A Guide to Decide If Your Business Actually Needs A CDN

neuCentrIX - 10/01/2022 10:00

CDNs are gaining more and more popularity, and a lot of businesses have adopted one into their operations. The question is, should you use a CDN, too? In this article, we’ll provide you with a guide to help you make your decision.

 

Businesses That Could Benefit From A CDN

The first step to deciding if you should invest in a CDN is to know if you really need a CDN. As useful as CDNs may sound, not every company needs one. Below are some examples of businesses that could benefit from a CDN.

 

1. E-commerce platforms

For e-commerce platforms, user experience is key. Users should never encounter long waits or failed transactions in their journey of browsing, searching, comparing, and finally buying. A CDN is a way for you to provide a smooth and seamless user experience, even during times with heavy traffic.

 

2. Financial institutions

Security and reliability are essential for financial companies. A CDN helps you guarantee a fast, secure, and reliable method for your users to send and receive sensitive financial information.

 

3. Media platforms

For media platforms, content delivery is everything. Your website and app are usually content-heavy. Your content is constantly updated to ensure timely news delivery. What’s more, your traffic is usually high and may increase at times. A CDN helps you improve your site performance and page load time.

 

4. Government institutions

Many modern government institutions have large, content-heavy websites and mobile apps to deliver vital information and services to the citizens. A CDN helps you serve your users more quickly and efficiently.

 

5. Mobile apps

Mobile apps rely on speed and responsiveness. A CDN helps you accelerate your app load time and increase your app responsiveness.

 

6. Technology and SaaS

For technology companies and SaaS providers, performance is important. Millions of users rely on your services; billions of requests are made everyday. A CDN helps you keep your performance stable even when your traffic grows.

 

Questions to Ask Yourself When Considering A CDN

Checked the list above but still unsure? Then you should ask yourself these three questions before investing in a CDN.

 

Question 1: Why do I need a CDN?

 

Establish your problems and ask yourself the reason a CDN is the answer. There are four major reasons why you may need a CDN: your site is significantly growing, your traffic is constantly increasing, your audience is starting to expand to a worldwide crowd, and large files and static content (large images, scripts, CSS, etc.) are dragging your site down.

 

Question 2: Will a CDN work for my developers?

 

Assessing if CDN is right for your operations and development teams is essential. Speak with your technical team about how a CDN can support their job. Ask them if a CDN can actually solve their problems, if they can easily integrate it into its development workflow, and what features they’re looking for.

 

Question 3: How does a CDN look for my financial plan?

 

Each CDN provider charges you differently based on bandwidth, performance, security features, SSL certificates, the number of requests per page, etc. Ask yourself if you have the budget for a CDN and what kind of CDN will fit to your budget. Also make sure that a CDN is what you really need to gain more revenue.

 

Through this article, we hope to help you decide if your company should adopt a CDN. Make sure your decision is reasonable and guarantees the returns you expect.

 

CDNs are particularly beneficial for businesses that serve massive volumes of users in geographically distributed areas.