The issues of managing your employees’ bandwidth, security, and mobility needs will not go away anytime soon, thanks to the quick pace at which technology evolves.
Implementing a modern IT infrastructure capable of supporting always-connected mobile devices, data-hungry apps, and “bring your own device” (BYOD) policies is a must.
This is where cloud-managed networking comes in. If you want to simplify your network switches and save time and money on maintenance and management, this is the solution for you. Cloud-managed networking has become more common as a technique to manage an organization’s networking infrastructure as cloud apps become ever more widely deployed, owing to both its benefits and the needs of remote workers.
What is Cloud Managed Networking?
Cloud-managed networking is a method of remotely managing and operating a company network rather than using onsite network controllers or management software. It employs a software-as-a-service paradigm to make controlling and analyzing on-premises network devices like wireless access points and switches simple.
According to Gartner’s analysis, cloud-managed networking adoption will quadruple by the end of 2023.
Cloud computing’s growth has opened doors that were previously closed by siloed, on-premises equipment and applications. It’s simpler to collect data from more sources, support a larger audience without adding physical resources, and build a massive data lake that allows for more granular and useful analytics. The same may be said for networking that is controlled by the cloud.
This technology allows you to manage all network users and devices from a single location, allowing employees to work more flexibly without regard to location. Cloud-managed networking is especially useful for firms with employees that operate from several locations.
Once connected to the network, a device can quickly get the current configuration from the cloud. Businesses can also scale up from a few key devices to a huge deployment using a single platform.
Modern cloud infrastructure enables new levels of agility that are difficult to achieve with traditional on-premises technology. Using virtual services and infrastructure rather than purchasing and maintaining physical management appliances makes more sense for many businesses.
Benefits of Cloud Managed Networking
The elimination of the requirement for hardware and the resources required to host traditional on-premises services results in immediate cost and time benefits. Cloud-based solutions also assist firms to attain a competitive edge by reducing time-to-market and time-to-value because there is virtually no ramp-up time.
The following are some of the other advantages of cloud-managed networking:
- For improved analysis, every network infrastructure under administration can transmit telemetry into a single data lake.
- In addition to cost reductions at the data center, fewer network devices are required in branch offices.
- AI and machine learning technologies can help troubleshoot by identifying unusual patterns.
- New software and feature updates can be deployed and adopted more quickly.
- AI comparisons between sites can help firms figure out how to improve the performance of their networks.
- Information about new IoT devices may be transferred more readily, improving network security.
- Increased security by leveraging cloud providers’ and their network infrastructure vendor’s knowledge.
How Cloud Managed Networking Works?
Managing Networks or Troubleshooting
Managing and troubleshooting issues from anywhere become simple and quick with cloud-managed IT. From any computer with internet connectivity, an IT administrator may instantly receive a notification of a network problem, assess the problem, and propose a solution.
Installing and Maintaining Network Infrastructure
Cloud-based IT infrastructure management necessitates less on-site setup, lowering staff expenses dramatically. Access points, security appliances, and VoIP phones may all be pre-configured with zero-touch provisioning before they arrive on-site. For a real plug-and-play experience, configurations are instantly downloaded once the device is connected to the network. Using the cloud to manage IT infrastructure makes difficult tasks easier and saves money and time.
Security Updates
Cloud-managed IT makes it simple for IT administrators to receive a real-time picture of what’s going on across the network and to keep security risks at bay. When new threats emerge, administrators may rest easy knowing that the newest security updates have already been secretly and automatically deployed to firewall devices over the Internet. This level of visibility and automation relieves IT of a large amount of effort while assuring comprehensive network security. IT administrators may monitor application usage on a per-client basis and implement security policies at the firewall or access point level with a fully cloud-managed architecture, all from a single dashboard.
Management Interface
A single administration interface can control any aspect of the stack. This allows various components of your IT architecture to collaborate in novel ways. Cloud-managed IT is perfect for expanding enterprises with ever-increasing numbers of users, devices, and sites due to its easy scalability.
Advanced Networking Technologies
In order to deliver value, many latest networking technologies, such as artificial intelligence or machine learning-based solutions, require scalable computation and storage. These regulations, on the other hand, are usually too expensive for smaller businesses.
Cloud-managed networking evens the playing field by providing the tools needed to collect and analyze data, spot patterns, and trends, and offer results that help enhance network operations.
New Features and Updates
New features and upgrades are being created and released on a more regular basis. The vendor is responsible for all enhancements and upgrades, which ensures they are tested for compatibility and distributed without downtime. This allows IT teams to focus on developing new services that improve business processes much more quickly.
