Better way to save 75% in trouble shooting and 32% in repair time
Dimension Data studies reveals that remote monitoring and automated management reduce the time to troubleshoot faulty networking devices by a massive 75%. Consequently, it takes 32% less time to repair such devices than those not managed in this way. Furthermore, this year’s research again shows a strong correlation between the failures caused by devices and their lifecycle stage.
According to the Report, networks have continued to age for the fifth consecutive year, making 53% of the over 70,000 technology devices that were analysed either ageing or obsolete – up by two percentage points since last year. There’s also been a slight drop in the percentage of obsolete devices – down to 9% from last year’s 11% – while the percentage of ageing devices has increased by four points. The percentage of the current devices analysed is at its lowest in three years.
Based on its experience in evaluating organisations’ operational support maturity, Dimension Data says that on a scale of five, some 90% of organisations are still at the first or second level of maturity. These levels are characterised by a lack of standard processes, ad hoc troubleshooting tools, and ambiguous roles and responsibilities for IT staff, resulting in extended network downtime and increased operational costs. This is also the reason why 30% of all service incidents are still related to human error.
Andre van Schalkwyk, Consulting Practice Manager for Dimension Data’s Networking Business Unit said, “During the seven-year history of the Network Barometer Report, the average tolerance level for organisation’s obsolete devices in their networks has been around 10%. Rarely do organisations allow this to increase beyond 11% before they refresh the relevant devices. The conventional assumption was that an overall technology refresh was imminent, but our data shows that organisations are refreshing mostly obsolete devices, and are clearly willing to sweat their aging devices for longer than expected. Organisations therefore focus their refresh initiatives mostly on technology that has reached critical lifecycle stages when vendor support is no longer available,” explains van Schalkwyk.
