When your business network’s connectivity slows or critical systems go offline, you lose access to the applications, data, and services that your workforce needs to…well, work. Network monitoring gives you the ability to see these problems coming and stop them before they disrupt your operations. Better yet, you can outsource these services to an expert provider to get valuable network visibility and performance data without having to hire more IT personnel.
How does network monitoring work?
Network monitoring uses specialized software to continuously collect information about your network components, connections, servers, and other technology infrastructure. The monitoring system and the specialists managing it look for unusual activity, performance problems, bottlenecks, and other conditions that could evolve into issues that affect your operations.
Typically, monitoring software will track:
- Bandwidth usage
- Network traffic
- Device availability
- Latency
- Network errors
- Suspicious activity
- Security incidents
When something falls outside an expected range, the system generates an alert. Your IT team can then investigate the problem and take action before it affects more users.
This gives you visibility across your entire infrastructure that would be unfeasible to achieve through constant manual checks. Instead of reacting to slowdowns and outages, you can identify warning signs as these problems develop and proactively solve them.
The major problems that affect your operations are poor network performance and cybersecurity incidents, so monitoring systems have tools in place to address both.
Why network monitoring matters
Network performance monitoring helps you understand how your network is being used and where bottlenecks are developing. Good performance management helps you identify overloaded connections, failing hardware, excessive bandwidth utilization, and other issues that can slow your employees down.
This reduces your risk of catastrophic service outages, but it also ensures your IT team spends less time with vague complaints such as “the network is slow.” The result is better overall productivity thanks to smoother systems and fewer disruptions.
As an added bonus, performance metrics collected over time informs your technology planning, so you can know exactly how much more capacity you need instead of just guessing.
How network security monitoring tools lower your risk
Network security monitoring is a key component of any modern cybersecurity strategy. By watching network traffic and device behavior, threat detection tools can help identify unusual activity that may indicate an attack or compromised system.
A sudden increase in outbound traffic, an unexpected connection to a suspicious destination, or unusual activity from a network device are signs of an imminent attack. Monitoring tools will flag these incidents to give your security teams an opportunity to investigate and contain a potential security threat before it spreads.
What are network monitoring services?
Network monitoring services are outsourced monitoring and management provided by a managed services provider (MSP). Instead of adding more work or hiring more people to your internal IT team to watch network activity, you have network administrators monitoring your infrastructure and responding to the alerts.
Depending on the provider and your SLA, network services may include:
- 24/7 monitoring of network devices and infrastructure
- Performance and availability monitoring
- Bandwidth and traffic analysis
- Automated alerts
- Security event monitoring
- Troubleshooting and incident response
- Network health reports and performance insights
- Proactive maintenance and recommendations
Your provider sources and implements the monitoring tools, but the real value they bring is the human support behind them. Automated tools can identify and report problems, but it takes experienced IT professionals to effectively investigate alerts, determine their significance, and take appropriate action.
How network monitoring solutions prevent downtime and improve your productivity
Simply installing enterprise network monitoring tools and leaving them in the hands of your IT team will be beneficial. However, outsourcing network operations to experts maximizes your benefits and return on investment (ROI).
Better network visibility
Assigning existing IT personnel with limited experience to manage your network monitoring software splits their attention, so alerts or issues can slip through the net.
With network monitoring services, you not only get the best tools on the market, but you also get trained specialists to manage these monitoring tools and configure them to your unique needs. This gives you unprecedented, real-time visibility into all your network resources to ensure that no potential problem is missed.
More focused IT teams
Outsourcing can also reduce pressure on your internal IT staff. Instead of having your employees constantly check dashboards or respond to routine alerts, your MSP handles much of the monitoring workload. Your team can then devote more time to strategic projects, technology improvements, and business initiatives.
24/7/365 monitoring
Many MSPs offer around-the-clock monitoring, which is particularly useful when your network must be available and work efficiently at all times, even outside traditional business hours. So even when you’re off the clock or on vacation, a watchful eye is on your entire network infrastructure to ensure you don’t have a crisis on your hands when you get back to the office.
Lower, more predictable costs
On the macro scale, network monitoring services lower your IT expenses by keeping productivity high and preventing costly cybersecurity incidents.
At a more granular level, these services reduce the cost of network monitoring over time. Partnering with an MSP for these services means that you get the best tools and people for a flat, predictable price. Instead of hiring, training, and paying for new IT staff to manage monitoring tools (that you must pay separately for), you can pay one simple, predictable price.
Furthermore, your monthly subscription fee to an MSP usually covers a wide range of other valuable services that similarly boost your productivity and security.
Which businesses benefit most from network monitoring systems?
Network monitoring can benefit almost any organization, but the ROI tends to be greater as your IT environment becomes larger and more complex. As you add more routers, switches, servers, and endpoints, keeping tabs on system performance by hand quickly becomes impossible.
You may benefit particularly from outsourced network monitoring if you:
- Operate multiple offices or locations
- Have a large remote or hybrid workforce
- Depend heavily on cloud applications and internet connectivity
- Run business-critical applications around the clock
- Have limited internal IT or cybersecurity staffing
- Experience frequent network issues or outages
- Need stronger visibility into network security
- Are growing quickly and adding infrastructure
If you operate an enterprise business, even a short outage can affect hundreds of employees, customers, transactions, or business processes. When you compare the cost of such a disruption with the service fees for proactive monitoring, the choice is clear.
Get professional security and network performance monitoring
Contact Soteria if you want to leverage the advantages of expert network monitoring services. We specialize in supporting complex enterprise networks, so we can provide continuous visibility into your IT environment, allowing your internal team to focus on higher-value work. Our analysts will discover performance problems and potential security issues early so that you get reduced downtime, improved productivity, and the insight to make better-informed decisions about your infrastructure’s future.
Schedule a free consultation with Soteria today to get a personalized network monitoring plan for your business.