Reliable home network performance is one of the main problems facing IT teams have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has further exacerbated the communication divide between IT and remote employees.
IT teams can detect and resolve network performance problems more easily while on site, so with almost the entire workforce working in different locations, it's almost impossible to monitor and manage remote networks.
Employees seem to recognize this challenge with remote troubleshooting as well, because 57.5% of the employees who encountered technical problems in the midst of the pandemic did not report them to IT, according to a report by NetMotion Software, a Seattle-based mobile performance software provider.
NetMotion interviewed 500 IT professionals and 500 remote employees in the United States and the United Kingdom in mid-September about their remote working experiences.
This figure of almost 58% is above the pre-pandemic figures. However, while many employees reported no technical problems, 74.5% of organizations still saw an increase in help desk tickets, with an additional 30% reporting a large increase.
Even so, less than half of the problems reported to IT teams were resolved, pointing to the challenge IT teams face in gaining visibility into remote devices or networks and detecting the causes of technical problems.
How home network performance problems relate to other IT problems
The top five technical problems found by the report among IT leaders were as follows:
- reliable network performance
- software or application problems
- cybersecurity
- hardware performance
- ability to detect problems
Although the survey did not collect details on the types of network performance problems that IT teams observed, the lack of visibility of these disparate and potentially insecure home networks can hinder IT teams' ability to diagnose problems.
In addition, cybersecurity, hardware performance and the ability to detect problems can affect or be affected by the performance of the home network.
Cybersecurity
Network security tools such as VPNs and authentication software can hinder home network performance and make it difficult for remote employees to work, according to more than half of the respondents.
Although the need for remote technologies is clearHowever, these tools were not designed to support the entire workforce, and organizations did not choose these tools to support a large number of remote employees.
Before COVID-19, office workers were the ones most remembered when IT teams chose new tools and platforms. VPNs were enough for office workers who rarely worked from home.
As a result of the pandemic, this configuration will probably never be the case again. Offices in the future will probably have significantly fewer people than before the pandemic, so supporting remote employees will become a priority when IT teams choose new tools.
In fact, half of all workers will remain remote, no matter what. Even if it's not half in some sectors, it will be such a big chunk that IT, security and everyone else will have to think about remote workers first.
Hardware performance
Slow hardware performance, including laptops and devices that take too long to turn on or access the necessary tools, was another problem that interviewees cited. Hardware problems often stem from the age of the hardware, which can lead to poor network and application performance.
In addition, older hardware may not be able to support newer network security applications, such as an organization's recently adopted VPN service or a cloud-based security tool.
This can impede an employee's work-from-home experience and force them to work on a slow device or risk not having security protection.
Ability to detect problems
Since most remote employees work from home, they operate on home Wi-Fi networks, IT teams do not have significant knowledge of these networks.
As a result, teams are not sufficiently able to diagnose problems or help employees if they experience network performance problems. Some 27% of those interviewed said that determining the real cause of reported technical problems was a major challenge with remote working.
How to improve the remote network, IT monitoring
Monitoring of network and employee performance was significantly affected by the shift to remote working, and many IT teams lacked the insights they needed. necessary about employees' networks, devices and applications that can ensure IT teams keep technology running smoothly.
IT teams can improve remote management and monitoring in a few different ways, and half of the respondents said they already use a combination of tools for remote monitoring.
For example, some products can measure whether an application is active or not, whether a service is inactive, the battery level of a device and how the device has been configured.
Teams that aren't ready to adopt more tools can send regular surveys to employees and ask about common network performance issues or other technical problems they face, among other comments. This communication can also help reduce the divide between remote employees and IT teams.
Contact the experts at Conversys now and find out about Aruba Networks' security, network management and connectivity solutions. We're on hand to help you overcome new challenges.
About Conversys
Conversys IT Solutions is a provider of Information and Communication Technology services and solutions operating throughout Brazil.
With a highly qualified technical and commercial team and a network of partners that includes the main global technology manufacturers, Conversys IT Solutions is able to deliver customized IT and Telecom Infrastructure solutions to clients.
We invest in our employees and partners and strive for a long-lasting relationship with our clients, because we believe that this is how we gain the skills and knowledge we need to innovate and generate value for the businesses in which we operate.