You didn’t build your business to manage networks. But the more locations you add, the more time you spend fighting them.
One branch is down. Another is lagging. Your team is juggling MPLS vendors, legacy contracts, inconsistent hardware, and cloud apps that just won’t perform across multiple locations. Meanwhile, IT gets pulled into constant tickets and reactive troubleshooting, without the visibility or control to fix issues before they impact users.
All of these challenges can be solved with the right SD-WAN solution.
It’s more than a smarter way to connect your sites. SD-WAN gives you:
- Centralized command over your entire network
- Optimized app performance across locations
- Built-in resilience when connections fail.
For retail chains, branch-heavy enterprises, and hybrid operations, it turns the network from a bottleneck into a business advantage.
Learn more about how SD-WAN helps businesses cut through complexity, standardize performance across locations, and give IT teams the control they’ve been missing.
But first, let’s start with the basics of SD-WAN and a few everyday SD-WAN use cases where this solution can make an immediate impact.
Essential SD-WAN acronyms for business decision makers
To get the most out of SD-WAN conversations, it helps to understand the core terms that come up during planning and deployment. Below are the key acronyms every business leader should know, along with what they actually mean for your network.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| SD-WAN | Software-Defined Wide Area Network — a virtual network overlay that simplifies branch connectivity, centralizes control, and improves app performance across locations. |
| QoS | Quality of Service — ensures high-priority traffic (like voice and video) always performs reliably, even under network congestion. |
| SASE | Secure Access Service Edge — a cloud-delivered architecture that combines SD-WAN with security features like firewall, ZTNA, and threat prevention. |
| MPLS | Multiprotocol Label Switching — a private networking technology used for site-to-site traffic; reliable but expensive and slow to scale. |
| VPN | Virtual Private Network — encrypts remote connections to internal systems; often slower and less flexible than SD-WAN for distributed teams. |
| NOC | Network Operations Center — a dedicated team that monitors and manages network health, uptime, and alerts around the clock. |
| ZTNA | Zero Trust Network Access — verifies identity and context before granting access to resources, reducing risk from compromised devices or users. |
| DIA | Dedicated Internet Access — a private, high-performance internet circuit used in SD-WAN designs for critical sites or core services. |
| SLA | Service Level Agreement — a contract that defines the guaranteed uptime, support response, and performance levels from a provider. |
Common SD-WAN use cases for multi-location networks
SD-WAN helps multi-location businesses overcome the limitations of legacy networking, delivering better performance, faster deployments, and simpler management across all sites.
These are the most common scenarios where it drives meaningful transformation.
Opening new locations without delay
Standing up a new office, store, or branch used to require weeks of coordination. Businesses had to wait on carrier provisioning, navigate long lead times for MPLS circuits, and send IT resources onsite to configure routers and firewalls. Every new location became a logistical bottleneck.
With SD-WAN, that process is dramatically simplified. Pre-configured edge devices can be shipped directly to the site and automatically connect once powered on. Network policies apply instantly, and connectivity can be established using broadband, LTE, or fiber using whatever is available.
This eliminates the lag between real estate readiness and network availability, allowing teams to start operating faster and reducing the burden on IT during site launches.
Standardizing application performance across all sites
Inconsistent user experience is one of the biggest pain points for distributed organizations. Employees in one office might enjoy seamless access to Microsoft Teams or Salesforce, while another location struggles with dropped calls, slow dashboards, or delayed cloud syncs.
These performance gaps often stem from limited bandwidth, poor traffic prioritization, or single-path routing, all issues that SD-WAN directly addresses. With intelligent traffic steering and application-aware routing, critical apps are prioritized and delivered over the best available path in real time.
The result is a consistent, high-quality experience across all sites, regardless of connection type or location, leading to fewer support tickets and improved productivity.
Enforcing stronger security at the Edge
Protecting remote locations has always been a challenge. Many branch sites operate without dedicated firewalls or up-to-date security appliances, exposing the business to risk. Manual updates and distributed hardware management add further complexity.
SD-WAN integrated with SASE provides an elegant solution. Cloud-delivered security functions like firewall-as-a-service, secure web gateways, and zero trust access policies are applied uniformly across all sites without any extra hardware.
This brings consistent, enterprise-grade protection to every location, improves compliance, and reduces the attack surface without overwhelming IT teams with additional tools or complexity.
