Over the past decade, digital transformation has dramatically increased dependency on network infrastructure. However, traditional network management approaches are proving inadequate to handle the scale, security and reliability needs of modern digital environments.
Network outages can cost over $300K per hour in losses for medium-large enterprises according to Aberdeen Group. With IoT, cloud and mobility trends exploding, networks are becoming extraordinarily complex. Managing them via outdated manual processes and siloed teams leads to poor agility, lack of visibility and increased risks.
This is where NetOps comes in as a game-changing modern methodology that integrates network infrastructure, operations and security delivery – unlocking tremendous improvements in availability, efficiency and risk reduction.
Let‘s explore what NetOps entails at a high-level before diving deeper:
- NetOps brings together network engineering, IT operations and application teams under a unified operational model powered by automation and analytics.
- It relies on technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced telemetry to provide holistic observability into network health and performance.
- Policy-based automation and orchestration help NetOps adapt and scale network changes across hybrid environments in a rapid, compliant and secure manner.
- By breaking down silos and modernizing manual processes, NetOps boosts network agility, resilience and security to effectively meet digital transformation needs.
Gartner estimates that enterprises embracing NetOps principles have seen 60% fewer network outages and security incidents compared to legacy network management approaches. As networks get increasingly dynamic, NetOps has become integral for long-term success.
Why NetOps Matters for Digital Success
Before we look at how NetOps works, it‘s important to understand why it is gaining such massive momentum. What key challenges is NetOps addressing?
Soaring Network Complexity
- Public cloud, mobility, IoT and edge computing trends have made networks geographically diverse, multi-vendor and dependent on third-parties. IDC estimates average enterprise network connections can reach 350,000 by 2025 – a 4X increase over 2020.
- Keeping such complex, fluid networks available and secure with manual processes is impossible as complexity grows exponentially.
Lack of Holistic Visbility
- Network infrastructure now spans data centers, branches, clouds, and SaaS apps. But 56% of organizations struggle with fragmented visibility according to a Cisco AppDynamics survey.
- Blindspots in performance and security open gaps in availability and risk management.
Security Exposure
- As per McAfee, misconfigured network security policies account for over 25% of all security incidents with an average breach cost of $4.24 million as per IBM.
- Legacy firewalls and limited monitoring make it hard to detect threats and enforce consistent access controls across hybrid networks.
Silos Hampering Agility
- Network engineers spend over 30% of their time on repetitive manual processes like firewall rule changes, switch configurations etc. as noted by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA).
- Lack of collaboration between NetOps, SecOps and CloudOps teams delays service delivery and innovation.
By integrating automation, analytics and collaboration – NetOps addresses these critical challenges to enable high-performing network infrastructures.
Core Concepts Powering NetOps
NetOps introduces several key architectural shifts from legacy network management approaches. Let‘s analyze some of the core concepts:
Infrastructure-as-Code
Manual network changes don‘t scale as networks get larger and more complex. NetOps adopts infrastructure-as-code techniques from software development – where template scripts and declarative definitions can programmatically manage network infrastructure in a standardized way.
For instance, tools like Cisco NSO (Network Services Orchestrator) allow even complex network changes like adding 100s of firewall rules across devices to be executed in seconds by changing variables in automation code. This improves agility while reducing risks from human errors in manual configurations.
Leading analyst firm Gartner predicts that 70% of network operations teams will leverage infrastructure-as-code capabilities by 2025, up from just 20% in 2020.
Observability & Analytics
NetOps relies extensively on fine-grained telemetry from network infrastructure and applies advanced analytics using techniques like machine learning and AI to gain robust observability.
Instead of just monitoring health metrics, observability provides deep contextual insights. For example, Cisco ThousandEyes monitors application flows at the endpoint level. Software-defined vendors like Juniper Mist use marco machine learning algorithms that automatically analyze telemetry to detect anomalies. Big Switch Networks, ExtraHop and Kentik provide network detection and response (NDR) capabilities by creating a "network identity" for users, devices and applications to spot suspicious patterns.
According to Enterprise Management Associates, 76% of organizations have seen significant improvements in network availability after enabling enhanced telemetry and analytics.
Orchestration
While automation handles individual tasks, orchestration coordinates multiple automated processes together to achieve desired outcomes. For example, spinning up a multi-cloud application would require coordinating capacity planning, cloud onboarding, network provisioning, security policy changes etc. across teams and domains.
Instead of complex scripting, NetOps orchestration platforms like VMware NSX assure end-to-end automation by translating high-level business policies into underlying network configurations. Gartner forecasts that by 2024, 60% of data center networking teams will leverage orchestration platforms to streamline network operations, up from just 20% today.
Collaboration
Breaking down operational silos between network engineering, security and cloud teams is fundamental to NetOps. Leveraging collaboration capabilities like Cisco DNA Center‘s Assurance platform, issues can automatically create tickets in ITSM tools to notify relevant cross-domain experts instead of just the network team.
Units like Networking CoEs also help centralize network and security operations delivery across domains through common tooling, practices and culture. According to Forrester, over 75% of infrastructure decision makers cite lack of collaboration as a key challenge in network management – highlighting why stronger cooperation is integral to NetOps.
