Network-as-a-Service: Building a flexible network for a flexible workforce

Just ten years ago, enterprise flexibility was considered a nice-to-have in most sectors. The ability to be agile across your business was a competitive advantage or a perk that allowed for improved collaboration and processes.

Now in 2022 flexibility is an imperative that keeps business alive, not just ahead. Increasingly remote and hybrid workforces pose new challenges for IT teams, and in response they must ensure that enterprise networks remain reliable, secure, scalable, and compliant – even with constantly moving goalposts.

Because the modern business is only as flexible as its network infrastructure, we sought to understand current conversations within EMEA organizations around Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), which we defined as when over 50% of a company’s network rollout, operations and life cycle management is delivered by a third party on a subscription basis for hardware, software and services.

The resulting report, featuring insights from 5,400 IT leaders across EMEA, shows how organizations are adjusting to increased flexibility needs and why NaaS may well become the consumption model of choice.

The modern network

Against the backdrop of the past 18 months, the need for a network that can adapt in this fast changing and increasingly digital environment came across loud and clear in our research.

When asked to rate what was most important to their companies in terms of their network, the ability to scale up quickly and alignment between network and business needs were two of the top three priorities. And while we found a fairly good alignment between these priorities and what respondents consider their organization’s current strengths, companies cannot afford to get complacent.

Just as rapid digital transformation was key to weathering the pandemic, sustained digital transformation will be the answer to managing this ongoing wave of change. In fact, access to new technology was named by 72% of IT leaders as one of the top four drivers for network investment.

But supporting all this new technology requires both an IT team capable of driving transformation and a network that’s ready to enable it. So how can IT leaders ensure that the network delivers its full promise as a strategic asset? And how can they free up their IT teams to focus on these weighty issues?

?Enter NaaS.

NaaS as a hot topic

Our research revealed that 100% of the technology leaders we spoke to are familiar with NaaS as a term, and – more significantly – that it’s being discussed in some capacity within 86% of companies.

?In terms of the drivers of these conversations, 75% of companies agree that having the flexibility to scale their network based on business needs is key to their interest in NaaS. That’s in addition to its time and cost saving benefits – 57% believe it will free up time for innovation and strategic initiatives, while 76% expect it could reduce operations costs.

The majority also believe NaaS offers network security benefits, with 65% saying it could help them enhance security.

?So far so positive, both in terms of appetite and need. Unfortunately, the road towards implementation looks less clear.

?Barriers to implementation

While an initial glance might have indicated that internal process were the main barriers to NaaS adoption, our survey also found a significant education gap around the term.

Despite the universal familiarity, only 2 in 5 technology leaders claim to fully understand what it means. The consequences of this are seen in the perception of NaaS as a solution – only 11% of leaders see it as an established and viable option for businesses today.

?Next steps

It’s clear that those of us in the industry have our work cut out for us.

We know that NaaS can enable the critical flexibility needed by companies and help deliver the next-generation workplace. But we must focus on bridging the gap between awareness and knowledge if NaaS is to live up its full potential.

?To help close the education gap, Aruba has released The Rise of the Flexible Network report, which you can read in full here. Additionally, this video outlines our definition of NaaS and how the concept might be evolving.

Has your organization started talking about Network-as-a-Service yet?