Keeping your team up and running is number one priority in our work from anywhere world. But with Wi-Fi networks, device quality, and more varying from employee to employee, making sure everyone has the tools they need to promote end user success can be difficult to manage. That’s where network visibility comes in.
Network visibility refers to the ability to monitor and analyze network traffic, activities, and events within a computer network. It involves collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data from various sources to gain insights into the network's performance, security, and overall health. Network visibility allows administrators, security teams, and other stakeholders to have a comprehensive view of their network infrastructure and the traffic flowing through it. It helps to identify and resolve issues to optimize performance and ensure the security of the network.
Network visibility and remote teams
In the context of remote teams, computer networks refer to the infrastructure that enables communication, data sharing, and collaboration among individuals who are working remotely or in different locations. It connects the devices, systems, and applications used by remote team members, allowing them to interact and access shared resources.
Many remote work teams use Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, to establish secure connections between employees and their corporate network. Monitoring VPN traffic allows organizations to gain visibility into remote users' activities, identify potential security threats, and ensure compliance with security policies.
Monitoring endpoints used by remote workers like laptops, tablets, or smartphones can provide insights to their network activities, application usage, and potential security risks. Endpoint monitoring solutions can also track data transfers, software installations, and user behavior to help identify unusual or unauthorized activities.
With the increasing adoption of cloud services and applications in remote work environments, having visibility into network traffic to and from cloud platforms is essential. Cloud-based visibility tools can monitor and analyze data flowing between remote workers and cloud services, ensuring security and performance.
User activity monitoring is another tool that supports network visibility. This allows organizations to monitor user activities like web browsing, file transfers, and application usage. It can also help to promote productivity, compliance, and security in remote work teams.
Since remote work relies on collaboration and communication platforms like video conferencing, messaging apps, and file-sharing services, having a strong application monitoring and management tool is essential to keep things up and running. Monitoring network traffic related to these platforms can provide insights to usage patterns, performance issues, and potential security vulnerabilities.
Optimizing Performance
One of the most difficult parts of managing remote teams is ensuring that every member has access to reliable, high quality internet. Without this, some employees are less able to do their work, resulting in a loss of productivity and lack of synergy with other team members. Network visibility helps to combat issues and prevent employees from falling behind.
Monitoring bandwidth and utilization allows teams to stay ahead of problems and allow for quick, easy resolution. By tracking network bandwidth, businesses can identify any spikes or excessive usage that may lead to performance degradation or bottlenecks. This information allows IT teams to take proactive measures to optimize bandwidth allocation and ensure a smooth experience for workers. Real-time monitoring of bandwidth usage also helps in capacity planning, allowing organizations to scale their network resources based on demand. This ensures that remote teams have sufficient network resources to carry out their tasks without experiencing slowdowns or disruptions.
Preventing bottlenecks
Network visibility provides insights to the flow of network traffic and helps identify areas of congestion or bottlenecks in the network infrastructure. This is particularly crucial when remote workers are accessing centralized servers or cloud-based applications. With network visibility tools, IT teams can analyze traffic patterns and pinpoint specific areas where congestion occurs. They can then take appropriate measures to optimize network routing, adjust firewall rules, or allocate additional resources to alleviate congestion and maintain a high-quality user experience.
Resolving network congestion promptly helps minimize latency, packet loss, and overall network performance issues. It ensures that remote teams can collaborate seamlessly and access critical applications efficiently, regardless of their location.
Proactive troubleshooting
Network visibility also empowers organizations to proactively plan and allocate network resources based on usage patterns and trends. This is especially important for projects where network demands vary throughout the day or based on specific tasks.
Proactive capacity planning ensures that network resources are optimized, minimizing the risk of performance degradation. It enables seamless collaboration, enhances productivity, and provides a consistent experience for remote workers, irrespective of their location. By monitoring network traffic and analyzing historical data, IT teams can predict network capacity requirements accurately, allowing them to scale network resources to meet the evolving needs of remote teams.
IT management and decision making
Network visibility provides IT management teams with a wealth of information that can drive informed decision-making to reduce both tickets and cost in a variety of ways. By monitoring and analyzing network traffic, performance metrics, and security events, IT can gather valuable information about the network infrastructure and its impact on remote work operations.
Network data allows IT teams to assess the effectiveness of existing network infrastructure, evaluate the need for upgrades or optimizations, and prioritize investments in network resources. This also gives them a holistic view of the network's performance, security posture, and overall health. This knowledge enables them to make strategic decisions aligned with the organization's goals and the needs of remote work teams.
Network visibility also allows IT teams to assess and measure network performance against service-level agreements, or SLAs, and predefined performance targets. By monitoring key performance indicators, or KPIs such as latency, packet loss, or availability, IT teams can evaluate the network's adherence to performance goals. With network visibility, IT teams are empowered to make data based decisions to optimize productivity, save money, and reduce ticket volume.
Network visibility for the remote world
Whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or by the pool, network visibility enables teams to take control of their digital experience. By utilizing network visibility tools, businesses and organizations of all kinds are able to predict the road bumps employees will face, take proactive measures against them, and provide an unmatched end user experience.
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HubbleIQ helps organizations support their employees and customers from anywhere in the world with a comprehensive and user-friendly digital experience management system. Try HubbleIQ for free today and experience the benefits of a user-centric network visibility solution firsthand.
