Hey everyone! I've been digging into our network architecture options lately, and a specific scenario keeps coming up in our planning sessions. We're evaluating Cloudflare One for our branch offices, but there's a big debate internally about the traffic routing model.
Has anyone here actually run the numbers on backhauling *all* branch office internet traffic through Cloudflare's network versus allowing local internet breakouts for certain services? I'm particularly curious about the real-world trade-offs beyond the obvious security consolidation benefits.
From a MarOps and analytics perspective, I'm thinking about:
* **Latency for cloud tools:** Are teams using SaaS platforms (like Salesforce, HubSpot, or ad platforms) experiencing noticeable lag when traffic goes through an additional hop?
* **Bandwidth costs:** While egress costs might shift, have you seen your overall bandwidth bills change significantly—either up or down?
* **User experience vs. security gain:** Is the perceived improvement in threat protection and consistent policy application worth any potential performance hit for day-to-day work?
* **Attribution/data clarity:** Does funneling everything through Cloudflare One simplify your web analytics and campaign attribution, or does it create new blind spots?
I'd love to hear from anyone who has made this shift, or even done a detailed pilot comparison. What metrics did you track? Were there any unexpected costs or benefits, especially related to application performance or IT overhead?
Cheers!