Think Macaulay Culkin. This is how branch offices in your enterprise often feel: forgotten and left “home alone” to fend for themselves.

It’s the age-old problem of siloed growth. Only a small percentage of companies have IT staff at branch locations, according to then-Nemertes analyst Roben Gareiss. In those instances, IT doesn’t have the same insight into what’s happening at each branch, they don’t quite understand branch employee needs, and they certainly don’t have the same access to troubleshoot issues.

Those branches, along with others who have limited IT expertise — including “branches of one,” as remote workers could aptly be labeled — may find themselves relying on centralized IT support, which creates a similar scenario and can make branch workers feel left behind.

On the other hand, like Macaulay Culkin, branch teams may find ways to get by, but there’s a good chance they’re not going to find the best solutions. And they may even overlook key needs and corporate mandates around security and compliance.  Shadow IT has become a huge issue, and branch offices are obvious candidates for adopting their own technologies, especially when they feel neglected.

But, with the digital technologies and tools available today, there is no reason for them to be left on their own. If the remote work trend that became prominent in 2020 taught us anything, it’s that geography doesn’t need to limit business operations. In fact, it can be the perfect opportunity to adopt network practices that unify all aspects and locations within your enterprise.

You already know what keeps IT staff up at night. Here’s how to get relief!

The cloud, in particular, has made it much easier for distributed organizations to implement consistent IT practices across the organization.  Let’s take the adoption of SD-WAN, for example. SD-WAN helps businesses securely connect all users in every location to applications and other corporate resources.  In the end, everyone gets enhanced performance, increased security, and reliable, consistent connectivity.  At the top level, IT teams can leverage SD-WAN’s cloud-based network management tools for full visibility into their entire network – from HQ to the smallest or farthest branch, regardless of their network access.

This is good news for a marketplace that’s seen a significant surge in digital technology adoption. Digital transformation projects around the globe were accelerated during the COVID pandemic, supported by network solutions and tools.  But today, as they implement cloud strategies, businesses are finding that it’s just not good parenting to overlook their branch locations; a branch’s digital transformation must also be part of the overall model.

The pandemic made it a rough few years. Find out how SD-WAN can put the joy back into your network administration.

At Extreme, we’re putting our trust in SD-WAN. This solution is the way to ensure your branches don’t end up home alone, apart from the main office. We all know you can’t ignore an aspect of your network for too long before it becomes your biggest problem. SD-WAN provides the perfect supervision proactive management to help you unify, optimize, and create the happy, healthy family your business needs.

Want to learn more about how SD-WAN brings the branch back into the family? Start here