Proactive Network Management: The Missed Opportunity in NetOps

Executive teams commonly describe Networks Operations (or NetOps) as a highly strategic function to assure business success, yet NetOps teams have executed it as a set of reactionary tactics for decades. From a tactical viewpoint, as multi-vendor and cloud-connected networks grow in size and scope, so do the human requirements for managing them. Typically, when the size of a network is doubled so too should the size of the network operations team. This poses obvious limitations on scalability.

But how big is the problem?

Every network needs to be monitored and maintained regularly to remain operational. Even when functioning appears normal, large cloud-connected networks require constant maintenance. Take for example a typical Global 500 enterprise. They may record 5,000 or more service operation tickets monthly, with each service ticket requiring hours of a dedicated technician’s time. In the case of bigger issues that directly affect production services, whole teams of NetOps engineers may need to rally together using the same tactical tools and approaches that have been used for decades.

The tactical, reactive approach does not allow for issues to be proactively found and addressed before they become larger problems. It puts NetOps teams perpetually on the back foot. This need not be the case. What if NetOps teams could capture the goals of any network and put processes in place that proactively seek to maintain those goals? The cost of Network Operations would be significantly reduced since proactive processes are much more efficient and economical than reacting to service outages as they occur.

A service delivery centered approach to NetOps

Focusing on service delivery, not blinking green lights on network devices, can transform how networks are managed. This should be based on the fundamental understanding that networks are in place primarily for the purpose of delivering application-centric services. Effective NetOps approaches focus on maintaining network intents – desirable outcomes such as connectivity, performance levels and the associated security profiles defined by applications that have been deployed.

By leveraging intelligent technology, such as Netbrain’s Network Intent Technology, network problems need only be solved by subject matter experts once – their experiences can then be captured in no-code engines to enable sharing with peers. This drastically reduces the mean time to repair (MTTR) and the need for escalations. Such a toolset also allows for the continuous verification of network intents helping prevent outages and service degradations and resolving detected discrepancies before they affect production.

NetBrain’s automation engine drives the use of network intents at scale. These network intents can be used proactively to enforce all the requirements for any size network and prevent outages, to respond to service requests and to reduce MTTR. They can even be used interactively to leverage the experience of SMEs by any network engineer when the SME is not available.

Combined, the Intent Technology and Automation Engine provide a powerful recipe for shifting NetOps from Reactionary to Strategic, resulting is significant savings, increased customer satisfaction, and delivering a more defendable network operations function. They are the technologies that convert the missed opportunity into tangible results.

Don’t wait any longer. Get in touch with Metsi today to see how NetBrain can support your Network Operations, and transform NetOps from reactive to proactive.