6 min
The top reasons to add a network monitoring system to your business in 2022
Is it that time already? The end of the year?
Well, believe it or not, it’s really the end of another year.
As the year wraps up we always like to take a minute to reflect on how the network monitoring industry has changed over the last year.
So here is a reflective post, highlighting some of the top reasons we think your IT business should be thinking about adopting a network monitoring system in 2022.
Stay competitive in a fast moving market
The MSP space is hugely competitive. It’s constantly evolving and very quickly too. A network monitoring system offers a huge competitive advantage in a number of ways.
Optimize your customer support: Using a network monitoring system to deliver the best possible custom support experience is a crucial way to stand out from the competition. This is because the system allows you to troubleshoot issues in real-time and with more intelligence. Solving issues quickly for your customers will have a powerful impact on how your services are perceived. Think of all the vendors you deal with as a service provider. We’re going to guess that the vendors you are most loyal to have excellent customer support.
Prevent disasters: Let’s face it, when you manage an entire network and all devices attached to it, for multiple people, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. There are so many big and small disasters that can happen at any time. And when things do go wrong, your clients will be looking to you to solve the issue. Use a network monitoring system to prevent disasters on the network and troubleshoot with more intelligence when something does go wrong. You need to be in the loop at all times about everything that is happening on the networks you manage.
Maximize uptime: This probably goes without saying, but the less problems your customers have, the more devices stay online, the faster issues are resolved, the better your services will be perceived. Use a network monitoring system to maximize the uptime of all the devices on the networks you manage. Maximizing uptime is a huge competitive advantage for your business because it will deliver the best possible customer experience which will make your clients a lot less likely to shop around for a new service provider.
Offer cutting edge features leveraging the latest technology: Your customers’ networks are changing and there is a big opportunity to offer new services for the devices they are bringing on to their networks. Today your clients have all kinds of devices on their networks that need monitoring like; firewalls, access points, switches, printers, NAS, UPS, IP cameras, digital signage and POS systems, just to name a few. Use a network monitoring system and things like pre-configured SNMP templates to offer more advanced and relevant features to your customers.
A network monitoring system is an easy way to give your business a cutting edge advantage over your competition. It allows you to deliver a better service quality, faster support for issues when they do occur and more advanced features.
In fact, we’d even go as far as saying that if you aren’t using a network monitoring system yet one of your competitors probably is.
Boost your Cybersecurity value proposition
This year has seen an unprecedented number of cybersecurity incidents that have shook the entire world. In fact, 2021 is expected to break records in terms of data breaches according to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC). By October, 2021 had already surpassed the number of breaches in 2020.
Every MSP and service provider out there should be offering some level of cybersecurity service.
In fact, some MSPs are now demanding that every client sign-up for some level of cybersecurity service otherwise taking them on is just not worth the liability.
A network monitoring system is an essential component of any cyber security program because it provides alerts about crucial security details like new devices connecting and network configuration changes on essential hardware like firewalls and access points.
For example; even the new device alerts that a network monitoring system provides are hugely important. A new device could be an intruder gaining information for a ransomware or phishing attack. A new device may seem like something quite negligible but it’s an essential component of a comprehensive security program.
Increase visibility and control
As a service provider, your clients look to you as the one that knows everything about their network.
In other words, you really do need to know everything happening on that network. You can’t fake it.
A network monitoring system like Domotz is the ONLY tool to give you the visibility that you need to own the entire network and related processes. It really gives you the full picture of the network which you need to remain in control of it.
- It incorporates a real-time dashboard of everything happening on the network
- You always have an automatically updated topology map of how devices are interconnected (without needing to do anything)
- Know which devices are online or offline
- Get alerted when new devices connect to the network which could signify a security risk
- Access all the information you need to run an investigation when a problem occurs (reporting, logs, device uptime, packet loss, network outages, configuration changes)
As a service provider you need to own the network and all of the above are crucial information that you need to have. This information puts you in the driver seat of the network and you need to be aware of it all the time. Full stop.
Increase your Productivity
As a service provider you likely feel the heat when it comes to managing your time. This is because most service providers are managing huge workloads and pretty much working around the clock. It’s pretty well known in the service provider space that many are extremely burnt-out from managing a huge workload and unrealistic expectations.
As one of our clients put it…
“A solution like Domotz is a 100% must have. Unless you have the staff available to place a tech at every location, all the time, then a centralized dashboard is a life saver.“
Anything that helps you work faster and smarter should be a no-brainer to add to your tech stack. A network monitoring system is an easy way to hugely increase your productivity and at almost no cost. (Domotz for example is $19 per network per month). Even if you save 30 minutes using a network monitoring system it is worth installing. But trust us, you’re going to save a lot more time than that.
We’ve actually seen thousands of networks monitored by just a few technicians because they are able to identify and solve issues across thousands of networks.
A network monitoring system can help you work smarter, work faster and make money too because you can offer more services to more networks in a scalable way.
Cut costs
As a service provider, keeping overhead costs down is hugely important because of the minimal profit margins in the space.
Adding a network monitoring system is a way for you to reduce overhead costs and require less technicians to manage more support tickets.
This is because a network monitoring system enables you to troubleshoot with intelligence and perform an investigation as well as actions remotely.
At some point, something will go wrong on a network you’re managing. When this does happen, it will be much easier for you to troubleshoot the problem with all the information you need rather than no information at all.
Being able to solve issues quickly, with intelligence and remotely is a huge factor in cutting costs.
With a network monitoring system you are enabled to solve the problem swiftly from remote.
This means with a software like Domotz you’re reducing troubleshooting time down from hours to minutes which is a huge way to cut costs.
You’ll need less technicians to manage more problems because they will be much easier and less time consuming to solve.
Troubleshooting without all available information about a network and devices, can be hugely time consuming which impacts your business operating costs.
Reducing costs enables you to have more margins on your contracts and take on more clients without sacrificing the quality of your services.
So, will you add a network monitoring system to your Tech Stack in 2022?
As we look at where we’re headed over the next few years, it seems pretty clear that forward thinking service providers are looking at ways they can increase productivity, offer more cybersecurity services, reduce costs and stay ahead of the competition. A network monitoring system is a key piece in this puzzle.
Whether it be to provide better customer support, increase visibility and control, prevent disasters, work smarter or to stay ahead of the competition, we’re sure that adding a network monitoring system to your tech stack in 2022 will only benefit your business and put it one step ahead of the game.
This post was co-written by Silvio Di Crosta (CEO at Domotz) and Violet Chepil (Senior Community Manager at Domotz)
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