If you are struggling with productivity and work efficiency issues, you may have network security and reliability challenges. These challenges could be caused by a compromised network or a poor connection to your network.
You can experience slow load page times, dropped internet connections, and call breakups or drops if your network is not performing properly. In addition, your network could be a victim of a cyberattack resulting in thousands of dollars to repair costs.
Coeo has helped monitor the networks of thousands of customers. We know how important a reliable and secure network is to an organization and want to give you information on network monitoring to allow you to improve your network.
By the end of this article, you will know what network monitoring is, the benefits of network monitoring, and if network monitoring is the right fit for your business.
What is network monitoring?
Network monitoring consists of software and hardware tools used to track various analytics of a network. With network monitoring, you can monitor traffic, uptime, and bandwidth utilization.
Network monitoring can also detect devices that compromise or touch the network and it can also be used to provide status updates. This can improve your security by detecting and blocking devices that can compromise your network before entering it.
Network monitoring can occur in-house or it can be outsourced to a managed service provider. If you have a network solution managed by your service provider such as SD-WAN, your network may already be monitored.
Your network could be monitored by a third-party service that has more expertise in network monitoring than your organization.
Because of this, you will be able to work on more strategic business tasks without the distraction of having to monitor and manage your own network.
Network monitoring with a service provider also provides the customer with the flexibility to help manage and monitor the aspects of the network they’re most comfortable continuing to control.
Most service providers allow you to see into your network as well and provide input and personalize the solution to best meet your needs.
While there are a number of benefits to using a managed service provider, if your organization has an IT team that has expertise in network monitoring, you can certainly monitor your network internally instead of using a managed service provider.
Administrators rely on network monitoring to help them detect device or connection failures or traffic bottlenecks that limit data flow. This will allow you to help identify and fix these issues as a way to speed up both inbound and outbound data flow.
Benefits of network monitoring
Monitoring your network can provide many benefits to an organization. Visibility, the ability to have insight into future needs, and the ability to identify security threats are just some of the benefits that network monitoring can bring to your organization.
● Network visibility
Administrators who monitor your network, whether in-house or with a third-party service provider, will be able to see into your network and give you a clear picture of what is happening inside your network.
This capability enables you to see what is going on in the network, the performance of the network, and the devices connected to the network.
You will be able to see the data moving across the network allowing you to quickly identify and correct issues that can negatively affect network performance like slow and poor network connectivity and network outages.
● Better use of IT resources
The hardware and software tools used for network monitoring reduce the work your IT team will have to perform. This allows your IT team to focus on more strategic network initiatives that could be more important.
● Exposes potential future network needs
Network monitoring provides your organization with information on network performance. The analytics show you when you may need network upgrades or other potential network needs in the near future if your network performance results show poor performance.
● Ability to identify security threats faster
Network monitoring will help you understand what normal network performance looks like.
In this case, you will also understand what unusual performance looks like which will give you the ability to identify and combat security threats when they arise.
If unusual network traffic or performance is identified, you will be able to analyze the traffic and determine if it is a security threat. If it is, you can block it quickly to avoid it from causing damage to your network and avoid being a victim of a cyberattack.
Next steps to monitor your network
Now you know what network monitoring is and the four benefits network monitoring can bring to an organization. This can help you improve network performance and security and business quality as a result.
No one benefits from a poor-performing, vulnerable network. Your employees may not be as productive or be able to work efficiently with a poor-performing network and you could have to pay thousands of dollars to repair your network if you fall victim to a cyberattack.
Coeo has helped monitor thousands of networks and knows how important it is to have a reliable and secure network. We want to give you information on network monitoring so you can improve network performance and reliability.
If you would like to speak with our team to talk about network monitoring and how it can help your organization or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment. 
Read these articles below to learn more about network monitoring solutions that can benefit your organization:
