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How the Proliferation of Cloud, Internet and Remote Work Impacts Network Operations

Jeremy Rossbach

Efficiency is a highly-desirable objective in business. Efficiency, after all, often translates to measurable savings of all kinds — cost, time, effort, etc. But, when the push for efficiency interferes with other important goals, a business may find itself looking at diminishing returns rather than the efficiency gains it was banking on.

We're seeing this scenario play out in enterprises around the world as they continue to struggle with infrastructures and remote work models with an eye toward operational efficiencies. In contrast to that goal, a recent Broadcom survey of global IT and network professionals found widespread adoption of these strategies is making the network more complex and hampering observability, leading to uptime, performance and security issues. Let's look more closely at these challenges.

Image
Broadcom

 

Cloud and Internet Reliance

According to the survey, 98% of companies are using or planning to use cloud infrastructure and 95% are still supporting remote workers. As a result, the network has become increasingly more complex, noted by 78% of respondents.

Consider that the modern IT environment now includes cloud — public, private and hybrid — virtual machines and network devices, and numerous applications and resources connected across the internet. Network endpoints are spread far and wide and often exist in workers' homes, which makes it challenging to gain the visibility necessary to ensure uptime, performance, and security.

Digging deeper, when asked what specifically is making network operations more challenging, the top answer was cloud environments (62%). Close behind at 55%, respondents cited overall scale, including physical and virtual devices and those not directly controlled by the IT teams, such as public cloud infrastructure and personal devices.

This reliance on the cloud and public internet means much of the network is hidden from view and out of network operators' control. In fact, 80% of respondents claim internet and cloud environments create network blind spots which can often create delays in issue remediation.

Teams Lack Critical Data

When network operations teams don't have the information they need to ensure uptime and performance, it's a problem that can lead to costly downtime. In fact, 76% of respondents said slow or missing data directly impedes resolution times. Yet, 95% of respondents say they do not get the information they need from ISPs and cloud providers, indicative of the information challenge network teams are facing. What's worse, 84% of network professionals indicated that they regularly learn about issues from users.

Asked to elaborate on the information they need but aren't getting from ISPs, survey respondents cited path latency and node or hop issues, information about route changes, DDoS attack locations, DNS issues, historical performance by path, and path packet loss. This is critical information network operations teams could use proactively to prevent network performance or availability incidents and improve issue resolution speeds.

Despite expectations for better information flow from CSPs, respondents offered a list of information they need but don't get from these providers, including security events and infrastructure issues, authentication and access issues, node and hop issues, and path latency.

This lack of visibility into cloud and internet network issues is a problem with potentially costly repercussions.

Poor network operations tools exacerbate issues

Tooling is a common approach to managing an increasingly complex network as evidenced by the 84% of organizations that use five or more network management tools. Likely purchased to support new technologies such as cloud or remote employees, the use of numerous tools adds additional complexity and costs. Interestingly, over 30% of respondents directly called out poor network operation tools for making network operations more challenging. It seems clear that organizations are struggling to find the right network operations tools to meet their needs leading to tool sprawl.

A more efficient network means better business performance

For efficient and effective network operations, observability is paramount. Lack of observability makes ensuring uptime, performance, and security more challenging and also creates delays in issue remediation. With demand for reliable IT networks at an all-time high as the workplace continues to expand and adopt remote and transitory work models, the need for end-to-end observability cannot be understated. Modern network operation tools can help network teams overcome blind spots by directly pulling in information from cloud and internet providers and consolidating network information in one place. Efficiency may be a business objective, but a reliable network must take precedence. After all, if the network goes down, so does the business.

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Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

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In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
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How the Proliferation of Cloud, Internet and Remote Work Impacts Network Operations

Jeremy Rossbach

Efficiency is a highly-desirable objective in business. Efficiency, after all, often translates to measurable savings of all kinds — cost, time, effort, etc. But, when the push for efficiency interferes with other important goals, a business may find itself looking at diminishing returns rather than the efficiency gains it was banking on.

We're seeing this scenario play out in enterprises around the world as they continue to struggle with infrastructures and remote work models with an eye toward operational efficiencies. In contrast to that goal, a recent Broadcom survey of global IT and network professionals found widespread adoption of these strategies is making the network more complex and hampering observability, leading to uptime, performance and security issues. Let's look more closely at these challenges.

Image
Broadcom

 

Cloud and Internet Reliance

According to the survey, 98% of companies are using or planning to use cloud infrastructure and 95% are still supporting remote workers. As a result, the network has become increasingly more complex, noted by 78% of respondents.

Consider that the modern IT environment now includes cloud — public, private and hybrid — virtual machines and network devices, and numerous applications and resources connected across the internet. Network endpoints are spread far and wide and often exist in workers' homes, which makes it challenging to gain the visibility necessary to ensure uptime, performance, and security.

Digging deeper, when asked what specifically is making network operations more challenging, the top answer was cloud environments (62%). Close behind at 55%, respondents cited overall scale, including physical and virtual devices and those not directly controlled by the IT teams, such as public cloud infrastructure and personal devices.

This reliance on the cloud and public internet means much of the network is hidden from view and out of network operators' control. In fact, 80% of respondents claim internet and cloud environments create network blind spots which can often create delays in issue remediation.

Teams Lack Critical Data

When network operations teams don't have the information they need to ensure uptime and performance, it's a problem that can lead to costly downtime. In fact, 76% of respondents said slow or missing data directly impedes resolution times. Yet, 95% of respondents say they do not get the information they need from ISPs and cloud providers, indicative of the information challenge network teams are facing. What's worse, 84% of network professionals indicated that they regularly learn about issues from users.

Asked to elaborate on the information they need but aren't getting from ISPs, survey respondents cited path latency and node or hop issues, information about route changes, DDoS attack locations, DNS issues, historical performance by path, and path packet loss. This is critical information network operations teams could use proactively to prevent network performance or availability incidents and improve issue resolution speeds.

Despite expectations for better information flow from CSPs, respondents offered a list of information they need but don't get from these providers, including security events and infrastructure issues, authentication and access issues, node and hop issues, and path latency.

This lack of visibility into cloud and internet network issues is a problem with potentially costly repercussions.

Poor network operations tools exacerbate issues

Tooling is a common approach to managing an increasingly complex network as evidenced by the 84% of organizations that use five or more network management tools. Likely purchased to support new technologies such as cloud or remote employees, the use of numerous tools adds additional complexity and costs. Interestingly, over 30% of respondents directly called out poor network operation tools for making network operations more challenging. It seems clear that organizations are struggling to find the right network operations tools to meet their needs leading to tool sprawl.

A more efficient network means better business performance

For efficient and effective network operations, observability is paramount. Lack of observability makes ensuring uptime, performance, and security more challenging and also creates delays in issue remediation. With demand for reliable IT networks at an all-time high as the workplace continues to expand and adopt remote and transitory work models, the need for end-to-end observability cannot be understated. Modern network operation tools can help network teams overcome blind spots by directly pulling in information from cloud and internet providers and consolidating network information in one place. Efficiency may be a business objective, but a reliable network must take precedence. After all, if the network goes down, so does the business.

The Latest

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...

Today, organizations are generating and processing more data than ever before. From training AI models to running complex analytics, massive datasets have become the backbone of innovation. However, as businesses embrace the cloud for its scalability and flexibility, a new challenge arises: managing the soaring costs of storing and processing this data ...