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The State of Network Management in 2018

Data Breach and User Experience are Top Concerns
Jim Frey

The hardest part of managing and resolving an incident on the network is that users or customers know about incidents before they do, according to 30.1% of survey respondents participating in The 2018 State of Network Management report from Kentik.

Another 26% reported that their biggest challenge with incident response is that data exists, but they can’t access or analyze it easily. Without the ability to analyze network data in real time, network professionals cannot mitigate issues before they affect users and customers.

More study findings:

Automation is trending

35% of respondents cited automation as the most important network trend right now. Yet, only 15% of respondents said their organization is prepared for it.

AI & ML buzzword fatigue

Despite the industry buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), less than 1% of respondents marked it as a most important trend. However, 45.2% of respondents do perceive it to be helpful for network management.

User experience network challenges

Data breach was "the biggest network worry" (33.1% of responses). However, user experience was right behind it (28.8% of responses). As more organizations conduct business online, network outages are now a direct tie to customer success for many companies across industries.

Proliferation of tools for cloud visibility

There has been a huge proliferation of tools to manage cloud and internet dependencies. As a result, many organizations are trying various combinations of tools to manage the visibility challenge. Network traffic analytics appeared as the most commonly used way network professionals (28.3%) are managing the challenge.

Shared tools challenge becomes more real

A majority of respondents (67%) agreed that using the same stack of tools to manage both network performance and security could significantly improve operational efficiencies. However, only about 40% of respondents (39.5%) said their organization is using the same stack of tools to manage both network performance and network security.

"Between multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and software-defined networking (SDN), there were about 15 years where the networking world was pretty static. Right now we’re in a world moving as fast as the ISP world did back in the 90s. Every few weeks there’s something new," said Avi Freedman, co-founder and CEO of Kentik. "While the industry’s pace of innovation offers guaranteed excitement, our survey findings also reveal that organizations ultimately need a better understanding of their infrastructure in order for their businesses to benefit from all of the new developments."

“With increased business reliance on internet connectivity, the network world has and will continue to get increasingly complex,"he added. "We’re just in the early stages of how our industry will need to transform,” added Freedman.

Survey Methodology: Kentik’s findings are based on responses from 531 network professionals surveyed during Cisco Live 2018. The respondents spanned more than 12 industries, including education, government, healthcare, finance, retail, software, telecommunications and transportation sectors. Respondents varied in titles from C-level, to SVP/VPs, directors, and managers, to network and security engineers, architects, and associates. The majority of respondents came from organizations with 1,000 or more employees.

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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 ...

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 ...

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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 ...

The State of Network Management in 2018

Data Breach and User Experience are Top Concerns
Jim Frey

The hardest part of managing and resolving an incident on the network is that users or customers know about incidents before they do, according to 30.1% of survey respondents participating in The 2018 State of Network Management report from Kentik.

Another 26% reported that their biggest challenge with incident response is that data exists, but they can’t access or analyze it easily. Without the ability to analyze network data in real time, network professionals cannot mitigate issues before they affect users and customers.

More study findings:

Automation is trending

35% of respondents cited automation as the most important network trend right now. Yet, only 15% of respondents said their organization is prepared for it.

AI & ML buzzword fatigue

Despite the industry buzz around artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), less than 1% of respondents marked it as a most important trend. However, 45.2% of respondents do perceive it to be helpful for network management.

User experience network challenges

Data breach was "the biggest network worry" (33.1% of responses). However, user experience was right behind it (28.8% of responses). As more organizations conduct business online, network outages are now a direct tie to customer success for many companies across industries.

Proliferation of tools for cloud visibility

There has been a huge proliferation of tools to manage cloud and internet dependencies. As a result, many organizations are trying various combinations of tools to manage the visibility challenge. Network traffic analytics appeared as the most commonly used way network professionals (28.3%) are managing the challenge.

Shared tools challenge becomes more real

A majority of respondents (67%) agreed that using the same stack of tools to manage both network performance and security could significantly improve operational efficiencies. However, only about 40% of respondents (39.5%) said their organization is using the same stack of tools to manage both network performance and network security.

"Between multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and software-defined networking (SDN), there were about 15 years where the networking world was pretty static. Right now we’re in a world moving as fast as the ISP world did back in the 90s. Every few weeks there’s something new," said Avi Freedman, co-founder and CEO of Kentik. "While the industry’s pace of innovation offers guaranteed excitement, our survey findings also reveal that organizations ultimately need a better understanding of their infrastructure in order for their businesses to benefit from all of the new developments."

“With increased business reliance on internet connectivity, the network world has and will continue to get increasingly complex,"he added. "We’re just in the early stages of how our industry will need to transform,” added Freedman.

Survey Methodology: Kentik’s findings are based on responses from 531 network professionals surveyed during Cisco Live 2018. The respondents spanned more than 12 industries, including education, government, healthcare, finance, retail, software, telecommunications and transportation sectors. Respondents varied in titles from C-level, to SVP/VPs, directors, and managers, to network and security engineers, architects, and associates. The majority of respondents came from organizations with 1,000 or more employees.

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

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 ...