Ensuring business continuity in retail environments
For retail chains, even a brief outage can mean lost transactions, poor customer experience, and frustrated staff. Without intelligent failover, a dropped connection can take down POS systems, in-store kiosks, and guest Wi-Fi without warning.
SD-WAN delivers always-on connectivity with automatic circuit failover. If the primary internet link fails, traffic is instantly rerouted through a secondary connection without interrupting operations.It also allows for traffic segmentation, so mission-critical systems like payment terminals always receive priority bandwidth, even during peak usage or network congestion.
Replacing or augmenting MPLS without sacrificing performance
Many organizations still rely on MPLS to ensure stability across sites, but this comes with a high cost. MPLS contracts tend to be rigid, expensive, and slow to adapt to changing business needs.
SD-WAN provides a more flexible, cost-efficient alternative. Businesses can replace or supplement MPLS with broadband, DIA, or wireless connections, while maintaining the same performance and reliability level through intelligent traffic management and dynamic path selection.
This shift not only lowers ongoing costs but gives IT the freedom to scale and adapt the network as the business grows without waiting months for circuit changes or upgrades.
Related Content: How to get started with an SD-WAN solution
What’s the true cost and ROI of SD-WAN?
SD-WAN modernizes your network while also changing the economics of connectivity. Compared to traditional MPLS, it delivers significant cost savings, faster ROI, and lower operational overhead, all while improving performance and agility.
SD-WAN vs. MPLS: A clear cost advantage
Traditional MPLS networks are notoriously expensive to operate. Monthly per-site costs typically range from $300 to $1,000, with per-Mbps pricing as high as $50 to $100, especially when factoring in distance, quality of service (QoS) tiers, and local loop fees, which can account for 60–70% of the total circuit cost.
In contrast, SD-WAN uses cost-effective broadband, LTE, or DIA connections to deliver more flexible and scalable performance. Per-site SD-WAN costs generally fall between $150 and $300, and per-Mbps rates drop to $1–$6, depending on provider and circuit type.
This creates a massive gap in cost-efficiency, especially as bandwidth needs continue to grow.
Total cost of ownership: Beyond circuit savings
SD-WAN’s value extends far beyond lower connectivity rates. According to IDC, organizations implementing Cisco SD-WAN saw an average 39% reduction in total network-related costs over five years per 100 users, including hardware, transport, and management.
These savings come from:
- Reduced MPLS dependency and associated circuit costs
- Consolidation of network and security hardware
- Centralized management that lowers IT support burden
- Faster provisioning for new sites
Return on investment: Fast payback, long-term value
The same IDC study reports an average 402% ROI over five years, with payback occurring in just under 16 months.
Other studies support similar findings:
- A Forrester TEI report found a 113% ROI over three years and a payback period of under six months for Aryaka’s SD-WAN + SASE offering.
- A smaller enterprise cited $1,000–$2,000 per site per month in savings by replacing MPLS with SD-WAN and leveraging multiple ISPs.
Operational efficiencies that multiply ROI
It’s not just the hard costs that matter. SD-WAN drastically reduces IT overhead:
- 71% boost in help desk productivity
- 54% faster issue resolution
- 59% faster onboarding for new services
Those efficiency gains free up internal teams to focus on strategic work instead of fighting fires, turning IT into a force multiplier rather than a support bottleneck.
Related Content: Does your business need managed SD-WAN services?
The hidden challenges of managing multi-site networks
Legacy networks weren’t designed for the way modern businesses operate. As organizations expand into new regions, adopt hybrid work, or roll out cloud-based tools across dozens—or hundreds—of sites, the limitations of traditional WAN infrastructure start compounding fast.
Fragmented infrastructure, fragmented operations
Most multi-site businesses didn’t plan for this kind of scale. Instead, they grew through a patchwork of ISPs, hardware vendors, and regional carriers, each with their own contracts, performance profiles, and billing structures. The result is a network that’s difficult to manage, expensive to support, and inconsistent by nature.
Every site runs slightly differently. Some locations may still rely on legacy MPLS, while others use broadband or LTE.
Firewalls vary, and configurations drift. When issues arise, there’s no single source of truth, and IT is left guessing which vendor (or which site) is causing the problem.
Cloud applications struggle on legacy WAN
Cloud tools are central to how distributed teams operate, but traditional VPN and MPLS networks weren’t designed to support them.
