Imagine this: Your network goes down. You’re scrambling for a solution, and don’t know for sure what your next IT strategy should be or include to reduce downtime. What if you already had a plan for IT downtime? That’s what a network assessment and regular network management can do for your company.
Getting a network assessment gives you the essential network documentation you need -- not only in crisis, but also when you are goal setting for your enterprise, planning your network management, and optimizing that network. Here’s why we offer network assessment to our clients.
What is a network assessment?
In its most simple terms, a network assessment is a report that analyzes your organization’s network infrastructure. That can mean a lot of different things depending on different factors, but maybe it’s easiest to think of it as a way to check your existing network and see if there are any areas of concerns, and areas of opportunity to improve existing networks to operate at an efficient and optimal level. Do you value security above all else? How about an efficient and consolidated network for possible cost reduction? The network assessment will give you a comprehensive look into your existing IT infrastructure, learning where you are now so that you can make well informed decisions about where you want to go in the future.
Data Foundry uses its network assessment to document and map out your network. With it, we can identify single points of failure, find inefficiencies, and find opportunities to simplify your network and reduce downtime. On top of that, we find vulnerabilities in your network for increased security opportunities and fixes.
How does a network assessment help network management?
Network assessments give you deliverables that help establish a baseline. You know what you have, so you know what it SHOULD look like when things go wrong. For us, our network assessment’s deliverables are LAN/WAN network diagrams, a network inventory, network vulnerabilities, and a presentation by us that shows you where your next steps should be.
That last one is critical for IT teams. Looking at the raw data is a huge task; you’re going to want someone who can take ownership of the project and offer a consultative approach. We use certified network engineers that you communicate directly with to learn the best practices for your network scalability. We give you the data AND the plan in easy-to-understand deliverables so that you can take an active approach in your network management.
Our team of expert network engineers ensures that your network assessment covers all needs your IT team may need assistance with and the right suggestions for an optimal network.
How does a network assessment relate to IT downtime?
It’s important to have your network assessment done BEFORE you run into problems. It’ll be too late if you wait. The sooner you understand your network’s setup and performance, the sooner you’ll be able to be proactive in addressing IT downtime. Why is that important? Well, the average cost of data center downtime is more than $5,600 a minute. Even a partial data center outage can cost an organization close to $258,000, if not more.
Learn more by scheduling a tour or get a quick quote.
