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Digital transformation is on a lot of minds these days, especially as more and more business operations adopt emerging technologies. Getting your network ready to make more moves into the digital era -- if you haven't already -- will therefore be a high priority of the coming year. But what do you need to know to get the network up to snuff, and how does your internet service play a role?

How Do I Get My Network Ready for Digital Transformation?

Establish monitoring procedures, everywhere. The more insight you have into a network, the better off you'll be going forward. You'll have a better understanding of not only what's gone wrong, but how, and those two points give you what you need to fix problems more quickly. Don't forget sufficient bandwidth; you'll need to start with a quality high-speed internet service to best monitor your network.

Establish regular testing procedures. This also goes to insight, but any time you're planning to add services or components, have a means to test these in place. That helps provide more information on just what works and what doesn't, and helps you establish necessary procedures in advance to make sure new additions don't interfere with overall network operations. 

Reconsider your support protocols. Most of the time, support is what gets called in when something goes wrong. That's useful, but why not try to focus on making nothing go wrong? A more proactive support system—new emphasis on key performance metrics, lower thresholds for error and the like—helps keep fires from starting, instead of forcing IT to be the department that puts out said fires.

Focus on the big stuff. It's possible for a network to have problems that really don't impact its operation. Too many alarms for too long means burnout, and no one wants that. Some alarm management systems use machine learning to learn which alarms actually mean something truly bad is afoot.

Put the user first. In the end, it's all about the user experience. While many metrics give insight—bandwidth utilization, signal latency, ping time and so on—sometimes you'll do just as well to ask around to see if there's dissatisfaction. If the numbers and perception line up, then it may be time to make further changes. This is also why you want a good high-speed internet provider; you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, no matter how you optimize that ear.

How Can I Get Help With a Digital Transformation-Ready Network?

If the process seems simple, but not easy, then you can better ready your network for a digital transformation by dropping us a line at MHO. Our connectivity solutions will help drive your network forward, and make it that much easier to restructure your network for digital transformation. It's too valuable a concept to pass up, so get the network ready.