August 26, 2020

Use of the networking technology can help enterprises and SMBs adapt to a hybrid workforce environment

By Jeffrey Burt

Bigleaf Networks is offering MSPs new pricing for its software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) offerings to make it easier for them to adopt the technology as businesses shift to a hybrid workforce model.

The Lowdown:  The Beaverton, Oregon-based company this week released a standardized tiered pricing model to bring new partners while rewarding big sellers with aggressive volume discounts.

The Details:  Bigleaf introduced the new pricing program at Kaseya’s virtual Connect IT 2020 event. Organizations have been shifting to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and the cloud for several years but the transition has sped up since the global coronavirus outbreak and the move by employees to working from home while still needing access to their enterprise applications.

A survey from Barracuda Networks released in June found that 23% of businesses have already deployed SD-WAN and another 51% are either in the process of deploying it or expect to do so in the next 12 months.

Technologies like SD-WAN can help enterprises and SMBs adapt to an increasingly hybrid workforce, with some working from the office and others being remote. Many businesses are looking to MSPs and other channel partners to help with the transition to SD-WAN. Bigleaf and other vendors also are looking at the channel as a way to expand the reach of their products to these customers.

Bigleaf, founded in 2012, differentiates its SD-WAN product by developing it with a cloud-first design rather than rather than focusing first on legacy networks. The SD-WAN offering is built with intelligence in the software that can automatically detects application performance and can adapt in real time to internet performance and connectivity issues to ensure they don’t impact business.

The Impact:  SD-WAN has been among the hottest networking technologies in recent years, becoming a key part of organizations’ digital transformation efforts. However, according to the Dell’Oro Group, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to slow that growth to a degree this year, but long term the work-from-home push – which is expected to continue even after the public health crisis subsides – promises to accelerate demand for SD-WAN in the coming years.

The analyst firm expects the global SD-WAN market to expand at double-digit rates in each of the next few years, passing $3.2 billion in 2024. Shin Umeda, Dell’Oro vice president, said “there is no doubt that COVID-19 has created a major bump in the road, but the fundamental drivers for SD-WAN adoption have not changed and may even be enhanced if work-from-home solutions can be incorporated.”

The Buzz:  “As we’ve talked with our customers over the past several months, we’ve heard a familiar refrain: How can they make their home office connectivity look and work like it did when they were working from the corporate office?” said Jeff Burchett, co-founder and chief revenue officer at Bigleaf. “That’s created huge demand for our product and an even bigger opportunity for the MSPs who sell it. Our new pricing makes it even easier to do business with us and, most importantly, helps our partners increase their profit margins. We see MSPs in the middle of not only helping customers with this transition, but, ultimately, owning a sense of the responsibility for the applications regardless of where the consumer is using them. We see Bigleaf as a critical component of the technology stack for MSPs.”

Related Links:  CHANNELNOMICS:
>BigLeaf Adds to Its Growing Channel Team
>Getting SD-WAN into More Hands
>Enterprises Turn to SD-WAN in Move to the Cloud: Survey