Pei Ling Hoo - Fotolia
Barracuda exposes SD-WAN skills issues
Research from the vendor has highlighted the significant role that the channel needs to play in helping more customers adopt the technology
A lack of skills is one of the big problems for customers looking to embrace SD-WAN and the channel must include plenty of support to help adoption levels increase.
Simply selling a product and license is not going to be enough with SD-WAN with Barracuda releasing research that indicated that customers are keen on the technology but not always in a position to take it on because of a lack of skills in their businesses.
The firm found that a quarter of customers across EMEA were already using the technology and just under 20% were looking to deploy over the next few months.
The channel still has an education role with only a third of the customer base understanding SD-WAN and the same number blaming a lack of internal skills and understanding as a reason for the slowness to deploy.
A quarter of users are also complaining about a lack of vendor support being an issue with many accepting that they have to rely on external help because they do not have the ability in-house.
Chris Ross, SVP international, Barracuda Networks, said that the message of the findings was clear for the channel: "This means ensuring that your SD-WAN packages come with a high level of consultancy and support, and working closely with vendors to make this happen".
He suggested that there could even be a gap in the market by offering SD-WAN training because there was such a need for it out in the market.
"Ultimately, it’s our responsibility as an industry, vendors and channel partners alike, to come together and better educate and train organisations around SD-WAN so that they can develop the skills in-house. Before then, we will all need to bridge the knowledge gap by offering a high level of support and consultancy around all SD-WAN solutions," he added.
