A network operations center is the life of many businesses. It is a facility consisted of a team of skilled IT professionals trained to monitor a network and ensure data center availability at all times. They are also dedicated to managing incidents on behalf of their clients.
However, maintaining a well-functioning NOC 24 hours a day is no easy feat. But, the good news is, a structured IT process will help resolve some of the major operation center issues. Here are 5 items that will tell you its purposes.
1. Automation
A NOC facility is a busy place that never runs out of services to monitor, an incident to mitigate and a report to construct – and the problem is, there isn’t enough manpower to handle these tasks. An IT process allows you to construct a workflow that instantly identifies and address issues. Through automation, you can be confident that they will not lead to business outages or disruptions.
2. Evaluation
A NOC IT process is designed to assume the role of a large-scale, IT service desk solution. In a similar manner, it detects the needs of the facility and lowers the risks of issues. However unlike the latter, an NOC IT process doesn’t come with the heavy cost that is normally associated with investing in expensive systems. These abilities contribute to the success of an NOC facility.
3. Prioritization
NOC incidents also vary in severity and urgency so, a first-come, first-served approach isn’t applicable. W while common sense is useful in determining which one has a higher priority, an IT process simplifies the process by being ahead in understanding the issue and their possible impact on the entire operations.
4. Technical Knowledge
The technicality of the operations combined with the lack of advanced troubleshooting skills of team members may result in slow progress and unresolved issues. An IT process solves the problem for you by identifying its cause and providing a full technical solution that will fix the issue in no time.
NOTE: In certain cases when a temporary workaround doesn’t suffice, the issue may then be transmitted to skilled personnel until it is completely resolved.
5. Incident Response
Aside from reducing downtime, expediting the incident response procedure is also the ultimate goal of a NOC facility. Having the right IT process allows you to manage incidents practically from anywhere and anytime, all while speeding up recovery time to as much as 90%. These capabilities are dedicated to reducing the impact of system disruptions and downtimes and maximizing your ROI.
Employing the proper processes, tools, and skills in your NOC will result in reduced costs and higher ROI. Further, it will enable you to run a better network operation while meeting the demand for high availability.
But, failure to maximize these potentials may still result in the opposite. To ensure that you maintain data center availability and reduce downtime as much as possible, you should consider outsourcing your NOC operations to companies who have years of experience in dealing with difficult situations.
Did you find this article informative? Let us know by commenting below.
Author Bio:
Darrell Smith is a data/cybersecurity news junkie. He spends most of his time surfing the web for the latest data and network operations center trends. He also shares his recent findings through his articles and other blog posts.
