You’ve invested significant time and money into finding the right people for your organization. You support them, train them and give them the tools to succeed. However, even the best people make mistakes.
Automating your network configuration with intent-based networking (IBN) minimizes human error while maximizing security. It moves your valued employees away from tiresome manual configuration tasks and gives them room to apply their skills and creativity to tackling projects that drive your business forward.
The Problem with People
BYOD environments and IoT have introduced new opportunities for organizations, but they’ve also made network configuration a nightmare. Cisco states that up to 95% of network changes are performed manually, which makes operational costs significantly higher than the cost of the network itself. These tasks are also repetitive, which can increase the likelihood of human error.
In the best-case scenario, human error can be corrected with minimal time and disruption to your business. In the worst-case scenarios, however, business operations face significant threats.
Human error can lead to expensive downtime and, even more damaging, critical security breaches. In one high-profile breach, a server configuration error exposed 24 million financial and banking documents. Security breaches cause immeasurable damage to an organization’s reputation.
Solving People Problems with an Intelligent Network
People will always be a critical part of IT, but they work best with the right tools. IBN uses AI and machine learning to take your intent and translate it across your network from end-to-end, intelligently reacting to and learning from incoming data.
For example, you may want to limit payroll database access to those in your accounting department. Doing this manually takes several steps, including:
- Identifying the payroll database and the accounting department.
- Creating a policy that protects the payroll database from anyone who is not in the accounting department.
- Determining where the policy needs to be applied.
- Installing the policy.
- Verifying the policy acts as intended.
- Assuring that the policy can be modified when changes occur.
IBN takes your intent (limiting access to your payroll database) and does all the legwork for you. Once your intent has been translated across the network, it continues to monitor itself, adjusting when needed. You can change things quickly, which is essential for maintaining your competitive edge. Overall, IBN lowers operational costs, boosts employee engagement and offers reliable network monitoring 24/7/365.
Moving to an Intelligent Network
Cisco’s IBN is the first intent-based networking solution built for enterprises, built on decades of expertise. At Acadia Technology Group, we know that moving to an intelligent network might seem daunting. Our experts are available to discuss the possibilities Cisco IBN offers to your firm. Contact us today to learn more about how you could optimize your network and IT team with IBN.
