As digital transformation reshapes the Australian business landscape, network infrastructure is now critical to support new technologies and ways of working. Yet Australian small to medium businesses and mid-market enterprises may fall short of their potential as their heritage networks fail to keep pace.
Perhaps more troubling, outmoded networks may expose Australian organisations to increased cybersecurity risks leading to significant financial losses, reputational damage, and customer backlash as private details leak on to the ‘Dark Web’.
Experts from networking vendor Cisco Meraki, and IT integrator NTT DATA weighed-in on how Australian business leaders can keep pace with elevated demands on their networks in an iTnews webinar.
According to audience members, cybersecurity was their No1 priority followed by simplified network management, reflecting the 83% and 72% of respondents, respectively, who replied to an earlier Meraki customer survey on the same question.
Reflecting on the correlation between cybersecurity and simplicity, Cisco Meraki product specialist, Senan Nakajima, said organisations expected their networks to be flexible without compromising security.
“Even when it comes to opening or closing down an office, we’re required to be flexible and agile,” said Nakajima, who said operational simplicity was equally critical for innovation and business growth.
“When the technology is powerful — but not simple enough — the business might not be able to be flexible in a changing environment.”
And as organisations bolt on devices to their networks such as surveillance cameras and sensors, they may inadvertently open gaps in their defensive perimeter that must be monitored and managed, said NTT DATA director of technology transformation, Lyncoln de Mello.
“The network is expected to play a pivotal role in controlling access,” said de Mello.
“And with the Internet of Things and wi-fi-connected sensors now accessing the same infrastructure as the corporate network, there’s a requirement around securing those devices such that they do not become a vector, an opportunity for bad actors.”
Power of the platform – Cisco Meraki dashboard delivers ultimate visibility on ‘single pane of glass’
An increasingly heterogeneous network of smart devices — often at its periphery — raised concerns about their management and monitoring. As each vendor provided their own management console, correlating activities and emergent threats consumed more human resources.
“You can’t manage what you can’t see; you can’t fix what you can’t see,” said Cisco Meraki technical solutions architect, Fred Chua, during a live demo of the vendor’s ‘single-pane-of-glass’ solution.
“You manage everything from the same dashboard, and it’s consistent. Simplicity and that power — all in the same dashboard — contribute to that whole Meraki experience,” he said.
Chua demonstrated how to manage a complex IT network on a global map of every user and device, and then the ease of drilling into potential problems to remediate them. Even the licence status of devices was visible to the operator in the same dashboard without stepping into other applications, controllers or command line text queries.
“A lean IT organisation, one that does not have budget to outsource network infrastructure management to a managed service provider … doesn’t have the time nor the skill to deal with deep network issues and troubleshooting,” echoed de Mello.
“So the platform … does the underlying grunt work in translating [IT’s] intent into the devices.”
SPECIAL OFFER: Do you seek a cloud-managed network platform to boost your business’s performance and cybersecurity resilience? You may be eligible for a free Meraki access point with one-year licence. Register and watch the on demand webinar here.
Want more? Experience the power of the Cisco Meraki network administration dashboard for yourself from about the 40-minute mark here.