Introduction
Today’s businesses are relying upon the corporate network to communicate with each other between remote offices or businesses around the world. The growth of the business requires information to be transmitted rapidly which increases the use of network-based applications such as mobile, VoIP, e-commerce etc. Corporate network management becomes critical in businesses to strengthen its competitiveness (Optimizing Your Network Management Strategy for Today's Economy., 2008, May). This brings about the importance of corporate network management in providing maximum availability and performance.
Corporate network management
As mentioned, business continuity and productivity depend very much on corporate network management, however, limited IT resources and the common challenges faced in managing corporate network will create an opposing result. Thus, it is essential for network administrators to understand the technologies/guidelines available to help them in meeting business goals while increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the network. (Ding, J., 2010)
• Challenges in managing corporate network
Downtime:
Network downtime is a significant component that causes a huge impact on business, which is shown in an Infonetics study where a network outage has resulted in 55% revenue loss and 45% productivity loss (The Business Need for Network Management: The Cost of Downtime., 2012). Likewise, it brings a negative impact to the customers on business’s reputation (What's behind network downtime – White Paper, 2008, May), hence maintaining network availability is a mission-critical task for network administrators.
Configurations:
A study justified that human error in configurations has caused 50% – 80% of network outage (What's behind network downtime – White Paper, 2008, May). It could be due to the lack of experience and knowledge in network administrators (The Business Need for Network Management: The Cost of Downtime., 2012) or the manual work in performing repetitive configurations (Server and Network Management Challenges and How to Overcome Them., 2011, November 10). The increase in operations cost to resolve unnecessary human error can be avoided if proper management is executed.
Centralised and automated management
Network complexity results in extensive configurations and updates. Without automated and centralised management, network administrators have to spend extra time and effort in making repetitive tasks. Moreover, when a network outage occurred, additional manpower will be needed to track and source for the cause of the issue (Server and Network Management Challenges and How to Overcome Them., 2011, November 10). All these add up to unnecessary costs.
• Approaches to overcome challenges
The challenges make corporate network management a challenging and time-consuming task for network administrators. The financial consequences create a great impact on the business. Fortunately, there are different approaches in corporate network management that could overcome the challenges and improve business productivity and revenue.
The two network management frameworks known as FCAPS and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) illustrate the purpose of network management, in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of corporate network management. FCAPS is a great model to learn about the objectives and the functions of network management. It is categorised into different management tasks which are Fault Management, Configuration Management, Accounting/Administration Management, Performance Management and Security Management. Each management task takes care of different component in network management, for example, Configuration Management is about proper controlling, monitoring, documenting, maintaining and reporting of configurations made to the network requirements to reduce the probability of network downtime. (Ding, J., 2010) Similarly, ITIL is another framework that includes different modules in assuring the consistency and quality of application delivery over the network (Network Management Fundamentals., 2016, July 14). Service Transition is one of the modules in ITIL, that is identical to Configuration Management in FCAPS, whose responsibilities is to manage changes and configurations (FCAPS from an ITIL perspective., 2011, January 31). Other than providing best practices in network and service management, it also focuses on meeting business requirements. It is a framework that is recognized by many organisations where the positive impact it brings towards corporate network management and business will be reviewed in one of the case studies.
Aside from these frameworks, many organisations use other network management technologies/solutions offered by third party company to enhance the efficiency of their corporate networks. (Optimizing Your Network Management Strategy for Today's Economy., 2008, May). Ultimately, it is network administrators’ responsibilities in understanding about these concepts together with business goals before adopting them.
Case Studies
Upon addressing on the challenges and approaches in managing corporate networks, the following case studies will review the technologies/solutions which some organisations have adopted and the impact it brings to the business.
• Case Study I: Konecranes Lifting BusinessesTM
A multinational corporation, Konecranes Lifting BusinessesTM with 8404 employees and offices in different countries, struggled in managing their corporate network. It is unable to scale with the growth of the business and the tolerance level for network downtime and latency is low. No proper documentations and evaluation is done by Konecranes IT, creates another issue resulting in unnecessary downtime and it is affecting the development of the business. In relation to all these challenges, Konecranes adopted ITIL framework focusing on Service Transition (Change and Configuration Management) to improve their corporate network and service management. (Mattila, A., 2008)
With Configuration Management, all related changes to the network are stored in a centralised database. Centralised management is useful in terms of accessibility of information as a training guide for new employees or as a guide for other IT personnel when one is absent. When a network outage occurs, it reduces the amount of time and manpower to search for configurations scattered at different locations. Saving time and effort reduces the operating costs that could be used to invest in other revenue-generating projects. (Mattila, A.,2008)
Change Management allows Konecranes IT personnel to execute changes consistently and provide the option to prioritize changes that are essential to the business. These changes are measurable which helps Konecranes in fine-tuning to fit business goals. Upon implementing Change Management, Konecranes observed significant advantages to the business, where the capability of administering huge quality of changes have increased and disruptions are reduced which eventually increases the productivity of all employees. (Mattila, A., 2008)
• Case Study II: K.H.S. Musical Instrument Co., Ltd.
