Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean and miserly old man with no family and even fewer friends, is sitting in his office counting his bitcoins, when suddenly the network goes down. Again.
“Cratchit! The internet has crashed again. Go fix it!” He hollers.
Bob Cratchit, smiles benevolently and shakes his head. The silly old sod has no idea about technology; Scrooge thinks ‘hardware’ is only sold in an ironmongers and that ‘application’ is something to do with haemorrhoid cream.
“The internet hasn’t crashed, sir,” Bob explains. “It’s the old network that you refuse to update. Look, all your businesses are offline.”
“New network, bah humbug! There’ll be no Christmas break for you Cratchit until you get this lot back up and running. I’m losing money hand over fist!”
“Hmmm tight-fist.” Cratchit mutters.
Many long hours later, while poor old Bob was still toiling away trying to get the remote staff online, plug the security leaks, ease the network bottlenecks and crank up the back-up circuits, Scrooge ate a hearty meal, supped much Pinot Noir then wandered off to bed without a second thought for Bob. Conscience clear, he went to sleep almost immediately and began to dream. The dream quickly turned to a nightmare
Scrooge found himself pushing through a thick, writhing crowd in a dark, dank place, with noise all around him and coloured lights flashing from every direction. Suddenly, out of the crowd came a gurning man, covered in sweat and grinding his teeth, and dressed outlandishly in platform trainers, a T-shirt with a huge happy face on it and a bandana covering his head. Scrooge had been taken back to the 1990’s.
The man waved a glow-stick in Scrooge’s face then began to talk in rhyme.
“I am the Ghost of Networks Past.
You daren’t have me if you want things fast.
MPLS was once all the rage,
but ‘tis a technology of last century’s age.
You’ll need to SD-WAN if you want to compete,
‘tis much better for your balance sheet!”
“No!” Wailed Scrooge. “I don’t want to spend any money on this new-fangled technology. We’ll just have to muddle through…. Muddle through….. Muddle through….”
Scrooge awoke with a start, still muttering his miser’s mantra. He wiped the sweat from his brow, not sure if it was his own or the strange, raving man with the wide eyes. Exhausted by his experience and glad to find himself safe at home, he nodded off again. Immediately, he found himself transported once more, this time to the streets of London Town. Big Ben chimed nine am, but strangely the streets were deserted.
“Where are all the workers?” Scrooge mused aloud.
“Working from home, because of the pandemic,” said a ghostly voice behind him. “Look!”
All at once Scrooge could see inside some of the missing workers’ homes. There, in front of him played out many a happy scene, scenes that were taking place in every household across the land. A father, tapping away at a computer, working hard, his partner doing the same at the kitchen table whilst their seven teenage daughters, each glued an iPad, were chatting with friends on social media. Elsewhere, a mother made video calls whilst her teenage son gamed online from a stinking bedroom with five of his mates and her elderly mother gambled away her pension on online bingo and watched a week’s worth of Coronation Street and The Chase on catch-up.
“How are they all using the internet at once? I didn’t see any buffering anywhere.” Gasped Scrooge in amazement, turning to the second ghost of the night.
“I am the Ghost of Networks Present.
SD-WAN makes life more pleasant.
It’s fast, it’s secure and it is clever,
On the market you’ll find nothing better.”
The ghost said, then added. “With SD-WAN there is no buffer, so get it soon you stupid old duffer!”
“But the cost, the downtime, I’ve been in a network contract for decades!” Whined Scrooge.
“It could save you money as well as time and will overlay on your current network absolutely fine!” The ghost replied. Then, fed-up with spontaneously rhyming to allay Scrooge’s fears she transported him back to his room, muttering something about taking horses to water.
Scrooge lay exhausted in his bed, trying to stay awake lest some ghoul came to take him on another ghostly trek, but unable to keep his eyes open he fell into a deep sleep. He awoke minutes later to the sound of metal on metal, the rattle of chains, but already he wasn’t in his bed, but a cold and foggy graveyard. Beside him, pulling anxiously at the chains that bound his hands and feet, was his old business mentor from his youth – Jacob Marley.
“Another ghost,” sighed Scrooge, for Marley had been dead more than four and twenty years.
“I am the Ghost of Networks Soon To Be.
The latest, most secure technology.
T’will keep your bitcoins safe, you’ll see.
Procure SD-WAN and add some SaSe.”
Scrooge was about to lament at yet another terrible rhyme, when something stopped him – the mention of saving his bitcoins from hackers had finally got the old goat’s attention.
Encouraged by his audience, Marley continued.
“Look at this grave, ‘tis is your company’s demise,
Not keeping up to date is how a business dies.
Of the benefits of SD-WAN and SaSe I hereby apprise.
‘Tis the solution of the future, and of the wise.”
Old Scrooge finally got the point. Upon waking once more in his bed he rushed back to the office and immediately sent Bob Cratchit home to his family with a bumper box of Quality Street under his arm, promises of digital transformation, fast downloads and visibility across the entire network from one central point tailed after him in the frigid Christmas air.
The moral, dear reader, of this adapted tale,
Is that living in the past will set you to fail.
Embrace technology and all it offers,
Then sit back and watch your growing coffers.
But on a serious note please do take heed,
For there’s a very important warning indeed,
Choose your technology partners with utmost care,
Lest your digital transformation become a nightmare.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL
IF YOU NEED SD-WAN OR SASE YOU KNOW WHO TO CALL!!
Kelly Rogers
CMO, SDWAN Solutions
Kelly, heads up SDWAN Solutions Group Marketing and Social department and is a multi-award winning marketing, communications and innovation expert with over 20 years experience.
She has worked on projects for five global technology giants, four of the big six supermarkets, three of the UK’s leading retailers, the world’s largest licensed brand and one of the big three publishers, as well as many corporations, public sector agencies, government departments, charities and NFPs globally.
To date Kelly has scooped over 19 awards for her work and two of her campaigns have gone through UK Parliament as white papers.