Pros and Cons of Zero Touch Provisioning
Zero touch provisioning is an effective method that businesses can take advantage of to configure devices automatically. Configuring devices is often a complex task that can require significant troubleshooting, but zero touch provisioning can provide a much more straightforward process.
It’s particularly useful in large companies with many devices, as the time saved is compounded for every device. Where significant manual configuration would be required, the implementation of zero touch provisioning can provide a much more efficient solution.
Which Parts of Your Network Can Implement Zero Touch Provisioning?
Zero touch provisioning is a feature implemented on the network devices your business relies on every day. You’ll find it used in components like:
- Network switches
- Wireless access points
- Routers
- Firewalls
By implementing more automation into how your network operates, you’ll have less to worry about and see fewer issues arising in the future.
This automation isn’t only useful for the initial configuration but can automate steps like patching, fixes, and the deployment of system updates. Depending on the specific components that make up your network, automating these tasks can save significant time and other resources.
The Pros of Zero Touch Provisioning
Zero touch provisioning brings many advantages when implemented correctly. The benefits that your business could enjoy with zero touch provisioning include:
Automated Network Device Set-Up
By streamlining the process for adding new network devices, you’ll be cutting out excess work and avoiding human error with each new piece of equipment you add.
More Efficient IT Resource Use
You don’t want to bother your IT team or support service with unnecessary tasks. Zero touch provisioning can significantly reduce workload, and let teams focus on more important work.
Faster Equipment Deployment
When you’re adding new equipment or replacing existing equipment, you don’t want to let it sit idle during a lengthy setup. With zero touch provisioning, you get your new equipment working sooner.
Cost Savings
The time savings that you get from zero touch provisioning translate directly to cost savings. These savings can be significant for any issues where you would have had to bring in an outside expert.
Automated Updates
Regular updates for your equipment are essential to the efficiency, security, and operation of your network. Automating the update process makes sure that updates are implanted properly and in a timely manner.
Reduced Chance of Human Error
Many network issues arise due to human error. Zero touch provisioning eliminates many repetitive manual tasks where small errors could have serious consequences for your network.
Zero touch provisioning is a solution that can serve your business in many different ways. However, there are some potential issues that you might have to deal with as well.
The Cons of Zero Touch Provisioning
No solution is completely perfect. While zero touch provisioning can do great things, it also brings its own challenges to the table. When implementing zero touch provisioning, you should be aware of the potential cons.
Misconfiguration
Zero touch provisioning can help you avoid many misconfiguration errors by carrying out the configuration correctly once and allowing for automation from there out. However, this presents the opportunity to misconfigure the zero touch provisioning setup, and have the error propagate through all future configurations.
That’s why zero touch provisioning requires significant debugging before it can be effectively deployed. The extra caution at the outset is well worth avoiding the issues that can come with errors propagating throughout the network for the foreseeable future.
Security
Your company’s network needs to remain secure, and so the biggest question when implementing anything new has to do with security. With zero touch provisioning, you’re removing a human element from the network that could have provided the intuition and oversight needed to identify security issues.
This change must be kept in mind when deciding where to implement zero touch provisioning. These devices will still have full access to your network, but might not have the same security safeguards that other components have.
What About One Touch Provisioning?
In some applications, businesses choose to implement one touch provisioning instead. This approach can provide many of the benefits of zero touch provisioning while mitigating some of the disadvantages.
Basically, one touch provisioning means that there is still one manual implementation step in the process. This inclusion adds manual work to the process, but provides manual oversight. Many businesses believe that this is an acceptable trade-off between efficiency and security.
Cloud Services from Awnix
Zero touch provisioning is one area where many organizations might be in over their heads. Awnix can help you make the decision that’s best for your company, and carry out the effective implementation of zero touch provisioning in your cloud systems. Just contact Awnix today to find out more.
