This is is a test for red alert, with close icon. Should show only on one page.

Close

The network solutions key to building a composable business

Infrastructure can help businesses get the choice and flexibility to meet their needs by including networks in a composable approach to technology. 

Amongst many things, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of being able to be agile when responding to a rapidly changing market. One of the ways businesses can achieve this is via ‘composability’.

Coined by research group Gartner1, the term ‘composability’ speaks to the creation of modules that address a specific business need or capability. Like Lego bricks, these modules can then be combined and re-used to more rapidly develop solutions over time. Once modules have been created, business leaders can also orchestrate them into different solutions and create new modules as required.

Originally developed in IT industry, the concept of composability is now being applied across business operations to cover strategy, applications, technology infrastructure and even the structure of the teams in the business itself. Gartner’s model rests on four key principles:

1. Speed through discovery

2. Agility from modularity

3. Leadership through orchestration 

4. Resilience through autonomy

With composable business architecture, businesses can actively discover changes that need to happen. Autonomous teams are then built around delivering customer-centric solutions. The teams are assembled based on skills and experience, rather than the division of the company they work in. People from all parts of the business combine knowledge to design the components of future solutions. 

In applications and infrastructure, composability can often mean combining solutions from different sources and suppliers. For example, a payment service from a bank can be combined with CRM from another service provider, a cloud-based database and a consumer facing application to bring about a product that combines elements of all these components to market. 

Australia is lagging on composability

According to Gartner’s 2022 CIO Survey2, while executives in Australia and New Zealand are aware of composable business principles, adoption across the two countries is lagging behind global peers. It appears only 4% of Australian businesses have a high level of composability across their businesses, compared to 6% of organisations globally. As quoted in the report, “ANZ has fewer high-composability enterprises and more low-composability enterprises than is the global norm”. In contrast, global leader Taiwan has 23% of businesses with a high level of composability, while 18% of Indian businesses have a high level of composability

Software-defined networking – an enabler for composability

Following the introduction of software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) architecture, composability is now a concept that can be used in delivering solutions. 

According to a 2020 study by GlobalData3, 60% of Australian businesses with more than 200 employees had already installed SD-WAN solutions. 

SD-WAN makes configuration simpler and faster4 by using centralised management allowing organisations to easily mix and match different technologies and suppliers to meet their needs, and therefore allows an operating model based on composability

For example, a business that has offices or operations in many locations may choose different network service providers across those locations to ensure that performance is the same right across the business. 

A business may also choose to source services from more than one provider to ensure service redundancy if one of the providers has an outage. Similarly, it may use a different technology, such as business nbn® Satellite Service, to give it additional options for disaster recovery. 

Leveraging business nbn for SD-WAN

Discover how business nbn can help businesses improve their agility and accessibility with an SD-WAN solution.

Meeting businesses evolving needs

Business nbn solutions offer businesses an array of choice in the way they connect.^ Made to meet evolving needs, it allows businesses to select from a variety of flexible plans, which include wholesale options such as symmetrical upload and download speeds, priority data, and business-grade 24x7 service support to providers^. What’s more, business nbn solutions are available through a wide choice of providers in more than 12 million locations around the country. This helps enable organisations to mix and combine different providers and technologies to meet their own unique needs. 

The wholesale nature of business nbn services makes it easier for businesses to adjust services and providers should their needs change in the future. The options for high speeds, premium support and symmetrical data available through business nbn solutions can also help enable the cloud-based applications and services that sit at the heart of modern composable applications and architecture.  

Managing complexity

While SD-WAN can simplify the management of network infrastructure, the introduction of multiple suppliers and technologies across different locations can make procurement and integration more complex. 

Expert service provider partners can assist organisations in managing these issues more effectively, helping them design and manage networking solutions that deliver the capability they need. 

business nbn service providers and accredited advisers can help businesses get the most out of their infrastructure.+ Working with businesses to understand their business requirements, they can assist in developing upgrade plans aimed at reducing the risk of business disruption and help determine which business nbn wholesale solutions are best suited to the requirements of individual businesses.

Find support for your business

Embrace new technology to deliver real business outcomes with the support of a business nbn accredited adviser.

Sources

  1. https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-keynote-the-future-of-business-is-composable
  2. https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/insights/cio-agenda/2022-cio-agenda-an-australia-and-new-zealand-perspective
  3. https://www.globaldata.com/sd-wan-gaining-momentum-in-australia-but-enterprises-need-long-term-network-strategy-says-globaldata/
  4. https://www.nbnco.com.au/business/articles/unlock-your-tech-infrastructure.com

^ business nbn is not available on the nbn Fixed Wireless network. Not all providers offer plans based on the full range of wholesale business nbn products, product features and services. Availability of wholesale business nbn products, product features and services depends on an end customer’s access technology and area. Ask your preferred provider if they offer plans based on these wholesale business nbn products, product features and services in your area.

+ business nbn accredited advisers have undertaken a short course on the nbn network. nbn does not sponsor, endorse or guarantee any advice given or representations made (including any recommendations to purchase goods and services or purchase telecommunication services over the nbn network from a phone or internet service provider) and does not guarantee the accuracy of that advice or representation.