A leading global financial services provider with 95 branches and almost 2,500 employees faced a challenge many enterprises know too well: outdated network infrastructure slowing growth and efficiency. With thousands of personal, business, and commercial financial transactions flowing through its branches daily, the company needed a network built for speed, reliability, and scalability.

Instead, they were working with aging MPLS circuits struggling to keep up.

The Challenge: A Network Out of Sync with Business Growth

For a company of this scale, connectivity isn’t just an operational detail—it’s the foundation for serving customers across diverse financial services. Yet, their network was becoming a bottleneck:

  • Bandwidth limitations: Each branch depended on single or dual low-speed MPLS circuits with limited LTE backup. This setup restricted data flow, slowing cloud-based services and critical financial applications.
  • Vendor complexity: Managing hundreds of sites for primary and backup circuits meant juggling multiple support teams, SLAs, and billing structures—none of which worked together seamlessly.
  • Inflexible expansion: As the company grew into new markets, deploying new network infrastructure led to delays and service inconsistencies.
  • Security silos: Inconsistent edge infrastructure across branches created fragmented security policies, making it harder to monitor and manage threats effectively.

Simply put, their network wasn’t keeping up with modern business demands.

The Solution: Nitel’s Managed Network Services for Scalable Transformation

The financial services provider partnered with Nitel to streamline its network operations and gradually replace the fragmented, low-bandwidth infrastructure with a modern, fully managed SD-WAN solution. Recognizing the complexity of a network of this scale, Nitel focused on both the immediate improvements and long-term project management needed for a phased transformation.

What Nitel Delivered:

  • Carrier-Diverse SD-WAN: Nitel deployed secure, high-performance SD-WAN with diverse primary, secondary, and even tertiary circuits at some locations. This included direct access to select cloud-based apps and encrypted multi-path routing for uninterrupted service.
  • Strategic Project Management: Nitel coordinated the long-term migration strategy, balancing the continuation of existing services while transitioning branches as their contracts reached expiration. This ensured minimal disruption and consistent service levels throughout the deployment.
  • Massive Bandwidth Increase: Nitel expanded bandwidth significantly by replacing low-speed MPLS with high-capacity internet circuits.
  • Simplified Management: Real-time network visibility, proactive monitoring, and automated failover reduced IT’s daily operational workload while enhancing visibility across the network.
  • Centralized Billing and Support: While the goal of a single invoice across all services is ongoing due to the phased rollout, Nitel has simplified vendor management by consolidating as many billing points as possible and providing a unified support structure.

The Results: A Smarter, More Reliable Network—Built for the Long Term

The transformation delivered measurable improvements while maintaining the flexibility needed for a project of this scale:

  • Improved Performance: Real-time financial services, cloud-based applications, and data sharing ran faster and smoother, reducing transaction delays and improving customer experience.
  • 99.99% Uptime: Diverse connectivity paths and SD-WAN intelligence created a self-healing network with automated failover, ensuring near-perfect uptime across all branches.
  • Simplified Vendor Management: While a single bill remains a long-term goal, Nitel significantly reduced the complexity of managing multiple providers by serving as the primary point of contact for support and strategic coordination.
  • Strategic Expansion Management: New branches were connected faster and more consistently with Nitel’s dedicated project management, ensuring deployments were tightly managed across all stages of the network transition.

Why Nitel Was the Right Fit

Nitel delivered more than just a technical upgrade—it provided operational clarity and control in a complex, multi-phase network transformation:

  • A Single, Expert Partner: Nitel simplified the network as the primary resource for management, billing coordination, and vendor oversight throughout the transition.
    Proactive Project Management: With expertise in long-term network overhauls, Nitel balanced continuity with gradual improvements as contracts allow.
  • Visibility and Control: The company’s IT team gained a centralized dashboard for monitoring every circuit, bandwidth utilization, and support tickets—all in real-time.
  • 24/7 Expert Support: Nitel provided direct access to experienced network engineers for faster troubleshooting and ongoing optimization.
  • Future-Ready Infrastructure: The SD-WAN design allows for continued expansion, additional security layers, and service upgrades with minimal disruption.

Looking Ahead: A Stronger Foundation for Financial Innovation

By partnering with Nitel, this financial services leader turned a fragmented, outdated network into a smarter, future-ready infrastructure to support existing operations and long-term growth. The company can now focus on delivering secure, seamless financial services without network limitations holding back progress.

For businesses facing similar challenges—whether modernizing infrastructure or managing large-scale, multi-location networks—Nitel offers the expertise, tools, and project management to simplify complex deployments and deliver results.