Backhauling traffic through a central data center introduces latency and bottlenecks, especially for bandwidth-heavy tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Salesforce.
This often leads to poor user experience, dropped calls, slow application load times, and frustrated employees who assume the tools or the IT team are at fault. Performance issues also bleed into customer-facing systems, like in-store point-of-sale, service kiosks, or web-connected terminals.
IT burnout and support bottlenecks
The more locations you add, the more stretched your IT team becomes. Each new site means more tickets, more monitoring gaps, and more time spent diagnosing remote issues without local visibility. Simple changes, like rolling out a new app or updating security policies, require manual intervention at every site.
Support shifts from strategic initiatives to daily firefighting. Teams are stuck in reactive mode, putting out fires rather than optimizing systems. Meanwhile, the business keeps expanding, and IT is expected to keep pace without additional resources.
Inflexible networks limit agility
Legacy contracts and infrastructure create drag. Opening a new location can take months due to circuit provisioning delays. Migrating away from MPLS or introducing new services requires renegotiation, hardware swaps, or manual configuration. None of it is fast, and very little is scalable.
This lack of agility makes it harder to respond to new business needs, whether that’s spinning up a pop-up shop, enabling secure remote work, or expanding into a new region.
Visibility is limited (or nonexistent)
Without a centralized control plane, IT lacks the visibility to proactively manage performance or security. Troubleshooting depends on manual processes, disjointed tools, or waiting for someone onsite to flag the issue. There’s no unified dashboard, real-time health metrics, or consistent alerting.
This blind spot increases downtime, slows response time, and prevents IT from identifying issues before they escalate into business disruptions.
How SD-WAN improves multi-location connectivity
SD-WAN gives businesses a smarter, more reliable way to manage connectivity across all their locations. Instead of stitching together vendors, hardware, and outdated network designs, organizations gain a centralized platform built for scale, speed, and cloud performance.
This connects sites while providing control over the entire network through one cohesive system, with the intelligence to route traffic, recover from failures, and adapt in real time.
Centralized orchestration
Traditional networks require site-by-site configuration and troubleshooting. SD-WAN replaces that with a single, unified interface where IT can monitor, manage, and update every location, no matter how remote.
Policies are applied consistently across all sites, software updates are pushed centrally, and new locations are brought online without ever touching legacy routers or firewalls.
The outcome: Fewer configuration errors, faster deployments, and a lighter lift for lean IT teams managing large footprints.
Intelligent traffic steering
Cloud apps don’t all need the same treatment. With SD-WAN, traffic for critical services, like voice, video, CRM, or payment terminals, is identified and prioritized in real time. Instead of relying on a fixed path, the network dynamically chooses the best route based on performance, latency, and link quality.
The outcome: Smooth video calls, uninterrupted transactions, and faster app performance across all sites—without overprovisioning bandwidth.
Built-in resilience and real-time failover
Legacy networks often fail hard: one link goes down, and so does the branch. SD-WAN eliminates that risk by bonding multiple connection types, including fiber, broadband, or LTE, and instantly shifting traffic when one drops.
There’s no delay, manual failover, or interruption to business operations.
The outcome: Always-on connectivity, fewer outages, and a network that heals itself before users notice a problem.
Performance visibility and QoS
Performance problems are hard to fix when you can’t see them.
SD-WAN gives IT complete visibility into application behavior, bandwidth usage, and site-level performance.
Built-in QoS ensures that critical apps meet performance thresholds, and real-time alerts help identify issues before users submit tickets.
The outcome: Fewer complaints, faster diagnostics, and the ability to proactively maintain performance across every site.
Why SD-WAN matters to your business operations
In a multi-location business, your network isn’t just infrastructure. It’s how your operations stay connected, productive, and responsive.
Every location needs to deliver the same performance, security, and reliability, whether it’s a flagship site, regional office, or pop-up location.
SD-WAN makes that possible by removing the complexity and inconsistency of legacy networks. It enables centralized control and consistent performance across all sites, regardless of the underlying connection.
- Standardized performance: Every branch gets the same reliable access to cloud apps, collaboration tools, and internal systems without sacrificing speed or uptime due to local connectivity issues.
- Faster site rollouts: New offices, retail locations, or remote work hubs can be brought online in days, not weeks, using broadband or LTE with security policies and performance settings applied automatically.
