Ah, network monitoring. This is a very touchy subject, and it has numerous definitions when it comes to businesses. Necessarily, business network monitoring can mean monitoring performance and network usage, and it can help find troublesome systems in the workplace. We’re not going to talk about that here, though. The network monitoring we’re going to talk about is more than just an alarm system for performance issues. Still, we’re going to talk about remote network monitoring that businesses have their IT departments do… some companies think that they’re “spying on employees.” Still, network monitoring is essential for business success.
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Why Should Businesses Monitor Their Networks?
While some employees think that their personal information can be at risk, this is something that many companies have in place to protect their employees. The only reason that people are at risk is that they put themselves in that situation. However, people are bound to make errors or cause problems in their business networks. How do you ask? We’ll gladly explain.
Problem Scenario One: The Disgruntled Employee that Hates His Job
If you think that every disgruntled employee is out there to get a rifle and start blasting away, you’re wrong. Many employees have no problem with merely causing network issues themselves by purposefully downloading viruses or browsing sites that they shouldn’t be at the workplace. While this may cause corrective measures to be taken, it’s often too late, and the damage is already done. Once there is a breach in a company’s network, then a business can expect to have a lengthy process to fix the problem at hand – even after the employee is long gone.
Problem Scenario Two: The Untrained Employee Causes Security Issues
This is more often the case than scenario one. Not having proper network training in place and rules, forms, protective measures, etc., are primary ways data breaches occur. Most employees have access to numerous data, and they should be monitored.
You don’t want your employees browsing Facebook throughout the day only to find out that they clicked on a link that ended up putting a virus on their computer (and within minutes, it spreads throughout the entire network). This happens more often than people think. Before you know it, the employee gets in trouble or fired because they didn’t understand better, which is not cool. They should have been appropriately trained, and the mistake is in the leadership, not the employees.
However, both of these scenarios can cause a company to lose thousands and even millions of dollars. Sometimes, complete conversation hijacking can occur, which is even more troublesome to a business because they have to start from the ground up when it comes to their network.
Benefits of Network Monitoring
Fortunately, even though “big brother is watching you,” having a remote monitoring service can help a company. We’ve already touched base on how a scenario may occur, which can easily be avoided. Here are some benefits that network monitoring can do for a company, no matter how small.
Network Security
A company will have improved information and data analysis to know when devices and systems are having issues. If anything ever happens, remote monitoring can show the IT technician that they need to address a problem.
Network monitoring helps thwart cyber attacks.
Advanced Troubleshooting
Having a remote network monitor also often allows for localized helpdesk support. This means that system diagnoses can be made easier. The employee has to hand control over to the IT team, and the problem will get fixed. Also, tracking the network will make it easier to know what is happening in terms of traffic to help combat things like viruses or problematic employee usage.
More Efficient
In business, time is money. With network monitoring, all troubleshooting and problem handling of network issues can be done on the fly. What’s important is that your IT techs don’t let their jobs get to their head. Sometimes they may cause more power-tripping problems on a device than necessary to “lock it down” and secure it. Therefore, rules should be in place as well for all members of the network.
Tracks Employees Data Usage
Problematic employees and their usage can be put in check. Having the right network monitoring in place can ensure job security and system and company security. You don’t have to worry about employees doing things they shouldn’t be doing on your network. These may include accessing and hijacking their pay, getting hijacked, having private conversations jeopardizing the company or other employees, and more.
With network monitoring in place, the odds of your conversation being hijacked dramatically decreases.
Network Monitoring Is Necessary
No matter what people think, remote network monitoring is essential for large and small companies and even home-based businesses. And it’s not as hard as some people think. They may want to use custom-programmed helpdesk software to do this. Some smaller companies even opt into the use of tools like TeamViewer for their network monitoring.
There are even special keyloggers out there that companies can install on employee computers and other security practices (like “parental controls” to block certain websites and social media sites from being accessed) that should be in place in every business.