Across industries, scalable networks have become essential to business growth. But without proper planning, the scaling process can feel like patching a leaky pipe—constantly reacting to problems instead of building for the future. Missteps such as neglecting foundational security, mismanaging hardware or underutilizing data can lead to higher costs, performance issues and reduced adaptability as technology and workplace needs evolve.
Below, members of Forbes Technology Council share practical advice for effectively building and scaling networks. From adopting modern architectures to prioritizing software efficiency to integrating visibility and security from the start, their insights offer a roadmap for creating networks that are robust, agile and ready for what’s next.
“One common mistake is neglecting identity and access governance as networks grow. Without clear visibility into who has access to what, privilege sprawl and legacy permissions slow scalability. Instead, companies should use technologies like digital twins and knowledge graphs to map access relationships and streamline control as the network evolves.” – Craig Davies, Gathid
1. Leverage Open-Source Tools With Care
A common mistake is adopting open-source networking tools without assessing their scalability. While initially cost-effective, these tools can lead to increased complexity, performance limitations and maintenance issues at scale. Instead, benchmark tools, plan for growth, invest in expertise and consider hybrid solutions to ensure reliable scaling. – Meenakshi Panda, Capital One
2. Build A Firm Foundation From The Beginning
In the beginning, many companies try to “do more with less.” It’s a great way to start out, but when you try scaling up, that’s when the Band-Aids come out. Soon, you end up with something that needs a complete overhaul. – Ed Gibbs, WhoisXML API
3. Avoid Jury-Rigging Hardware Setups
Too often, I go to a potential client site, look in the closet and see spaghetti running in front of and on top of switches. The switching gear is very old, and the office space has five-port switches instead of running cable. For a small company, this is manageable, but when a company has 80 or more employees, this is an expensive and time-consuming cleanup that could have been avoided if the setup had been done correctly at the start. – Robert Giannini, GiaSpace Inc.
4. Focus On Security, Not Just Speed
Companies often neglect security and risk considerations when scaling networks, prioritizing speed over security. This creates vulnerabilities like misconfigurations and expanded attack surfaces. Instead, integrate security by design and continuous risk assessments into network scaling plans, using tools like automated monitoring and zero-trust architectures to ensure scalable, yet secure, networks. – Priya Mohan, KPMG
5. Centrally Locate And Standardize Hardware
We design and build many networks. The biggest mistake we run across is companies prioritizing short-term cost savings by using unmanaged hardware, mixing products from different manufacturers and deploying a lot of hardware remotely, in the field, instead of centrally locating all hardware. This creates unnecessary complexity and outages. – Hamed Mazrouei, Milagro
6. Maintain Visibility Into All Data In Motion
A common mistake many organizations make when scaling networks is failing to maintain robust security and complete visibility across on-premises, public cloud, private cloud and virtual containers. Visibility into all data in motion must be foundational to your IT strategy, not added as an afterthought, so that as the network scales, so does your security. – Shane Buckley, Gigamon
7. Prioritize Simplicity Early On
A common mistake is designing your network like you’re Google on day one. Teams build elaborate topologies, nested firewalls and handcrafted configurations. It feels robust—until nobody can explain how it works. Most companies should start with a flat, secure, identity-based network and scale complexity only when needed. – Avery Pennarun, Tailscale
8. Ensure You Understand The Underlying Details Before Expanding
You must understand how to manage the larger network. Before expanding internal or branch connectivity, first assess how to manage and maintain the software-defined wide area network, as well as the switch and router equipment that ties it together. Enterprise IT teams can work with proven managed service providers to scale their networks, allowing them to focus limited resources on business-critical applications and technologies. – Glenn Katz, Telesat
9. Consider Software Efficiency Alongside Hardware Upgrades
A common mistake in scaling networks is relying too much on hardware upgrades while ignoring architectural efficiency. Companies often add more servers, bandwidth or devices to fix bottlenecks, which increases costs without proportional benefits. Focusing on software efficiency can enable you to manage growth without escalating expenses. – Vaibhav Dani, Map Communications
