Expanding a business across multiple locations marks a significant milestone, indicating growth and broader market reach. However, this endeavor comes with distinct challenges, especially for IT managers tasked with scaling networked systems across various locations. To overcome these hurdles, implementing effective strategies while maintaining the integrity of your tech stack is paramount.

IT managers encounter numerous obstacles when expanding networked systems across multiple locations. Ensuring consistency and performance across all sites emerges as a primary challenge. In a distributed organization reliant on the public internet, network performance varies across locations, impacting employee and customer experience.

Same Applications, Different Performance

For instance, cloud-based application connections may perform impeccably at the company headquarters but sluggishly at branch offices due to various factors beyond the IT team’s control:

  • Availability: Standardizing a uniform internet connection nationwide proves challenging, as each geographic location may have different internet service providers (ISPs) with specific circuit types.
  • Traffic Patterns: Even with identical ISPs, circuit types, and service packages, performance discrepancies occur due to real-time jitter, latency, and packet loss.
  • Outages: Hardware/software issues, circuit failures, cyberattacks, or power outages disrupt network connections locally or globally, affecting application performance.

Strategies for Overcoming Challenges

To address these challenges, consider the following strategies:

  • Assess your current tech stack comprehensively to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.
  • Standardize core systems and processes across all locations to maintain consistency and efficiency.
  • Leverage cloud-based platforms for essential functions like data storage, communication, and collaboration.
  • Implement unified communication tools for seamless collaboration across all locations.
  • Invest in robust networking solutions to meet multi-location connectivity and bandwidth requirements.
  • Prioritize data security and compliance through robust cybersecurity measures and regulatory adherence.
  • Enable remote management tools to monitor and manage your tech stack remotely for optimal performance.
  • Offer comprehensive training programs and ongoing technical support to empower employees in leveraging technology effectively.

Incorporating Bigleaf Networks’ optimization platform into your multi-location setup ensures consistent connectivity without necessitating extensive adjustments to your existing tech stack. Positioned outside the firewall, Bigleaf seamlessly integrates into your network infrastructure, eliminating the need to reconfigure security protocols or other elements at individual sites.

Intelligently Direct Network Traffic

By deploying plug-and-play routers and leveraging a purpose-built IP network, Bigleaf intelligently directs network traffic along the most efficient path over the public internet. Directing network traffic intelligently guarantees smooth data transmission to and from cloud-based applications, even circumventing blockages and outages to enhance reliability and performance.

With Bigleaf, employees and customers across all locations enjoy reliable connectivity, ensuring a consistent user experience. Moreover, Bigleaf’s compatibility with various ISPs, connection types, technology stacks, and firewalls allows IT teams to maintain their preferred stack at each site, including critical services like SaaS and VoIP. The platform’s robust network architecture ensures stability and resilience, optimizing system performance across all locations.

The Bigleaf Web Dashboard also provides valuable insights into circuit performance at every location, empowering IT teams to address risks and maintain optimal network performance proactively.

In conclusion, scaling your business across multiple locations without disrupting your tech stack requires careful planning, strategic investments, and a commitment to efficiency. By addressing IT managers’ challenges and implementing the outlined strategies, you can navigate multi-location expansion successfully, positioning your business for sustainable growth and long-term success.