The next case study is on K.H.S. Musical Instrument Co. Ltd., which employed a different approach in overcoming the challenges faced in managing their corporate network. The difficulties encountered by KHS IT staff is the management of different systems and software from different vendors, and extra effort required to study the open source software in meeting business requirements. During an outage, KHS depends on IT staff’s experience in troubleshooting network issues however IT staff is having trouble in identifying the cause of the problem which very much affects business operations. (KHS Manufacturer Takes Advantage of Network Management Software., n.d.).
KHS decided on replacing out-dated systems with third party network management solution. On the implementation of the new network management solution, the capabilities are proven. All the equipment sitting on the network including those located in overseas branches can be well monitored and managed. KHS has seen the positive business impact where IT staff is able to identify and resolve problems faster, and the number of repetitive issues decreased. The new solution also includes Configuration Management allowing KHS IT to track and monitor configurations. In addition, IT staff required lesser time and manpower to detect problems’ root hence more time for other improvement tasks. Customers of KHS also benefits from the new solutions, where satisfactory level increased with lesser disruptions happened in store and e-commerce. It is worthwhile for KHS to make this change as it brings benefits to their IT team and the business. (KHS Manufacturer Takes Advantage of Network Management Software., n.d.)
• Case Study III: Consumer Electronics Manufacturer
The last case study best describes the scenario of having limited resources in IT team but they are required to provide utmost availability and high-performance network worldwide. A Consumer Electronics Manufacturer is featured with a wide range of physical retail shops, information kiosks and e-commerce depending on their network to provide services to their customers. The company is growing, same goes with their network’s complexity hence efficiency in their network management has to be enhanced. However, with limited budget and manpower, their IT team is always fire-fighting to resolve network issues and handling other business critical projects which are too taxing for them. It became worst when network downtime lasts for 24 hours during peak season resulting in revenue loss. According to the company, “network management expenses were estimated to increase 20% annually” which doesn’t seem positive to their business’s future growth. (Conserving IT Manpower and Expanding Service., 2015)
The network management solution from third party company, together with other software has shown improvement in Consumer Electronics Manufacturer’s corporate network management. The amount of time spent in fire-fighting is reduced by 60% which is equivalent to 850 hours per month that can be invested in other major projects. Efficiency in managing corporate network is enhanced and expenses cost is reduced. (Conserving IT Manpower and Expanding Service., 2015)
Business outcomes
The above case studies have shown how organisations overcome the challenges in corporate network management. With different approaches adopted, they are able to align corporate network management with business goals which contribute to the positive business outcomes.
• Increase in productivity
In all the case studies, one of the most significant benefits that organisations have experienced is productivity increased. As mentioned earlier, employees are often frustrated with network downtime which affects their daily tasks (Networking Management: The Core of Business., 2016, August 16). However, with solutions like ITIL frameworks or third party solutions that well managed corporate networks, IT team is more productive as they are able to detect and resolve critical network issues before it occurs. With lesser disruptions, employees are more confident with the corporate network in delivering higher quality service and able to focus more on revenue-generating projects which bring about business financial growth. (Wolfaardt, L., 2016, April 14)
• Cost-effective
Often extra manpower is required in organisations to carry out troubleshooting of network issues. The time spent has also increased in repetitive tasks, which is not cost-effective to the business. (Networking Management: The Core of Business., 2016, August 16) Referring to Consumer Electronics Manufacturer case study with constraints in resources, it is a burden to their IT staff in handling several workloads at once. Nevertheless, with the successful deployment of corporate network management solution, it is money-saving for the business and beneficial for business expansion. (Conserving IT Manpower and Expanding Service., 2015)
• Time-saving
The amount of time spent in troubleshooting for all case studies is substantial. As shown in KHS case study, enhancing in corporate network management efficiency allow IT team to be more aware of the devices on the network and have more control over managing the network (KHS Manufacturer Takes Advantage of Network Management Software., n.d.). Furthermore, Konecranes IT team has also experienced how ITIL frameworks have shortened the time used to source for configurations and detect of network issues (Mattila, A., 2008). This shows that time is an important factor in business development and how corporate network management helps IT team to free up more time to handle other projects.
• Customers confidence
Another important role in every business is the customers. They are the ones who help organisations in the growth of the business. However, network outages have caused unpleasant experiences for customers and are disturbing to business and employees (Networking Management: The Core of Business., 2016, August 16). This is shown in KHS case study as network downtime has affected their business image however corporate network management solution has improved customer’s confidence and satisfactory level which are beneficial to business revenues. (KHS Manufacturer Takes Advantage of Network Management Software., n.d.).
Conclusion
Challenges in corporate network management have affected most organisations’ IT team and business growth. The demand to resolve these threats and further enhance the efficiency in corporate network management is critical to every business. The three organisations addressed in the case studies post a great example of different approaches to improve corporate network management efficiency while overcoming challenges. By adopting ITIL frameworks or third party network management solutions, they are capable of meeting business objectives as well as better managed and maintained their corporate networks. The results received by these organisations are beneficial to their employee and corporation. In conclusion, corporate network management is proven to have contributed to positive business outcomes.