Now that we‘ve covered the pivotal concepts and drivers, let‘s analyze the tangible benefits NetOps creates for enterprises and technology teams.
Real-World Benefits of NetOps Adoption
Transitioning to NetOps requires considerable change management across people, process and technology domains. But the effort pays rich dividends through qualitative and quantitative improvements.
Here are some actual outcomes organizations have realized by enabling NetOps:
63% reduction in network provisioning time for a healthcare provider by adopting self-service automation instead of 300+ manual switch changes needed per hospital integration.
55% fewer network security incidents for a financial services firm by gaining unified visibility and control across cloud and data centers instead of fragmented tools.
99.99% uptime SLA over 2 years for a retail giant across 1800 stores powered by AIOps versus 90% uptime with break-fix maintenance.
30% decline in network team attrition through upskilling staff on next-gen skills like automation and SD-WAN versus router/switch configurations alone.
45% increase in application release velocity by implementing infrastructure-as-code techniques for network & security changes needed to onboard new microservices-based apps.
As evident, NetOps creates hard dollar savings and productivity gains while boosting agility, transparency and resilience across critical network infrastructure.
Based on research from leading firms like Gartner, Forrester and Omdia – organizations advancing NetOps practices realize 50% faster service delivery, 40% improved network uptime and 30% stronger security posture compared to traditional network management approaches.
As digital infrastructure gets further complex with trends like ubiquitous connectivity, edge delivery and distributed apps – NetOps principles become integral not just for availability assurance but also for business continuity and risk management.
Overcoming Challenges with NetOps Transformation
However, modernizing network operations through NetOps involves surmounting some key organizational and technological hurdles:
Legacy Technical Debt
Many network teams struggle with dated routers, switches and firewalls that lack modern programmability features needed to enable automation or cloud integrations. Migrating such legacy gear requires considerable testing and risk management.
Skill Gaps
NetOps practices require network talent to skill up on new capabilities like infrastructure-as-code, observability platforms and API integrations spanning on-premise and multi-cloud environments. Not all teams have the experience today.
Culture Inertia
Adopting collaborative workflows between network, security and cloud teams calls for changes in mindset. Similarly, shifting from manual network changes done locally to centralized automation via modern platforms can face cultural resistance.
Additional Complexity
While essential, integrating diverse monitoring, automation and analytics tools across hybrid network environments creates its own complexity that needs to be holistically managed.
Best Practices for NetOps Success
Organizations can consider several proven guidelines to smooth their NetOps modernization journey:
Incorporate Executive Sponsorship – Have CXO-level stakeholders periodically review progress instead of just championing initial funding to maintain momentum.
Take an Iterative Approach– Start with a limited NetOps use case and learn from the initial deployment before attempting a network-wide transition.
Evaluate Skills & Mindset – Assess team skills around automation, observability and collaboration to create training plans. Also spot potential cultural barriers early.
Review Processes Adaptively – Continuously gather user feedback post implementation to spot automation gaps or areas of friction. Avoid a "set and forget" mindset.
Assess Transition Requirements – Quantify the extent of technical debt and migration effort needed upfront through network discovery tools instead of realizing down the road.
Enable Self-Service Access – Allow infrastructure teams self-service access to network changes needed for agility while securing NetOps platforms with role-based access controls.
Choose Flexible & Open Platforms – When selecting vendors, evaluate interoperability with multi-vendor infrastructure and third-party tools to prevent vendor lock-in.
Key Innovations Advancing NetOps
Modern networks face immense pressure from surging traffic driven by mobility, IoT, cloud and Web 3.0 apps. Innovations across various technology domains are helping elevate NetOps to effectively manage this world of hyperconnected systems:
AIOps Capabilities: Nearly all network gear, monitoring and analytics vendors are infusing machine learning and automation techniques to enable smarter network visibility, issue correlation and policy recommendations.
SD-WAN Advancements: Software-defined WAN platforms significantly simplify branch network operations with zero-touch deployments, centralized orchestration and cloud-based analytics.
Cloud-Native Offerings: Native integrations with leading public clouds alongside Kubernetes ecosystem support is allowing organizations to seamlessly extend NetOps across hybrid environments.
Open Ecosystems: Open source automation tools like Ansible, Terraform and Python-based offerings are accelerating NetOps democratization through flexibility and interoperability.
Unified Platform Convergence: Leading network vendors provide integrated portfolios spanning wired/wireless gear, SD-WAN routers, analytics engines, automation controllers and security enforcement under a centralized NetOps plane.
Maturing NetOps for Digital Age Infrastructure
As next-generation connectivity technologies like 5G, Wi-Fi 6E and new transport options emerge alongside trends like ambient computing, edge delivery and Web 3.0 – tomorrow‘s networks will be exponentially more complex and mission-critical.
NetOps allows modern enterprises to effectively meet this dynamic landscape through AI-driven automation, robust control and deep visibility even as the underlying infrastructure evolves via software and hardware disaggregation.
Investing in NetOps transformation today will ensure network teams have the skills, processes and platforms needed to enable reliability, adaptation and resilience demanded by digital-first business models.
I hope this comprehensive guide has helped demystify what NetOps entails, why it matters as networks become strategic business infrastructure and how alignment with proven best practices can unlock immense value.
Let me know if you have any other questions as you advance on your NetOps modernization journey!
