With all the cloud solutions available to the business world, it is easier for organizations to meet up with the demands of running seamless and effective business strategies that best suits today’s increasingly digitized economy. What this means is that it is impossible to avoid relying on the internet for even the simplest of tasks, thereby necessitating the availability of privacy and security systems like the VPN.
However, when it comes to choosing the best VPN for your organization, there is a truckload of things you need to factor into your decision-making process. In this article, we will take a look at 10 important factors to consider before choosing one of the many VPN providers available in the market.
Encryption protocol
Unlike private users who are more interested in the unlimited access to censored contents that VPN connections avail them, organizations adopt VPN because of the protection it offers. As such, the encryption features or the VPN protocol is of utmost importance when choosing one as it determines the level of privacy and protection you should expect from the VPN provider.
Bearing this in mind, it is imperative that organizations adopt VPN services that have premium and dependable encryption mechanisms that would enable leak-free encrypted connections to the internet.
Speed
In as much as we find the security features of VPNs very important, this should not in any way impede the operations of your organization. Unfortunately, this is true for many VPN services out there in the market as data encryption normally takes a toll on the connection speed.
As far as today’s demanding business terrain is concerned, slow connectivity is not ideal. This, therefore, mandates that organizations go for VPN services that value speed as much as they value security, such as NordVPN or ExpressVPN, which consistently pop up as some of the highest-rated VPNs when it comes to security and speed.
The availability of dedicated service plans for businesses
Needless to say, organizations have no business adopting a VPN provider that tailors all of their services for private users. For more seamless integration with a complex workspace, there are VPN services that offer a more accommodating service plan for organizations with features that allow the company’s IT department to manage all VPN-enabled connections.
With this, they can censor the contents accessible to their employees and partners. More importantly, business VPN services should include features like anti-malware and a centralized billing system that helps organizations with tracking payments.
The logging policies of the VPN provider
Data privacy was on a cataclysmic path right before the recent uproar that led to a global trend of the topic. For Europe-based organizations, it is imperative that they comply with GDPR regulations, which entails a stricter approach to data security. This includes the adoption of GDPR-compliant VPN providers that are not in any way logging the activities of their customers.
The location, as well as the logging policies of the VPN, play a major role in this as it determines their regulatory obligations. You should note that some governments require that VPN providers function as the custodians of their users’ data and they are legally bound to make these logs accessible to various government entities.
An organization that is serious about privacy should avoid VPN providers from these locations and choose those that comply with privacy laws similar to the ones that govern your business.
Data logging features
Business VPNs occasionally come with an optional data logging feature, which is particularly useful for companies that want to audit the activities of their employees on the internet. Some organizations are comfortable with VPN provider monitoring and logging this data on their behalf.
On the other hand, some prefer taking on these tasks themselves in order to avoid any issue with data leak. Therefore, it is important that you can access the required data logging features that conform to your organization’s data handling policies.
Versatility
Common sense dictates that business VPN services must have an adaptive capacity that would cater for future expansion of your workforce. A continuous need to tweak the terms and functionalities of a VPN service whenever you have new intakes would frustrate the company’s output.
In light of this, you should ask questions relating to expansion-related features that would make the process as seamless as possible before committing your funds to a VPN service.
Kill switch
As mentioned earlier, organizations are more focused on the protective features of a VPN as it shields data from unauthorized access from entities like the governments, ISPs and hackers. However, have you ever considered issues like VPN server failures and how it can affect the privacy-enabled connections that drive the operations of your business?
In most cases, devices or apps attempt to re-establish connection automatically, regardless of the availability of VPN-enabled security. As such, it is imperative that the VPN service you are considering has a kill switch that frustrates every attempt to reconnect to the internet when a VPN connection is not available.
Server
The availability of numerous servers in different parts of the world is one important factor that would likely sway private users and companies with a roving workforce. In contrast, most organizations are more concerned about the VPN server’s proximity to their head offices or data centers. The distance plays a pivotal role in the efficiency of the connections and helps reduce cases of network failure.
The VPN provider’s performance history
As it is with all other types of services, one of the simplest ways to assess the efficacy of a VPN service is to research on its past performances and other organizations it already has as clients. This paints a better picture of the provider’s capacity to do a good job.
Support
Although companies often have IT departments for network-related issues, it is imperative that the VPN provider has tech support and expert representatives that swiftly respond to queries and fix VPN errors promptly This is even more important when you consider the catastrophic impact a server downtime can have on your businesses, especially for those that rely heavily on cloud services.
Conclusion
The list is a vast one that combines efficiency, functionalities and consistency as the criteria you should consider when choosing a VPN service. Although your research should consider these factors, it is advisable, however, to pick a service that conforms with your business values.