If there’s one thing that is just about impossible to mask in the cable television industry, it’s a poorly functioning back-end network. After all, a smooth customer experience starts and ends with a fast, optimized data center that is capable of consistently operating at a high level, with little to no errors.

If you are running your business on outdated legacy network infrastructure, you’re bound to run into the following performance issues:

Availability: Legacy networks need constant maintenance, which can place a heavy burden on your IT team. Your IT team shouldn’t have to work nights and weekends just to maintain system availability.

Reliability: One of the downsides of keeping your network in-house is that, if your facility experiences a disaster in any way—from inclement weather to power outages—your network and all of your subscribers could be affected. A network needs to be fail-proof to be considered reliable.

Costs: Keeping your network in-house requires constant system upgrades to ensure operational efficiency. Furthermore, when a router or switch malfunctions, your company has to pay for replacement hardware.

As these points demonstrate, legacy network infrastructure is expensive and difficult to maintain. So, instead of putting your business at the mercy of your legacy network, consider investing in a cloud-based billing system. Instead of having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on network equipment, the only thing you will need is an Internet connection to reach your customers.

Are you ready to streamline your business’s network? Great Lakes Data Systems (GLDS) offers access to two premium services: the Digital Services Bureau for hosted digital authorization, and WinCable in the Cloud for subscriber management purposes. To learn more about how GLDS can help improve your network, click here.