- Operational efficiency: Centralized orchestration and zero-touch provisioning reduce the need for manual configuration and on-site troubleshooting. IT teams spend less time firefighting and more time moving the business forward.
- Built-in resilience: With active-active failover and intelligent traffic routing, SD-WAN ensures always-on connectivity even if a primary link fails. Business continuity is built into the network by design.
Instead of adapting old infrastructure to meet modern needs, SD-WAN gives businesses a clean slate: a faster, smarter, and more resilient network designed for the way you actually operate.
Compare the 4 SD-WAN platforms Momentum delivers
There’s no one-size-fits-all SD-WAN. That’s why Momentum has vetted and partnered with a select group of providers, each offering a distinct approach to performance, scale, and security.
These platforms cover a wide range of business needs, from lean IT teams looking for simplicity to enterprises needing deep control and built-in security.
| Solution | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Juniper Mist AI | For teams that prioritize fast deployment, automation, and AI-assisted insights without high overhead. |
| Cisco Meraki | Ideal for organizations already invested in Cisco, looking to extend their environment with cloud-managed SD-WAN. |
| Cato Networks | Designed for businesses that want SD-WAN and security together. It’s SASE-ready out of the box. |
| Arista Networks | Suited for large, data-heavy operations that require precise control and performance at scale. |
Momentum works with each customer to identify the best-fit platform, then handles deployment, integration, and lifecycle management.
Every deployment is supported through centralized monitoring, policy enforcement, and compatibility with existing infrastructure, so IT teams can stay focused on the business, not the backend.
Related Content: Momentum partners with Cato to deliver converged SASE
Why businesses choose Momentum for SD-WAN
SD-WAN delivers the most value when it’s deployed, managed, and optimized the right way.
That’s where Momentum comes in. Our managed SD-WAN service is built to remove complexity, reduce operational overhead, and give every location the performance and reliability it needs without adding strain to your IT team.
- Faster rollouts: Sites can be deployed in days, not months, with pre-configured hardware and centralized orchestration that scales as you grow.
- Always-on performance: Intelligent failover, dynamic routing, and AI-assisted optimization ensure your network adapts in real time without waiting for IT to intervene.
- End-to-end support: Our Network Operations Center monitors, updates, and maintains your environment 24/7, so your team stays focused on business priorities—not troubleshooting circuits or chasing vendors.
- Global coverage: Even off-net or remote locations can be connected through our global backbone and provider relationships, extending secure, consistent connectivity wherever you operate.
- Simplified management: One partner, one platform, and one point of accountability. You don’t need to coordinate with multiple carriers or juggle separate tools to keep the network running.
With Momentum, SD-WAN becomes a fully managed foundation for your business, not another system to maintain. You get the control and visibility you need, with the hands-on operational support to back it up.
Future-proof your business with SD-WAN
SD-WAN gives you the speed, visibility, and control legacy networks can’t. Momentum delivers it without the complexity.
Get a fully managed network, built to scale, and tailored to how you actually operate.
Talk to our team today about deploying SD-WAN across your locations, powered by Momentum and tailored to your needs.
Healthcare & medical
Secure and compliant patient communication, intelligent call routing to clinics or departments, streamlined scheduling workflows, and seamless handoffs between care teams.
Financial services
Real-time client support with call recording and audit trails, fraud and risk escalation workflows, compliant communications across voice and chat, and CRM-integrated account servicing.
Professional services
Centralized communication hubs for client accounts, streamlined updates and approvals via Teams, improved coordination across remote teams, and time-saving integration with project management tools.
Retail & e-commerce
High-volume order and return handling, dynamic routing during peak seasons, personalized support via integrated purchase history, and faster agent onboarding across distributed locations.
Technology & SaaS
24/7 global support desks with intelligent escalation, real-time incident response, unified communication between product and support teams, and integration with platforms like Salesforce or Zendesk.
Government & public sector
Citizen service centers with intelligent queueing, multilingual support built into workflows, secure remote staffing, and real-time reporting to track service performance and transparency metrics.
Education (K-12 & post-secondary)
Automated routing for admissions and registrar inquiries, real-time student services across departments, virtual advising sessions, and consistent experiences across phone, chat, and email.
Manufacturing & logistics
Order and delivery status updates, plant-to-warehouse coordination, vendor communication tracking, and intelligent call flows to reduce missed handoffs and downtime.