10. Think Global
A common mistake is thinking local when the need is global. Legacy approaches like backhauling traffic to VPNs introduce bottlenecks and single points of failure. Instead, a modern secure access service edge (or SASE) architecture offers a globally distributed low-latency network with uniform security protection—the ultimate convergence of networking and security. – Mike Lefebvre, SEI
11. Design For Agility And Flexibility
In this world of highly distributed employees and systems, we need networks to be designed for agility and flexibility. Workloads will move and characteristics will change. If your network isn’t agile, it will constrain your business. In addition, given all this, we need to make sure that security is part of network design, as performance will be constrained if security is tacked on. – Richard Ricks, Silver Tree Consulting and Services
12. Choose Modern Architectures To Enhance Security And Resilience
Designing a network solely for functionality and considering security later is fundamentally flawed. This approach results in inherent vulnerabilities and a massive attack surface that is nearly impossible—and cost-prohibitive—to secure retroactively. Build security and resilience from the outset by leveraging architectures like SASE and zero trust. – Neil Lampton, TIAG
13. Align Capacity To Actual Demand
One common mistake is overbuilding networks up front instead of aligning capacity to actual demand, which leads to wasted resources and complexity. Instead, companies should adopt scalable, modular architectures, like software-defined networking, that allow incremental expansion based on real usage and future needs. – Tannu Jiwnani, Microsoft
14. Embrace Variability Through Elastic Networks
A frequent folly is architecting networks solely for peak loads, mistaking static ceilings for dynamic horizons. This myopic design crumbles under today’s dynamic combination of multicloud, the Internet of Things and edge AI. True scalability demands embracing variability through elastic, intent-driven networks and microsegmentation, lest agility be stifled by costly, cumbersome retrofits. – Nitesh Sinha, Sacumen
15. Recognize That Your Network Will Need To Change
One common mistake companies make is thinking their networks won’t need to change. But as the need for speed and new technology grow, this causes big problems. Instead, networks should be built so they’re easy to upgrade later by using cables and hardware that can be added or replaced without starting from scratch. Planning ahead saves time and money and helps you avoid major disruptions down the road. – Vikas Mendhe, LaunchIT Corp.
16. Integrate Real-Time Observability, Automated Documentation And Telemetry
A common issue is neglecting observability and documentation as networks expand, which complicates troubleshooting. To address this, it is essential to integrate real-time observability, automated documentation and telemetry from the start. Tools like distributed tracing and network visualization will help maintain clarity during scaling. – Cristian Randieri, Intellisystem Technologies
17. Keep Tabs On Who Has Access To What
One common mistake is neglecting identity and access governance as networks grow. Without clear visibility into who has access to what, privilege sprawl and legacy permissions slow scalability. Instead, companies should use technologies like digital twins and knowledge graphs to map access relationships and streamline control as the network evolves. – Craig Davies, Gathid
18. Design A Network That Learns And Evolves
One common mistake I have seen is treating network scaling as purely a hardware or bandwidth problem. Companies often overlook the need for adaptive architecture and intelligent routing. Instead, they should design networks that learn from usage patterns and evolve with application demands to stay resilient and future-ready. – Gopinath Kathiresan, Apple Inc.
19. Let Go Of Manual Processes
A common mistake is relying on manual network operations processes that can’t keep up with today’s complex networks. These processes were developed 20 years ago, long before the cloud, virtualization or software as a service. Trying to use them on modern networks—which are exponentially more complex—limits scalability and increases risk. Companies must adopt automation to scale networks efficiently. – Song Pang, NetBrain Technologies
20. Align Network Design With Strategic Objectives
It’s a big mistake for a business to fail to align its network with its strategic objectives—for example, targeted growth, changes in operating models or market drivers. Technology strategy and decisions must be aligned to organizational strategies to account for macro drivers and risks (geopolitical unrest, evolving regulations, tariffs, quantum computing, AI and so on). – Gladwin Mendez, GEC Prudentia
