Scale smarter, not harder: How network-as-a-service (NaaS) is transforming mid-market IT
Mid-market organizations often find themselves in a difficult position: they need to scale rapidly and digitally transform their businesses without huge financial, technological and human resources at their disposal. Mid-market companies also struggle to compete against larger organizations for AI talent, and their IT teams are usually lean.
Compounding the challenge, IT cannot easily predict how business changes will affect their networks, and these changes rarely take place steadily over time, but in short bursts of dramatic growth or contraction. This unpredictability makes traditional network infrastructure planning extremely difficult.
Environmental considerations are also driving strategic decisions. More than six out of 10 mid-market business managers said sustainability is at least as important as financial success, in a survey by accounting firm Grant Thorton[1], and 38% of CIOs in Colt Technologies’ 2024 Digital Infrastructure Report said environmental impact and governance will influence all their digital infrastructure choices.
“The network needs to be built around energy-efficient equipment and network routing, but there’s also an ongoing requirement for network data and insight to support that continued journey towards more sustainable operations,” says Jon Bezant, Director of Growth Markets EMEA at Colt.
To meet these ambitious IT goals with limited resources, mid-market businesses are increasingly turning to network-as-a-service (NaaS), a cloud-based model that enables organizations to rent network services on demand. NaaS moves away from traditional hardware-centric networking, as all networking functions are virtualized, and software- controlled – making them scalable and easily manageable through a single software-driven platform. In an October 2024 survey, 95% of IT and networking professionals said there’s a critical or very important need for NaaS and multi-cloud networking technologies, and 84% said they plan to invest in them at some rate in the coming year[2].
With NaaS, businesses can dynamically scale capacity according to the current requirements, so IT no longer has to over-provision the network to handle traffic spikes that may only occur a few times a year. Additionally, NaaS can deliver connections immediately where capacity is available, with self-service capabilities through a portal or API so businesses can build and manage bespoke networks end-to-end through a single platform.
As a result, the IT team can spend less time figuring out how to deliver enough bandwidth for each office for an all-hands meeting, and more time working to support key business priorities and growth. Just as important, NaaS provides transparent usage data for sustainability reporting and produces lower carbon emissions than a traditional network through optimized resource utilization.
“Installing and provisioning reserved bandwidth that never gets consumed isn’t a particularly sustainable model. By allowing organizations to use only as much network capacity as they need, NaaS helps to significantly cut down on these carbon emissions,” adds Bezant.
As mid-market enterprises continue to drive economic growth and innovation, their network infrastructure must evolve. NaaS provides the flexibility, efficiency, and sustainability these organizations need to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. For CIOs looking to support rapid business growth while meeting environmental objectives, NaaS represents not just a networking solution, but a strategic business enabler.
Ready to get started? Discover how Colt can help your organization implement NaaS here.
[1] Mid-market businesses eager to embrace sustainability but struggle to overcome barriers to progression | Grant Thornton
