In modern business environment, IT infrastructure plays a critical role in supporting operations and driving growth. However, managing complex enterprise networks can be time-consuming, resource-intensive, and prone to errors. This is where managed service solutions come into play. By outsourcing network management to specialised providers, businesses can reap numerous benefits and focus on their core competencies.
By outsourcing network management to a Managed Service Provider (MSP), businesses can benefit from:
Managed service providers (MSPs) specialise in network management, security, and troubleshooting. Their dedicated teams continuously monitor networks, identify potential issues, and implement preventive measures, ensuring optimal performance and reducing the likelihood of downtime.
By outsourcing network management, businesses can save on the costs associated with maintaining an in-house IT team, purchasing hardware and software, and constantly upgrading infrastructure. MSS offers a cost-effective solution with predictable expenses, enabling companies to allocate resources more efficiently.
MSPs implement advanced security protocols to protect enterprise networks from cyber threats. Their expertise in the latest security measures helps safeguard sensitive data, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and minimizing the risk of costly data breaches.
Managed service solutions offer the flexibility to scale network resources according to business needs. Whether expanding to support more users or optimising for high-traffic periods, can quickly provide additional resources or scale down services as required.
By offloading network management, businesses can focus on their primary objectives—whether that’s innovation, customer service, or growth.
In line with the growing demand for flexible and cost-effective network management, Network as a Service (NaaS) is gaining traction. This cloud-based model enables businesses to access network services on a subscription basis, eliminating capital expenditures on infrastructure. It provides scalable solutions that align with changing business needs, allowing enterprises to pivot swiftly in response to market demands.
Global technology intelligence firm ABI Research forecasts that by 2030 over 90% of enterprises will consume at least 25% of their network services in this new usage-based consumption model.
Successfully managing enterprise networks goes beyond simply maintaining uptime. Four foundational elements are critical to ensuring network efficiency, security, and alignment with business objectives: asset management, end-to-end network visibility, predictive network management, and business process integration & automation.
Asset management helps network teams to track, maintain, and optimise network hardware, software, and other IT assets. Organisations can ensure operational efficiency and minimise downtime.
A key component of asset management in managed services is the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). The CMDB acts as a centralised repository that stores detailed information about every asset within the IT environment, including servers, routers, switches, and software licenses. This data not only tracks the physical locations of assets but also their relationships and dependencies, which are critical for effective troubleshooting and change management.
The main goal of a CMDB is to provide a detailed view of the IT environment by capturing the relationships between assets and their attributes. For example, it can show how a server connects to a network or which applications are running on which servers.
CMDB is an integral part of ITIL’s Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM) process. SACM involves managing both service assets and configuration items (CIs) throughout their lifecycle. It ensures that assets and configurations are properly identified, controlled, maintained, and audited over time.
SACM’s goal is to ensure that accurate and reliable information about service assets and configuration items is available when needed. SACM includes processes for identification, control, status accounting, and verification of assets and configurations.
In short, CMDB is the “what” (a database containing information about assets), and SACM is the “how” (the process that manages those assets and configurations over time).
Organisations are facing significant challenges in achieving comprehensive visibility across their complex hybrid networks and cloud infrastructures. Research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) shows that only 34% of organisations consider their visibility efforts successful. Key obstacles include the complexity of network architecture, a lack of necessary skills, and insufficient visibility into cloud environments. End-to-end network visibility has emerged as a critical capability for organisations to maintain control, optimise performance, and ensure security across their entire network infrastructure.
End-to-end network visibility refers to the ability to monitor, track, and analyse the flow of data across every component of a network, from core infrastructure (like data centres and servers) to edge devices (such as routers, switches, endpoints, and mobile devices). This visibility provides a comprehensive view of the entire network ecosystem, including physical, virtual, and cloud environments.
The benefits of enhanced network visibility include:
As enterprise networks continue to grow in complexity, driven by cloud adoption, IoT devices, 5G, and hybrid infrastructures, traditional network management approaches can no longer keep pace. To maintain optimal performance, security, and efficiency, businesses are increasingly turning to predictive network management. It uses advanced data analytics, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) to anticipate potential network issues before they occur, allowing for proactive intervention.
Predictive network management leverages both historical and real-time data to forecast network behavior and detect potential performance or security issues in advance. This approach differs from traditional network management, which is typically reactive, addressing problems after they arise. Predictive management, on the other hand, shifts the focus from responding to issues to preventing them, offering a proactive and forward-thinking approach to network operations.
Aligning network management with business processes ensures that IT infrastructure actively supports organisational goals. Business Process Automation (BPA) integrates network operations with key workflows, creating efficiencies and reducing bottlenecks. AI and machine learning technologies further enhance this alignment, enabling networks to evolve in sync with business needs.
IT staff and internal IT help desks can be significantly relieved through business process driven self service automation portals. Such portals are on one hand connected to network management systems and on the other hand to the organisations business processes. In this way business processes can be executed easier, more transparent and well documented improving the user experience of employees.
Looking ahead, Gartner predicts that hyperautomation, powered by AI, robotic process automation (RPA), and machine learning, will transform network management.
Hyperautomation aims to eliminate manual configurations, optimise resource usage, improve network security, and predict network events in real-time, enabling networks to become more self-sufficient and resilient.
Fusion teams, comprising both IT and business experts, will help connect the technical needs of the network with the overall goals of the business. In this setting, the ability to easily adapt systems, coordinate processes, and integrate AI will be crucial for companies looking to fully utilise the power of automation.
If you want to know more about our managed services in the Enterprise Networks segment, visit us at: https://www.damovo.com/en/solutions/enterprise-networks/
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