Auvik shared results of its
2023 Network IT Management Report.
An annual report conducted by Auvik, the 2023 edition includes findings
from a survey of 4,500 IT professionals across North America, shedding
light on the current challenges facing in-house IT professionals and
MSPs alike when it comes to network visibility, management and security.
Gaps in Network Visibility
One
of the key findings of the report involves the gaps in network
visibility and security facing the majority of IT teams, especially as
remote and hybrid work continues. 86% of the respondents support a
remote workforce at least some of the time, but only half are performing
SaaS and Cloud monitoring or Wi-Fi management - critical components of
the new enterprise network in today's hybrid world.
SaaS and
cloud applications (e.g. Salesforce, Slack, G Suite, Microsoft 365,
Zoom, etc.) are how employees are getting work done. These apps as well
as the Wi-Fi employees are using at home (or at a hotel, a coffee shop,
etc.) pose potential security risks to the enterprise network, and thus
IT teams must have visibility and solutions for enabling their workforce
to be productive while minimizing risk. In recognition of this need and
current gaps, 30% of the survey respondents reported that they are
planning to invest in Wi-Fi management and/or SaaS and Cloud monitoring
solutions within the next 12 months.
"A growing trend we at Auvik
have observed - and which the findings of our 2023 report reinforce -
is that IT teams are increasingly measured on their ability to deliver a
seamless experience to end users and keep them productive," said Alex
Hoff, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Auvik. "45% of this year's
respondents said they are measured on the satisfaction of their end
user or customer. When an employee experiences slowness on their device,
network or in an application they are using, the responsibility to
resolve that issue falls to the IT team, who are often working with
blind spots and a constantly-changing environment."
In January of
this year, more than 2 million people experienced power outages due to
the storms in California, and many of those individuals then went to
coffee shops or friends or relatives' homes to work, introducing new
Wi-Fi connections, potentially new devices and other components that
affect the end user experience. IT teams must have the tools to monitor,
manage and support employees' work experiences from any location, at
any time.
Network Configurations Pose Visibility and Security Challenges
Another
serious visibility and security gap facing IT teams is with network
configurations.The Auvik report found 45% of IT teams do not fully know
the configuration of their networks, and 21% responded that individuals
outside of ITOps, perhaps in adjacent departments like DevOps, are
making configuration changes. What's more, 20% of respondents said
configuration changes are occurring on a daily basis, and another 33%
said they're happening at least weekly. With unknown and non-IT
employees making frequent changes to the network's configuration, the
security risks increase significantly.
Additional key findings from the report include:
- 41.5%
of respondents said network documentation is updated monthly or less
often - despite 53% reporting that configuration changes are happening
daily or weekly
- 61% of respondents believe a lack of time and money are restricting their ability to better serve their colleagues and clients
- Budget/Costs, Security, and Shortage of skilled professionals are the top three challenges facing IT teams
- 73% of respondents outsource some of their network-related tasks
- 42% of respondents are tracked on the percentage of uptime and downtime at their organization
"The
network has evolved from assets solely owned by the IT organization to
anything that allows the team to connect to their application, which
results in greater change and complexity for the end user experience,"
continued Hoff. "This means greater chances for a poor end user
experience and decreased productivity, security risks, and network
downtime, which directly impacts the bottom line. According to the
Information Technology Industry Council, a single hour of server
downtime costs most small to mid-sized enterprises $300,000, and can
cost larger organizations more than $5 million. Visibility is critical
to reach what we call The Last Mile of the Office Network and ensure the remote workforce remains safe, connected and productive."
Download the full 2023 Network IT Management Report.