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Connected networks = contented customers: 6 top network monitoring benefits



It's a typical day at work, and you're at your productive best. Just as you think you'll complete your task before the deadline, the network goes down. Sound familiar?

Outages happen in most workplaces, including Facebook and Google (https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/01/27/whats-causing-all-these-network-outages-and-what-can-cios-do-to-prevent-them/?sh=7e3c02d07e7b).  However, at the other end are waiting customers who have items in their shopping cart, but are unable to complete transactions; potential prospects who want to try out a demo of your app, but now have doubts; and long-time loyal patrons who find the all-too-frequent interruptions frustrating. 

The clock starts ticking once an outage hits, and network admins have to stay razor-sharp to bring the network up before the impact goes out of hand. Security ramifications could also harm the organization's reputation and, subsequently, its revenue.

The all-too-important question here is: Is there a solution? Instead of reacting to an issue and trying to fix it, what if we drilled down to the root cause and tried to prevent network outages from happening? What if we were alerted immediately about a potential outage so we could stop the problem from snowballing into something bigger? What if network admins had a tool to rely on that could save them time and energy?
 
The answer to all these lies in network monitoring—a magic pill that ensures you remain aware of what happens in your network. Let's dive deep to understand what it is and learn about the benefits of monitoring a network.

What is network monitoring?

Networks are rapidly transforming. What was a simple connection between two desktop computers has now evolved into a labyrinth of devices, connections, and technologies. The more it grows, the more critical it is to keep track of what is happening within the network to ensure integrity and availability. But how can you manage a network that seems almost alive as it becomes convoluted with changing connections and grows new limbs as devices are added? 

Here's where network monitoring comes in. It is the process of discovering network devices, tracking the device parameters, and identifying trouble before it turns into a full-fledged outage. A network monitoring tool automates the more difficult and time-consuming aspects of network monitoring, like identifying new devices or detecting device downtime. This helps network administrators view all the devices on a single dashboard (or a network map ) and easily identify which part of the network requires their attention irrespective of the size or complexity of the networks. 

Most devices use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) for communication. Network monitoring tools leverage SNMP as it collects, organizes, and sends data from various devices to a network monitoring tool, like Site24x7, assisting with fault identification and isolation. 

From visibility to analysis: How network monitoring helps

An efficient network monitoring tool gives you a competitive edge as you can provide an unparalleled customer experience without any network-related interruptions, and your employee productivity remains high. 

Organizations opt for network monitoring tools for a lot more reasons. Here are a few of them: 
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  1. Visibility is the key

    With greater visibility into their networks through dashboards and network maps, organizations can pinpoint issues, track trends, and take proactive steps to improve network health. They can make informed decisions about network optimization or even device purchases, thereby saving a lot of time and money. 

  2. Instantly detect new devices

    A network monitoring tool can detect devices as and when they are added and provide detailed information about them. It helps network administrators ensure the devices are correctly configured and identify rogue devices, if any. 

  3. Spot network anomalies immediately and identify threats

    Network Monitoring tools can detect a range of unusual activities or threats through SNMP traps , which includes unusual traffic patterns, usage spikes, unauthorized accesses, and even malware. This helps network administrators mitigate security threats. 

  4. Prevent outages and minimize disruptions

    Network administrators can take immediate action as network monitoring tools track network health in real-time. IT teams can identify bandwidth constraints, bottlenecks, and even bandwidth hogs by monitoring traffic. Additionally, by monitoring configuration changes, they receive alerts when there's an unauthorized or unexpected change and revert it before that change harms the network. 

  5. Fix issues quickly with network maps

    By providing an at-a-glance view of the network topology, network maps enable IT teams to understand devices, connections, and inter-dependencies clearly. A red dot on a map indicates where the admin has to focus their energy to ensure the network connectivity does not get affected. Rather easy than having to sift through a list of network devices and check if it's running, isn't it? 

  6. Alerts and reports

    When a device fails or if the latency exceeds thresholds, chances are the IT team might miss the tiny blip if they do not receive an alert. Additionally, they also need reports that help the management track the performance and trends. A modern monitoring tool provides all these; it can send alerts through any channel and generate reports to provide visibility into network performance. 

Network Monitoring with Site24x7

"Your network is your net worth" - Porter Gale

Though the quote is about human connections, it also holds true for your organizational network consisting of hardware devices. Once you tune your networks to be streamlined and efficient, the more productive and customer-friendly your organization becomes. A state-of-the-art network monitoring tool like Site24x7 accomplishes this effectively and efficiently.

Site24x7 provides network performance and availability monitoring, network traffic monitoring (NetFlow), network configuration management (NCM), and Cisco Meraki monitoring in its network monitoring module. It also provides several intuitive features—like automatic device discovery and classification using SNMP, performance insights at the device and interface level, integrations with ITSM and collaboration tools—that help make your networks from being overloaded to optimized. 

Site24x7 has earned more than 15 years of customer trust and garnered multiple awards. What's more, there are several more features like WAN monitoring, and Storage monitoring, in the feature pipeline. These will further enhance this solution, already one of the most comprehensive network monitoring tools in the industry. 

Effective connected network monitoring ensures you'll have contented customers who will remain loyal. To explore the array of Site24x7 capabilities, download a free, 30-day trial version . Or, schedule a free, personalized demo to learn tips and get your product questions answered.

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