7 Network Monitoring Use Cases with Real-Life Examples
Effective network monitoring is a cornerstone of efficient IT management, especially for complex, hybrid cloud environments. Through real-world examples, we will illustrate the practical benefits and applications of network monitoring:
Core Network Monitoring Use Cases
1. Performance Optimization
Network monitoring spots bottlenecks and inefficiencies by analyzing traffic patterns and bandwidth usage. This helps you decide which upgrades are worth the money and which aren’t.
Case Study 1
GTL, a company with 500-1,000 employees, uses SolarWinds Network Performance Monitoring. The tool gives them real-time visibility into their inventory scale, letting them measure how fast their monitoring environment grows. This matters when you’re expanding both your business and your monitoring capabilities
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Read: Top 4 SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor Competitors in 2024
2. Security Threat Detection
Continuous traffic analysis catches unusual activities that signal security problem unauthorized access, malware spread, that kind of thing.
Case Study 2
NTT moved to LogicMonitor for automated hybrid infrastructure monitoring and analytics. They integrated it with their CMDB for better visibility across all environments. The deployment was straightforward, using APIs for automation. LogicMonitor’s bi-directional integration with ServiceNow CMDB simplified monitoring tasks and improved network efficiency, making it faster to onboard new technologies and devices.
The solution let NTT speed up customer migrations and improve business agility without maintaining legacy components2 .
3. Compliance and Audit
If you’re dealing with regulatory requirements, network monitoring tracks data flows, monitors access controls, and logs user activities to create audit trails.
Case Study 3
After Equifax’s 2017 data breach compromised 147 million people’s personal information, they faced intense scrutiny from the SEC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These agencies required Equifax to demonstrate robust security measures and compliance with data protection regulations.
Equifax implemented network monitoring solutions to enhance security and ensure compliance. The tools let them track data flows, monitor access controls, and log user activities across their network infrastructure3 .
4. Troubleshooting and Diagnostics
When network issues pop up, monitoring systems help you quickly find the source. Fast diagnosis means less downtime and quicker recovery, reducing the hit on business operations.
Case Study 4
Netskope, a security services provider, relies on the Kentik Network Intelligence Platform for troubleshooting in its global NewEdge Network. Monitoring a complex network environment, they used Kentik’s flow monitoring to gain visibility into traffic flows. With Kentik’s insights, Netskope optimized peering relationships, identified traffic anomalies, and achieved cost savings through accurate billing and service contract optimizations.
The network performance analysis gave them actionable insights to select optimal peering partners, route traffic efficiently, and help customers maximize their internet service usage4 .
Case Study 5
SPI Health and Safety, a leading Canadian provider of health and safety solutions, transitioned all call center employees to remote work during the onset of the 2019 pandemic to maintain service continuity while prioritizing staff safety. However, ensuring optimal network and VoIP performance for remote workers posed a challenge. Complaints regarding poor VoIP quality during support calls emerged, impacting customer satisfaction. SPI Health and Safety adopted Obkio Network Performance Monitoring software to address this.
This solution enabled them to monitor network and VoIP performance, swiftly identify issues, and gather data for troubleshooting, thereby ensuring uninterrupted service delivery and enhancing customer experience. 5 .
5. Capacity Planning
Regular monitoring of network usage and performance helps IT teams predict future needs. This capacity planning approach scales network resources efficiently, aligning them with business growth and demand.
Case Study 6
Blue State Digital (BSD), a provider of web, email, and fundraising platforms, faced challenges in monitoring their rapidly expanding infrastructure, especially with the implementation of a “next generation” action tracking service. To streamline monitoring, BSD turned to Datadog for its automated setup capabilities and integration with their existing systems. Datadog’s push-driven metric collection and easy integration with StatsD allowed BSD to gather metrics effortlessly, even from esoteric sources like HAProxy and ElasticSearch.
The platform’s timeline view and tagging features further enhanced BSD’s operations by simplifying data manipulation and incident management. 6
6. Quality of Service (QoS) Management
Network monitoring tools let administrators prioritize traffic and ensure critical applications get the bandwidth they need. This matters in environments where network resources are shared among numerous applications and services.
Case Study 7
A medium-sized company with 501-1,000 employees, operating for Flathead County, utilizes SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) and Engineer’s Toolset for network management. The Orion Summary page serves as a central hub for senior administrators, providing real-time alerts for impending issues such as server downtimes, low disk space, and memory overutilization.
The company leverages SolarWinds’ reporting features and Network Atlas for visual representations of active links, ensuring efficient network monitoring of all switches. The tool’s ability to showcase uptime percentages proves invaluable in financial discussions, solidifying its status as an indispensable asset for network management within the organization. 7 .
7. Bandwidth Optimization
Network monitoring identifies which applications and users consume bandwidth, letting you allocate resources efficiently and cut unnecessary costs.
Case Study 8
The School District of Pickens County in South Carolina faced network management challenges during the pandemic when schools shifted to remote learning and hybrid education models.
John Anderson, Director of Technology Services, implemented PRTG (Paessler Router Traffic Grapher) network monitoring across the district’s schools. The monitoring system allowed the IT team to identify and resolve connectivity issues before teachers and students noticed problems.
“It was hard being short-staffed during the pandemic. PRTG helped because no matter where we were, we knew where the problems were without waiting for the schools to call us, and our technical support were able to help,” Anderson explained.
The network monitoring system provided early warning of connection failures, bandwidth bottlenecks, and configuration issues across multiple school locations. This proactive approach reduced response times and minimized disruptions to online classes and student testing.
The IT team used the monitoring data to support development of systems for state-required student testing and other district technology needs. The advanced fault detection enabled the small IT staff to maintain network reliability across all schools despite increased demand from remote learning.8
FAQ
For more on network monitoring
- Top 5 Network Monitoring Tools in Windows in 2024
- Top 4 AI Network Monitoring Use Cases and Real-Life Examples in ’24
- Top 7 Free Network Monitoring Tools based on 1,000+ Reviews in 2024
- Top 10 Network Monitoring Best Practices in 2024
Reference Links
Cem's work has been cited by leading global publications including Business Insider, Forbes, Washington Post, global firms like Deloitte, HPE and NGOs like World Economic Forum and supranational organizations like European Commission. You can see more reputable companies and resources that referenced AIMultiple.
Throughout his career, Cem served as a tech consultant, tech buyer and tech entrepreneur. He advised enterprises on their technology decisions at McKinsey & Company and Altman Solon for more than a decade. He also published a McKinsey report on digitalization.
He led technology strategy and procurement of a telco while reporting to the CEO. He has also led commercial growth of deep tech company Hypatos that reached a 7 digit annual recurring revenue and a 9 digit valuation from 0 within 2 years. Cem's work in Hypatos was covered by leading technology publications like TechCrunch and Business Insider.
Cem regularly speaks at international technology conferences. He graduated from Bogazici University as a computer engineer and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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