SBS Skill BuilderS is a family business founded in 1986. Every year, the company assists more than 15,000 people in or towards a job in Belgium. SBS Skill BuilderS supports both companies and individuals. The company has some 220 employees in more than 40 locations in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia.
Why did you choose the SD-WAN solution?
Carl Van Mol is Operations Manager at SBS Skill BuilderS and supervised the project.
"We noticed more and more IoT devices are coming into the picture. Think of smart thermostats and cameras for example, but also mobile devices of visitors or freelancers who come by with their own devices. In short, we needed to split our own network into several subnetworks. That turned out not to be possible with our existing MPLS network." explains Carl Van Mol, Operations Manager at SBS Skill BuilderS.
" We deployed our Teams network (Microsoft) around the same time. So we quickly noticed that we would potentially run into bandwidth problems if everyone was doing video calls simultaneously. Therefore, speed was also an additional reason why we started looking at the SD-WAN technology. Fortunately, we had done our analysis before the pandemic broke out, so the decision to ultimately go with SD-WAN certainly didn't hurt us."
How did the implementation of the solution go?
"The implementation went very well, if you think about the challenges inherent in such a project. Just think of the coordination between the various partners: Easi and the telecom operators. After all, you are dealing with a live network in 42 different locations that you can't just interrupt. On the one hand there is the hardware and the configuration that Easi provides, and on the other hand there are the telecom operators who also have to be attuned to each other. I must say that for me, this project is a good example of how different companies can work together and bring an important project like this to a successful conclusion," says Carl Van Mol.
What is the added value of SD-WAN?
Speed
"The main advantage of working with Easi is in the fact that we could work in a decentralized way. We now have the opportunity to decide for ourselves which services must go through the head office and which others may go directly to our partners (e.g. Microsoft). This gives us an enormous speed advantage. We can now also make perfect video connections. Everyone can communicate without a hitch. It works perfectly." says Carl Van Mol.
Security
"Not only do we now have our own firewall on every site today. We also have a dashboard that allows us to identify potential problems. Before, we always had to go through our telecom operator. Now we can identify them ourselves," says Carl Van Mol.
Stability
"Our connections have never been more stable. This is a huge advantage, especially for video conferences. They are never interrupted again. It's a very positive experience for everyone."
How is the relationship with Easi?
"For me, the collaboration with Easi can be summed up in three words: trust, quality and the desire to make every project a success," concludes Carl Van Mol.
