Challenge
A multinational manufacturing company operating across more than 100 global locations – over half of which are international – needed to undertake a massive global network transformation. The goal: migrate to a next-generation SD-WAN solution that could support global connectivity, performance, and scalability.
The challenge was monumental. The project required provisioning and coordinating over 300 new circuits, managing nearly 200 disconnects, and maintaining critical uptime across multiple continents – all without disrupting daily business operations or missing project deadlines.
Managing that level of complexity internally wasn’t feasible. The company needed an experienced partner who could oversee every moving piece with precision and accountability.
Solution
The manufacturer partnered with Digital Direction to manage the end-to-end migration and ensure a seamless transition to SD-WAN.
Digital Direction was engaged to provide full project management for the initiative, which spanned:
- 105 global sites (45 across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; 60 international)
- 315 new circuit orders, including:
- Primary and secondary Dedicated Internet Access (DIA)
- LTE backup connections
- 195 disconnects, including 101 internet and 94 MPLS circuits
From the outset, Digital Direction began with a comprehensive telecom inventory baseline, a critical step often overlooked by providers. This allowed the team to verify every active service, prevent billing overlap, and reduce contract risk from day one.
Approach
Digital Direction orchestrated the migration into a streamlined, high-impact delivery process that emphasized accuracy, speed, and control. The team:
- Validated site readiness and delivery intervals for each location
- Acted as the single point of contact across all global carriers
- Managed installations and dispatches, escalating delays directly to carrier leadership
- Tracked milestones and held every vendor accountable to timelines
- Verified installations, disconnects, and first-bill reviews to ensure billing accuracy
Unlike carriers that stop at installation, Digital Direction provided complete lifecycle management – overseeing not just the new network setup but also the disconnection of legacy systems. This eliminated unnecessary costs and reduced lingering complexity, ensuring the client’s new SD-WAN environment operated cleanly and efficiently.
Results
Digital Direction delivered the entire global SD-WAN rollout on time and on budget without disrupting daily operations. The project involved coordinating dozens of providers worldwide, yet the client’s internal teams experienced no downtime and were able to stay fully focused on core business priorities.
From order management to installation, disconnection, and billing validation, Digital Direction handled every aspect of the rollout – delivering a seamless migration and complete operational continuity across more than 100 locations.
The Bottom Line
This wasn’t just a network migration – it was a global transformation.
Digital Direction’s proven experience managing large-scale, multinational telecom deployments ensured that every moving part worked together flawlessly. By combining disciplined project management, transparent communication, and executive-level carrier escalation, the team turned a high-risk global migration into a controlled, efficient success story.
With its SD-WAN migration complete, the manufacturer now operates on a streamlined, reliable, and cost-effective global network. The company continues to rely on Digital Direction for telecom lifecycle management and optimization, ensuring that as its global footprint grows, its connectivity scales accordingly.
