With digital transformation spending expected to reach $1.7 trillion by the end of 2019, it’s critical for enterprises to move past what IDC terms a “digital impasse” to retain a competitive edge. Centralized network management is a powerful tool for digital transformation,
providing enterprises with elegant solutions to the challenges that used to plague networks in the past. To leverage these solutions, CIOs need a strategy for evaluating and integrating centralized network management into their networks.
Cisco’s DNA Center is a complete network management system designed to drive growth and transformation. Consider these five points for using DNA Center for managing your network infrastructure and implementing digital transformation into your enterprise.
1. A Proactive Security Stance
Enterprises continue to be prime targets for bad actors. Cybercriminals are using wiper malware and ransomware to create chaos, leading to expensive downtime, the potential loss of secure data, and theft.
DNA Center offers CIOs powerful tools for increasing network security, including:
SD-Access: SD-Access integrates your networks into a single, virtual fabric, simplifying the microsegmentation necessary to keep your data secure.
Stealthwatch: Stealthwatch uses advanced security analytics, including behavioral modeling and machine learning, to identify critical threats.
Encrypted traffic analytics: Many of today’s threats are using encryption to evade detection. Analyzing encrypted traffic is critical to identifying and isolating these threats.
Identity Services Engine (ISE): ISE reduces risks and contains threats by dynamically controlling network access, assessing vulnerabilities, and applying threat intelligence.
Rapid Threat Containment: Cisco’s Rapid Threat Containment quickly restricts access permissions and can even remove devices from the network, isolating threats before they infect your network.
Drag-and-drop provisioning: Provisioning is a simple, automatic process based on the policies you put into place. Automated provisioning eliminates manual provisioning, which leaves room for human error and security gaps.
2. Leveraging Internal Resources
In many firms, CIOs are tasked with enterprise digital transformation while maintaining a tight budget. Instead of focusing on the infrastructure goals that move your enterprise forward, IT professionals are spending an average of 43 percent of their time on network troubleshooting, according to a Cisco survey.
Network Time Travel is a unique, time-saving tool built into DNA Center. IT staff members can view network issues in a timeline, along with all the relevant user and device data. Instead of spending valuable time trying to replicate the problem, team members can quickly resolve it.
DNA Center’s proactive tools simplify troubleshooting and ease the burden of manual configurations, allowing IT staff members to focus on larger, transformational goals. For example, IBM MultiNetwork WAN Services (MNWS) uses DNA Center to provision clients remotely using a predefined set-up, simplifying the provisioning process. Provisioning that used to take hours now takes minutes.
3. Improving Network Performance
DNA Analytics and Assurance are built into DNA Center. They turn your network devices into sensors, giving you visibility across your network through a simple, intuitive dashboard. Network issues are flagged in real time, along with guided remediation recommendations that SAVES your team time.
DNA Center goes beyond simple troubleshooting, though. Using an intelligent analytics engine, DNA Analytics correlates data from across your network to provide you with clear, actionable insights for improving network performance. The University of Wollongong in Australia has seen a significant improvement in their network, which supports more than 35,000 students and staff across nine campuses. In particular, the predictive analytics tools built into DNA Analytics and Assurance have allowed them to identify potential issues before there’s a complaint.
4. Keeping Up with IoT Demands
IoT and BYOD technology are placing increased demands on wireless network infrastructure. The number of endpoints enterprises are managing has exploded, with employees and customers often having multiple connected devices. IoT devices can create network lags and bring a new set of security concerns.
Centralized network management through DNA Center can resolve these concerns and simplify endpoint management. Its unique tools for finding and resolving wireless issues include:
Device 360/Client 360: This DNA Assurance feature allows you to view device and client connectivity issues from any angle, including information on topology and latency.
Aironet Active Sensor: This compact network sensor simulates real-world client experiences, allowing you to validate wireless performance in high-demand locations.
Path Trace: An operator can easily visualize the path of an application from the client, through all devices, and the server in minutes.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) looked to DNA Center for a solution to its endpoint management challenges. In ten years, they went from 6,000 connected devices to more than 30,000. SD-Access, which is wrapped into DNA Center, provides CHLA with an interconnected fabric that simplifies device deployment and troubleshooting.
5. Poised for Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is critical for retaining a competitive edge. It requires the ability to quickly make changes to your network infrastructure without burdening your internal resources. DNA Center is an intent-based networking solution that accelerates digital transformation by:
Increasing control. DNA Center’s dashboard gives you a bird’s-eye view of your network, allowing you to quickly assess the impact of changes your team makes to network infrastructure.
Simplifying policy setting. Policies are created once, and then applied automatically, eliminating time-consuming manual configurations and allowing you to easily make the changes required for transformation.
Enhancing security. SD-Access facilitates the end-to-end segmentation needed to ensure your network stays secure as you implement changes.
DNA Center simplifies network infrastructure management, making digital transformation an attainable reality for progressive enterprises.
At Acadia Technology Group, we know the importance of digital transformation to the future of your firm. Our experienced team can optimize DNA Center to meet the technological challenges of your enterprise. Contact us today for more information on how to get started with DNA Center
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