MACD (Move, Add, Change, Delete) is a common acronym to describe routine network and connectivity changes. These are the updates that keep your business running, and they’re either handled internally or through an outside vendor. Most organizations end up somewhere in the middle, but it can be challenging to know what’s best to keep in-house and what’s most strategic to outsource.
For example, a retail chain opens a new store, and a circuit needs to be installed. Or, a regional office moves down the street, and every IP, port, and firewall rule tied to the old location has to move with it. If there’s a change to compliance requirements, it may result in rewriting the firewall policy across dozens of sites.
When is it time to bring in outside support? Here’s a closer look at MACD operations and how mid-market and enterprise companies think about outsourcing.
What MACD Operations Include
MACD covers a much wider range of work than the name suggests. Each category can range from a five-minute task to a multi-week project, depending on the scale and complexity.
Move
In most cases, “move” is a physical change. This refers to relocating a site’s connectivity, whether that’s a single office moving buildings or an entire region consolidating locations. This usually involves circuit transfers, IP re-addressing, and re-establishing every connection point that existed at the old address.
Add
“Add” refers to bringing something new online. It could be a new location, circuit, device, or a user segment on the network. Common examples include port activations, new circuit installs, and provisioning connectivity for a newly acquired site.
Change
“Change” refers to modifying something that already exists in the network. This is the broadest and most variable category, spanning everything from a minor IP address change to a full-scale firewall policy overhaul. Routing protocol updates, bandwidth upgrades, and carrier transitions also fall into this category.
Delete
Finally, decommissioning circuits, closing out old locations, or removing equipment and configurations that are no longer needed falls under “delete.” This is often overlooked but is just as important as the other three. Unused circuits and stale configurations are a common source of both security risk and wasted spending.
The point here is that there’s an incredible range of both technical difficulty and time required. A port activation and a firewall policy overhaul both technically qualify as “MACD,” but they’re different conversations when it comes to risk, timeline, or who should be doing the work.
In-House Changes vs. Vendor Support
Good candidates for in-house handling often include:
- Routine port activations or deactivations
- Minor IP address reassignments within existing infrastructure
- Small, well-documented firewall rule additions
- Standard user or device provisioning
- Tasks with a clear rollback plan and minimal blast radius if something goes wrong
These are the kinds of changes a capable internal team can execute quickly, with low risk, using knowledge they already have on hand.
Situations where vendor support usually pays off may include:
- Firewall policy overhauls or security posture changes affecting multiple sites
- Routing protocol updates that touch core network architecture
- Circuit installs, transfers, or decommissions that require carrier-side coordination
- Multi-carrier changes where different providers need to be sequenced correctly
- Any change with a tight maintenance window, high consequence of error, or compliance implications
- Billing disputes or contract negotiations tied to a MACD event
To be clear, most internal teams are perfectly capable of understanding what needs to happen from a technical standpoint. The barrier (or should we say time investment?) shows up when outside coordination is required.
The moment a change requires talking to a carrier, opening a ticket, tracking it to resolution, or juggling multiple providers with different processes and different timelines, the task stops being “an IT task” and starts being “a full-time job for however long it takes.” This is the part that drains internal teams and takes them off of other high-value tasks.
How SOLUSCare Helps
SOLUSCare removes the barriers that slow your internal team down. Here’s how we help:
Ticket handling, start to finish
When a MACD operation requires carrier involvement, SOLUSCare’s US-based Support Center opens, validates, and manages the trouble ticket through to resolution. Your team submits the request; we handle the back-and-forth.
Direct vendor communication
SOLUS maintains deep relationships across carriers, which means we can often bypass standard support queues and move changes along faster than an internal team going through normal channels.
A single source of truth
Every circuit, location, IP address, and contract detail lives in one centralized portal. When a MACD request comes in, there’s no time lost hunting down which carrier owns which circuit or when a contract term expires. The information is already there.
Proactive monitoring that catches issues early
With SOLUSCare+, changes are backed by real-time 24/7 monitoring, so if a MACD operation introduces an unexpected issue, it’s caught and addressed right away.
Lifecycle awareness built in
Because SOLUSCare tracks contract terms and renewal timelines proactively, MACD operations tied to circuit changes or carrier transitions happen on your terms. You’ll never be caught off guard by a contract auto-renewal.
Growth, change, and connectivity needs are a permanent part of running a multi-location business. But the burden of managing every vendor conversation, every ticket, and every contract detail doesn’t have to fall entirely on your internal team.
See how a single point of contact can simplify the way your organization handles network changes.
SOLUSCare is a connectivity lifecycle management solution that simplifies multi-carrier environments through centralized visibility, proactive monitoring, and dedicated carrier management. Learn more at solus.tech/soluscare.
