What is Network Operations? & Best Practices

Network Monitoring:

Nearly a century ago, mailroom employees could be found pushing a cart stuffed with “snail mail,” delivering it throughout the company within a monolithic downtown building.

This form of communication is still current today with bicycle couriers as an option for safely delivering hardcopies of important time sensitive documents between individuals or organizations, email has replaced the need for such personnel. However, maintaining information security over cyberspace remains just as important as with hand delivered mail. Network operations involves monitoring information travelling over computer network systems with the purpose of maintaining an organization’s functional integrity while securing important information.

Faster communications through email increases the rate of how business is conducted around the world. Waiting for handwritten information to survive high seas journeys as a form of two-way communication required surviving natural phenomena such as storms and malicious parties such as pirates. Through email, individual parties can evade the interference of storms much of the time, but digital pirates occupying cyberspace, posing a threat to network security in the intangible software landscape maintained between connected hardware over landmasses.

The significance of network monitoring during contemporary times is that it allows an organization to operate efficiently. With a shortage of information technology personnel in the workforce, the potential for an individual to become a network operations analyst or a related position is an opportunity to seized. The additional benefit of pursuing this at the present time places that individual ahead of the laggards in society, those who are behind the times.

The menial and the mundane daily communication between colleagues and associates are conducted through email. And, network monitoring, as a part of network operations, requires that even these forms of traffic over the computer network remain secure no matter how insignificant they may appear. Hackers engage in a form of cyber eavesdropping, studying a target victim prior to initiating a cyberattack that can disrupt an organization’s operations with malicious programs or steal sensitive information, holding it for ransom.

Incident Response:

In order prevent cyberattacks from hackers (modern day pirates), incident response becomes important. Incident response is a vital activity regarding network operations within an organization. When devices connected over a computer network malfunction, either naturally or due to outside interference by hackers, an organization’s efficiency is negatively impacted. Therefore, incident response employees must travel through a building on daily basis ensuring that tasks are handled in a timely manner. With timely incident responses handled by employees who enjoy the challenge and who love to remain mobile as opposed to stationary lock-down behind a desk, an organization can maintain its overall efficiency.

Communications Management (Email, voice, & video):

Some of the duties of communications management employees have replaced the “security” part of the internal mailroom courier while email handles the delivery of information within an organization. Furthermore, communications management employees play a vital role in maintaining an organization’s internal and external communications devices. Additionally, by maintaining personnel accounts and equipment helps personnel within an organization’s computer network to work more efficiently and more effectively. This technological way of managing these activities within a computer network allows for an individual to

As time progresses, the organizational layout of a company may alter once again to accommodate the challenges it faces regarding maintaining secure delivery of its information. And, the current positions may be replaced just like the mailroom courier.