A network problem is one problem you don't want to encounter. A network failure will cost time and money for your business. The longer the problem lasts, the worse it becomes. It will not only lead to lost time and productivity, but it will also affect end-user satisfaction.
Network monitoring in industrial devices helps network administrators know if their network is running optimally in real time. With the information provided, network administrators can determine if there are deficiencies and know when to optimize efficiency.
Network monitoring is very critical in the IT industry. And it can help IT professionals become more proactive. Discovering performance issues beforehand will help prevent network downtimes.
Also, with operational technology, industries can control and monitor their devices. Operating technology uses hardware and software to control industrial equipment.
Faulty network devices can disrupt network performance. As such, they need close monitoring. While desktops and printers are not critical devices, other critical devices like routers, switches, and services require serious monitoring. Let us analyze some benefits of network monitoring in industrial devices.
1. Resolving Issues Faster
Time is money, especially for a business organization. Monitoring the network of your industrial devices makes problem-solving easy. It is also ideal for busy professionals who value every minute.
It doesn't matter if your device is having a configuration error or an unusual traffic instability, monitoring your industrial devices will help you get to the root of the issue and fix it once and for all.
With network monitoring software, you can access live network maps that will direct you to the origin of the issue. Also, with a network automation tool, you don't only identify problems; you can fix them automatically without any human input.
2. Uncovering Security Threats
With network monitoring, you can identify security threats. Although this is not the main function of network monitoring, you can still detect little security threats before they become uncontrollable.
For your industrial devices, you can get OT security Vendor. Traditional IT security tools may not be as effective, but these devices still need cyber security. For this reason, industrial devices need OT security.
With an OT security tool, you can manage cyber risks by controlling and monitoring network data at scale. It creates a foundation that enables you to apply security controls effectively and quickly detect anomalies.
3. Justifying Equipment Upgrade
Network monitoring in your industrial devices will help you know when an upgrade is required. Assuming that your devices need an upgrade without any evidence won't convince your boss.
Rather, having a historic report will hold more water. It'll be more reasonable to present a historic report showing how the devices have performed in the last year.
With network monitoring, you can get an insight into how your industrial devices have performed, and that will justify your upgrade. You can decide if your technology is still efficient or if it's time to invest in newer technology.
4. Maintaining Compliance
For organizations that have a duty to maintain compliance with regulations, they need network monitoring set in place. For instance, HIPAA-covered entities are obliged to adhere to the HIPAA policy of protecting patients' data.
Failure to do this will be considered as a breach, and there will be penalties. Network monitoring tools will help such organizations to be a step ahead of security risks. Also, it will serve as evidence of compliance.
5. Preventing Downtime
Downtime can be caused by a number of factors like human error, configuration issues, or environmental factors. An outage consumes your productivity and time; hours of downtime can cost a business millions of dollars.
The best way to prevent an unplanned downtime is monitoring. Network monitoring can identify warning signs of a device failure and network problem.
With this, you can identify issues and avoid downtime from occurring. This will optimize your team's performance and allow better productive operations.
6. Getting Quicker ROI
IT professionals have so much workload but they don't have enough time, staff, or financial resources to complete their complex tasks.
But with network monitoring, they can deliver immediate ROI since the network monitoring tool will do most of the job. The absence of total manual monitoring affords the staff more time to work on more critical projects.
Discovering the root of issues eliminates long strenuous troubleshooting time. Also, being a step further will help you in preventing outages as well as the costs that come with them.
7. Capacity Planning
With the constant growth of user needs, predicting how they will consume network resources will be quite challenging. With the increase in utilization, it's important to plan for the accommodation of more users. More infrastructure and capacity will be needed for this.
Active observation and tracking of performance and utilization will help you and your team know when there is an increase in utilization. By measuring the metrics from current network monitoring, you can forecast future capacity and carry out an upgrade if necessary.
Also, if there is any need for a network upgrade, getting the approval of your supervisor will be easy because there is evidence of a spike in utilization.
8. Freeing Up IT Team
Some industries have an understaffed team who are responsible for a whole lot of complex tasks. Yet, they are obligated to ensure perfect performance. However, with network monitoring tools, their burden and workload will be reduced drastically.
With automatic monitoring, IT teams can get results without having to do much work. They will be alerted when there is an issue, and downtime will be reduced. They can easily identify, assess, and resolve problems.
Conclusion
Network monitoring in your industrial devices is a very necessary activity. Network failure and downtimes can be very bad for your business productivity. Also, it will affect your end-users. With network monitoring, you will spot loopholes and prevent them before any damage is done.
Also, you can determine when new devices and networks are needed and have the right evidence to present to your supervisors. For organizations that require compliance, network monitoring is needed for them to be on track and avoid a breach.