By now the phrase that every business is a digital one should be etched into mind. Save for a few exceptions, most businesses these days have embraced digital transformation or are on the verge of doing so, as the need to be fully connected has become an essential element.

Being connected, however, is about more than simply choosing a cloud services provider and sitting back. Truly engaged business owners should be looking at the ecosystem in a holistic manner, which is where effective network management comes into play.

It requires the ability to weigh up being in the cloud, on-premise or adopting a hybrid approach not because it is what is en vogue for your industry, but rather choosing an option that is the best fit for your business.

Speaking to these requirements are IT solutions specialists Logicalis and enterprise networking experts Cisco Meraki, which both held a recent webinar unpacking network management, how businesses should approach it, along with highlighting its new joint managed services offering.

Looking at some of its research as it pertains to small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) and IT specific needs therein, Logicalis and Cisco Meraki highlight that these kinds of organisations, which are very much the lifeblood of the South African economic landscape, are looking for all-encompassing solutions.

To that end improved security is a key concern, which has only heightened in recent years as a result of the pandemic. Added to this is the need for better quality of service, along with more affordable pricing and greater support in terms of what is offered by digital solutions.

The value of IT-as-a-Service

Here the pair talk about IT-as-a-service, with communications, networking and IT packaged together as a managed service to meet SMB requirements.

Zeroing in on the network management and the security aspect to this, Claudio Busacker, Cisco practice manager at Logicalis, noted that businesses of all shapes and sizes have an increased need to more securely handle data. This as the value that can be extracted from said data can often lead to competitive edges in the marketplace.

There is also the constant concern regarding leaking of data, which carries heavy penalties both in SA and abroad, outside of the damage it does to a business’ reputation.

“Depending on what market they (businesses) are in, they will have a lot of customer data that they need to protect. Perhaps even their own algorithms too. That is why having a secure network up and running is vital and in some instances have a dedicated team to ensure that the ecosystem is secure 24/7,” Busacker emphasised.

It is part of the reason why Logicalis and Cisco Meraki have chosen to launch a Meraki managed services solution, which will make three different offerings available to the South African SMB market.

“We have three packages that we are launching from Logicalis South Africa together with Cisco Meraki. These three packages are a smart WiFi solution, a business-in-a-box solution and a security SD-WAN solution,” explained Busacker.

“The entire IT function is handled by Logicalis, so there is no need to worry about troubleshooting or monitoring, as you don’t need to dedicate someone within your business to take care of these packages as all the managed services are covered by Logicalis,” he continued.

One stack to manage them all

Payal Sewbalak, business development manager for Service Providers & Channel Partners: Sub Saharan Africa at Cisco Meraki, looked a bit more closely at the finer points of this managed services offering.

Here she noted that, “our aim as Meraki is to simplify everything. How we do this is via our Meraki dashboard. There is power in this platform that makes it truly world class, as we are the only technology services provider in the world that offers a full stack, end-to-end approach.”

“We do everything from your wireless LAN and switching, to your SD-WAN, smart cameras, IoT devices and mobile device management. Literally everything from a business perspective, you can find with Meraki.”

It is this precise aspect that Sewbalak highlighted as being key for the local SMB space as it frees up capacity that would normally be used to handle the management of multiple IT services or solutions.

“What often happens is an SMB will go out and spend a lot of money on software to help them better manage a range of complex technologies. With Meraki everything exists within one stack that Logicalis has bundled for you in order to make that as easily consumable as possible,” she pointed out.

To further improve value for SMBs, these managed services offerings have been designed to be easy on the pocket, according to Logicalis and Cisco Meraki.

“We have taken this model and put in on a monthly expenditure so that it is now coming off of your operating expenses. You only need to worry about it once a month. Added to this is our Logicalis financing house, which can help structure the licensing over an extended period, enthused Busacker.

With SMBs facing a myriad challenges when it comes to embracing digital technologies in a time- and cost-effective way, the managed services offerings from Logicalis and Cisco Meraki can indeed prove a silver bullet.

To find out more about the offerings, you can watch the webinar for yourself here.

[Image – Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash]