Why Remote Network Monitoring Is Critical for Multisite Operations

Multisite organizations are prevalent in many industries, including retail, restaurants and healthcare. Given the critical role of IT in every aspect of operations, these sites rely on always-on connectivity for communication, collaboration and enterprise applications.

When remote site networks fail, even briefly, it can significantly impact revenue generation, productivity and customer service. Frequent or extended downtime can damage an organization’s reputation, leading to customer churn that can be difficult to recover. However, few remote sites have onsite IT staff, making it difficult and time-consuming to troubleshoot problems. An issue that might cause a brief outage in headquarters may cause extended downtime in a remote site.

What’s more, many remote sites connect to applications and services directly, rather than through the corporate data center. IT teams may not have complete visibility into these networks, leaving them unaware of performance issues. Small problems that go unaddressed can escalate into a full-blown outage.

The Value of Remote Monitoring

Network monitoring isn’t always considered a high priority in remote sites. However, the right monitoring and management tools give IT teams visibility into network activity across multiple locations. This enables them to identify and resolve problems before they cause business disruption.

Deep packet inspection is a critical function of remote monitoring tools. It provides detailed information about sessions and application flows, along with the context needed to evaluate performance. Administrators can view network traffic traveling from remote sites over the Internet to other destinations and the cloud. They can also analyze Wi-Fi problems such as dropped packets and interference.

Remote monitoring is especially important for real-time applications such as voice and video conferencing. The slightest network delays can negatively impact application performance. Remote monitoring gives administrators the tools to resolve these issues and ensure a high-quality user experience.

Remote Monitoring Challenges

Organizations that attempt to manage network monitoring on their own tend to struggle due to inadequate network monitoring tools, expertise and resources. Legacy infrastructure is often complex to manage and costly to maintain, and few systems provide real-time assessments and full network visibility.

IT teams often make the mistake of choosing tools that allow them to monitor specific aspects of network performance. However, as new infrastructure and services are added to the IT environment, administrators need additional tools to handle each “special case.” This leads to an overly complex toolset, with administrators forced to consult multiple tools and try to correlate data to understand complex issues.

IT teams try to adjust their needs and processes to suit a certain technology instead of finding tools that fit their needs. Meanwhile, valuable resources are dedicated to network monitoring instead of strategic initiatives that foster growth and increase the bottom line.

Why Outsource to a Managed Services Provider

Organizations that recognize the importance and complexity of network monitoring are turning to managed services providers (MSPs) to handle this responsibility. MSPs have made investments in the latest network monitoring tools and employ a team of experts who follow these best practices:

• Maintain end-to-end network visibility across the infrastructure, including networks owned by third parties
• Utilize tools that enable constant monitoring, not snapshots or partial views
• Assess network performance in real time instead of analyzing trends
• Ensure network performance baselines are being met before assessing application performance

SageNet has two U.S.-based Network Operations Centers (NOCs) staffed by highly trained personnel using the latest network monitoring tools and systems. Our NOC staff work around the clock to ensure your network is not only available but performing optimally.

Real-time data enables us to identify poorly performing remote sites, which are monitored in greater detail. If performance problems persist, our engineers perform further analysis, troubleshooting and remediation.

Let us help you maintain the highest performance levels so you can focus on managing and growing your business.