Top 8 Benefits of Network Monitoring

1. Stay ahead of outages

What causes IT outages? Human error, configuration issues, and environmental factors can all contribute. Implementing network monitoring is one of the most basic and simple ways to prevent these outages from happening in the first place. 

Network monitoring gives you the visibility you need to stay one step ahead of potential issues. By showing live network performance data in an easy-to-read interface, network monitoring software helps you identify outages that could cause bottlenecks. Check out this case study for a real example of how a medical device company used network monitoring to maintain uptime and monitor for outages.

2. Fix issues faster 

In a down situation, time is money. Network monitoring makes problem-solving easier and faster for time-strapped network professionals. 

Whether you're dealing with a configuration error or an abnormal traffic fluctuation, network monitoring software helps you get to the bottom of issues once and for all. Live network maps lead you to the origin of problems, and status windows give you performance metrics over time. 

Also, network automation tools help you go one step further. Not only can you identify problems via network monitoring, but you can fix them automatically, without having to get a person involved. Take Vasttrafik for example — a Swedish transportation company that used network monitoring to stay ahead of network issues to keep their network running 24/7.

3. Gain immediate ROI 

IT teams face heavy workloads and increasingly complex projects, often without the ideal time, staff, or budget needed to complete them. The right network monitoring tool can deliver immediate ROI. Without the need to manually dig into network performance, staff have time back in their day to work on more critical projects. Seeing the source of issues cuts down on tedious troubleshooting time.

And getting ahead of IT outages reduces the costs of outages to your organization. Greater Media Detroit’s use of network monitoring to ensure uninterrupted programs is a great example of the massive upside network monitoring has in improving the end user’s experience. 

4.  Manage growing, changing networks

With technology innovation and the rise in connected devices, today's IT environments are growing in size. According to a study done by IoT Analytics, the number of IoT connected devices is projected to exceed 29 billion by 2027. Whether that's internet-enabled sensors, wireless devices, or cloud technologies, all this equipment needs to be monitored continuously for major fluctuations and suspicious activity. 

Networks are also growing in complexity. And with remote work and hybrid office environments becoming the norm, things are changing even faster than usual. Whether you're dealing with cloud migrations, IPv6 transitions, or ensuring remote access, you need flexible, reliable tools to help you monitor all your IP assets and ensure smooth performance—even in the midst of change. Even educational organizations — like Decatur City Schools — are using network monitoring to map and manage all connected devices on an enterprise level scale. 

5. Identify security threats  

When you don't have the budget for intrusion detection software, but still want a tier 1 method to help protect against data breaches, network monitoring can help secure your business-critical data. 

A network monitoring tool can provide that first level of security. The biggest benefit you get is a picture of what "normal" performance looks like for your organization, making it easy to spot anything out of the ordinary—whether that's a spike in traffic levels or an unfamiliar device that's connected to your network. For instance, Audatex uses network monitoring to provide a “general health snapshot” of its networks to serve as a point of comparison. By drilling in to figure out when and on what device an event occurred, you're able to take a proactive approach to network security. 

6. Justify equipment upgrades

Having a gut sense that a server needs upgrading isn't enough to convince most bosses. But a historic report on how that equipment has performed over the last 12 months is much more compelling.  

Network monitoring tools give you that historic insight into how equipment has performed over time to justify network upgrades. Trends analysis helps you determine if your current technology can scale to meet business needs, or if you need to invest in new technology. 

7. Report on SLAs

Keeping your promises with regards to network availability is a top priority to IT consultants and managed service providers. With the ability to report on performance that network monitoring provides, you can more easily meet the requirements of SLAs and ensure the satisfaction of your customers. 

8. Maintaining Compliance

Guidelines such as the Federal Information Security Management Act, SOX, and the PCI-DSS all require you to monitor your network activity – especially those that pass result in the exchange of sensitive data – in order to avoid fines and prevent data breaches.

Network monitoring solutions allow organizations to track and document their network infrastructure’s security controls, topology, network assets, and more. In short, network monitoring offers a clear, up-to-date picture of everything that is going on in a network currently as well as what has already taken place.

Commercial Solutions

These are meant for enterprise-level organizations and are the most expensive option. They can handle vast networks but they often come with a steep learning curve as well as a modular-based structure that complicates deployment.

Open Source and Freeware

These network monitoring solutions are the least expensive option but tend to be difficult to implement and can frequently contain bugs that are never resolved due to a lack of development and support.

Fortra's Intermapper

Intermapper can support small, medium, and large organizations and does not require add-ons and modules. With Intermapper, you have a granular view of your network with real-time feedback that can be integrated into other network monitoring solutions.

What to Look for in Network Monitoring Software

There's no shortage of network monitoring vendors to choose from, from open source to free network monitoring software to enterprise products with endless options to upgrade for more features. The best network monitoring and management software sets you up for long-term success by helping you understand the health of your network and identify performance bottlenecks. With a network monitoring tool, getting a snapshot of network health is easy and troubleshooting issues is more efficient. Some things to look for when trying to find a network monitoring solutions include: 

• Real-time network monitoring and alerting
• The ability to map your entire network and drill down into individual components
• An efficient, low-bandwidth polling engine that will not interrupt performance
• Automatic discovery of new network devices
• Runs on a variety of platforms
• Customizable, mobile dashboards that display historic as well as live results
• Quick and easy installation and configuration