What Is Remote Monitoring?
Remote monitoring enables network administrators to keep an eye on system operations, security, and performance with a virtualized platform that they can access and adjust from anywhere, eliminating the need for fully on-site administration. Many managed service providers (MSPs) also offer remote monitoring as a service to keep an extra set of eyes on your system when your team can’t, providing a range of benefits as businesses become more mobile.
If you’re trying to determine whether remote monitoring might be right for your business, start by considering whether you could benefit from any of the below.
What Are the Benefits of Remote Monitoring?
Improved Performance
Chances are, your business’s network usage statistics look a little different every day. Network traffic may peak on Wednesdays when everyone is in virtual meetings then dip back down on the weekends. When you have no way of monitoring performance metrics and establishing baseline performance standards, you can’t adjust with changing system demands.
Remote monitoring opens the door to adaptive network responsiveness. With remote monitoring, your team has the ability to track and analyze fluctuating demands in real time. This ability is all the more impactful when your network operates across multiple locations as administrators can ensure network resources are shored up where they’re needed most.
From there, you can identify patterns in network usage to ensure your team has the resources they need when they need them without having to overspend.
Straightforward Troubleshooting
Remote monitoring also simplifies the process of network troubleshooting when something stops working. Because your remote monitoring team can investigate the issue without having to physically travel to the facility where the issue is occurring, many problems can be identified and resolved before they lead to larger network issues.
Many remote monitoring platforms automatically flag the cause of a problem before or as soon as it happens, so the troubleshooting part of the problem is taken care of automatically, allowing your team to focus on immediately jumping into a solution. With the right contingencies in place, users on your network may not even realize there was trouble in the first place.
Reduced Downtime
Easier troubleshooting also reduces network downtime. The sooner your team is able to identify and solve the problem, the sooner your network can return to normal operations. Remote monitoring helps you accomplish both.
At the same time, downtime also drops because your network won’t go down as frequently in the first place. By proactively identifying bottlenecks, potential points of failure, and necessary repairs, remote monitoring ensures your network is ready to perform for your team day in and day out, and when it isn’t, you’ll know before it slows your team down.
Proactive Repairs
One of the ways remote monitoring reduces network downtime is by flagging potential points of failure before they break. When you wait for something to break before fixing it, you run the risk of it happening during regular business hours and interrupting normal operations—and you also don’t know how long it may take to get back up and running.
With the right remote monitoring software, you can plan repairs and maintenance around your normal operating hours while also notifying team members of downtime ahead of time. This approach minimizes user frustrations while also ensuring network downtime does not cut into your business’s bottom line.
Improved Team Mobility
As briefly discussed above, remote monitoring improves your organization’s mobility. With on-site administration and network management, your team has to be on-site to diagnose, repair, update, upgrade, or monitor the system. As businesses work to establish more flexible work models, remote monitoring ensures your technology doesn’t get left behind.
With remote monitoring, your team can monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot the system, no matter where they are working from or what time of day it is. Remote monitoring offers a clear option to prepare your business for the unpredictability of future challenges.
Simplified Access Controls
While maintaining on-site network management protocols may seem safer from a security standpoint, the opposite is often the case. With a remote platform, protocols are often stricter and more standardized because everyone has to log in the same way, often with two-factor or multi-factor authentication.
Because each user has a unique user profile associated with their account, access controls can be standardized for specific roles and adjusted in real time if workflows change. Ultimately, remote monitoring provides an opportunity to establish safer user protocols while ensuring users only have access to the network resources they need to do their jobs.
Staying on Top of Threats
The average network threat remains undetected for 280 days, which means that most businesses are under attack before they ever realize it. Remote monitoring can help your business stay one step ahead of threats you would have never seen coming otherwise.
Remote security monitoring software can help you spot system abnormalities that may indicate malicious activity on your system. It can also help flag potential security incidents worth investigating before they evolve into an attack.
NET3 IT Can Help You Achieve These Benefits
If your business is interested in taking advantage of these benefits, reach out to the experts at NET3 IT. We offer IT services ranging from strategic IT planning to infrastructure assessments to help you better understand how remote monitoring can fit into your business’s plan for a successful future.
Since 2012, our team has been helping Knoxville businesses understand and maximize the value of their technology investments, and we’re ready to help you next. Contact us today to get started.
Related Postings
