.
Cost is not just a connectivity question
“What we are seeing is customers asking for SD-WAN as they know they need something better and different to respond to changing demands, but what they actually need from SD-WAN isn’t aways clearly defined.”
Andy Holland, Connectivity Product Manager at Wavenet
That’s a useful change in mindset.
The cost case for SD-WAN is often framed around more flexible connectivity and reduced reliance on expensive legacy circuits. In the right scenario, that can be a genuine advantage. But for most IT decision-makers, the more meaningful question is broader than that.
The real issue is the cost of running the environment as a whole. That includes management overhead, visibility, policy control, overlapping tools and the effort needed to support a growing mix of sites, users and applications. If complexity grows elsewhere in the stack, a saving in one area may not tell the full story.
This is where a broader architectural view becomes useful. Not because every organisation needs to move in the same direction, but because cost is easier to assess when connectivity, security and operations are looked at together.
Reliability now needs to be judged in context
“The conversations I’ve been having recently are less about raw uptime and more about consistency. Can users get to what they need without friction? Can IT teams see where issues are coming from quickly? That is where reliability becomes real to the business.”
Andy Holland, Connectivity Product Manager at Wavenet
Reliability still includes the basics. Availability matters. Performance matters. Failover matters. But in a cloud-heavy, distributed environment, those measures are only part of the picture.
Most organisations experience reliability through application performance and day-to-day usability. If access is inconsistent across locations, if troubleshooting takes too long, or if different parts of the estate behave differently under load, the impact is felt quickly. In that sense, reliability is not just a network metric. It’s an operational one.
That’s why it helps to evaluate SD-WAN in the wider context of user experience, visibility and supportability. A good decision should not just improve how traffic is routed. It should also make the environment easier to operate and easier to trust.
Security can no longer be treated as a separate layer
“There’s a clear pattern emerging of a need for flexibility, agility and visibility.”
Andy Holland, Connectivity Product Manager at Wavenet
This reflects a broader reality in modern IT estates.
As users, applications and access paths become more distributed, the relationship between networking and security gets harder to separate. A decision that improves connectivity may also affect visibility, inspection, policy enforcement or the consistency of user access. That doesn’t mean the answer is always a full redesign. But it does mean security needs to be part of the evaluation from the start.
This is one reason SASE often enters the conversation. Not as a buzzword, and not as a one-size-fits-all answer, but as part of a wider discussion around how connectivity and security can work together more coherently.
For IT decision-makers, the useful test is a practical one. Does the current model support secure, consistent access without unnecessary complexity? If not, that’s worth examining before the next networking decision is made in isolation.
Making the right decision is rarely straightforward
SD-WAN decisions can look simple at first. In reality, they often involve a wider set of trade-offs around cost, reliability, security and operational complexity.
That doesn’t mean the decision needs to become harder. It means it helps to assess it with the right context.
The challenge isn’t a lack of options. It’s understanding which approach makes the most sense for their environment, their users and their long-term priorities. That’s where an experienced outside perspective can make a real difference.
If you’re weighing up SD-WAN, SASE, or simply trying to understand whether your current approach is still fit for purpose, we can help you work through the options. Our role isn’t to make the decision for you. It’s to help you cut through the noise, understand the trade-offs, and make an informed choice with confidence.
Key takeaways:
- Network cost goes beyond connectivity and impacts overall IT operations
- Modern network reliability must be evaluated across performance, uptime and user experience
- Network security should be integrated, not treated as a separate layer
- Choosing the right enterprise networking solution can be complex, but doesn’t have to be difficult.
Networking & Connectivity, SD-WAN, SASE, Intelligent Connectivity
