Is Your Network Too Complex?

Hopefully, your organization has been in a position where it’s been growing and thriving for years. If it has, it’s likely that as you’ve added personnel and new processes and procedures you’ve had to update your IT equipment. However, if you’ve been simply adding to your network as you go to accommodate growth, you may now be dealing with a system that’s far more complicated than it needs to be. How can you tell if your system is too complex, missing something important, or if it’s just right?

Here are a few Goldilocks Tests to determine where you’re at, and where you need to go.

Too Small: A Single Connection Point

If you’ve got a large network running off of a single connection point, it could be a disaster waiting to happen. Here’s what we mean:

As you add computers and servers onto your network, you run the risk that if one component, such as an old router, takes a nosedive your entire operation will come to a screeching halt. Of course, if your operation is relatively small, it may not make sense to have multiple servers, routers, or firewalls in place. But as your organization grows, it’s important to understand that you can’t simply add on workstations without upgrading everything that makes it tick.

Basically, it will work until it doesn’t - and when it doesn’t, it will be bad. This would be an example of your network not being complex enough, or rather your infrastructure not being robust enough to support a complex network.

Too Big: An Unruly Maze

Conversely, as some organization’s grow they make a conscious effort to make sure their network can keep up. They do this by adding servers, routers, firewalls, and other peripherals and suddenly… things get out of hand. When there’s an issue it can be a job in and of itself to just track down what’s causing it and where it’s coming from. And that’s before you add in complications such as Shadow IT.

Shadow IT is oftentimes a symptom, not a cause, of a too complex network. Things may be so intense on the technical side that for end-users it’s just too overwhelming. So they find a workaround. For example, they save things to Dropbox instead of connecting to the VPN and sharing them to servers. Or they send things to their personal email to work on from home instead of installing the software remotely to connect to their desktop.

Just Right: Well-Managed and Maintained

Of course, the goal is to have a network with just the right amount of complexity t for your organization’s needs. The perfect blend of a well-managed network is to have it free from any unnecessary complications or perilous shortcomings, while also being well-maintained with up-to-date hardware and software that’s functioning as it should.

Nailing down a network that’s the perfect blend of complex and straightforward means taking a step back and an honest look at your infrastructure. It may be that as your business has grown your IT simply hasn’t kept up - you’ve put off hiring an in-house IT team (or haven’t felt you were ready for one yet), so you’ve been handling it all yourself. Or your in-house team is in over their head managing day-to-day issues and simply putting bandaids on the big problems. Either way, calling in an IT service provider who can also step into the role of virtual CIO if needed may be your next best step.

For a month by month guide to working with an IT service provider, download our eBook What To Expect When You’re Expecting IT.