Embracing empowerment doesn’t mean giving employees carte blanche to do whatever they want. Instead, empower your team members to make decisions within clearly defined guidelines.
Network mapping tools help IT teams instantly pinpoint the devices exhibiting issues, making locating and addressing them swiftly easier. They also help IT teams gain a graphical overview of the network structure to find potential vulnerabilities.
Identify Problems and Issues
Network mapping tools help IT teams identify issues with their enterprise infrastructure with a graphical system overview. These tools also provide important information on network capacity and highlight potential bottlenecks, allowing IT teams to make informed decisions for future growth plans, upgrade implementations, and other network changes.
For example, say a device in your network is experiencing problems with data transfer, and you need to determine the issue. With a network map, IT professionals can quickly locate this equipment and pinpoint the issue in real-time. It can save a lot of time when compared to manually tracing the issue in more complex network structures.
In addition, generating a visual representation of your IT infrastructure can help you discover any devices that may not be configured properly. It helps prevent security risks commonly associated with unauthorized devices and misconfigurations.
For instance, the popular IT monitoring software ManageEngine OpManager automatically discovers all physical and vendor-specific virtual devices’ connections to other devices and creates a basic Layer 2 topology map. The solution then periodically scans the network to keep this visualization up-to-date, ensuring you always work with a live, accurate, complete map. The tool also offers customization functionalities that allow you to adapt the generated maps to your specific needs and see more details about a particular device at a glance.
Delegate Tasks Based on Employee Strengths
One of the best ways to start delegating tasks is by assigning projects that align with your team members’ professional goals. When your team is given tasks that play to their strengths, it helps build employee morale and increases productivity. According to a study, 83% of employees assigned work that aligns with their powers are likelier to stay at a company for long-term success.
When assigning a project, take the time to assess your team member’s bandwidth and availability. Doing so will ensure they are not overwhelmed and prevent them from becoming frustrated or distracted by a new task. Once you have a solid idea of who will be handling the project, begin to prepare their tools and resources. It’s also important to outline the deadline and expected results of the task. It will help your team members stay on track and provide guidance throughout the process.
Once you have assigned the task, let your team member get to work! Be sure to check in with them periodically to provide support and ensure they are on target to meet your expectations. But be careful not to hover too much, as this can discourage the empowerment process and create a dependence on you for direction. Finding the right balance between being hands-off and encouraging your team members to make decisions independently is important.
Create Documentation
The IT team of a networked organization has many responsibilities, from troubleshooting and deploying new hardware to managing existing software. Keeping a full inventory of the network’s devices is essential, but it can only be easy with the right tools.
Fortunately, the right network mapping tool makes this process relatively simple and efficient. With live feedback, the tool allows administrators to see how a network is connected and identify potential security issues. Creating a policy outlining which information should be recorded and who is responsible for documenting it will help the IT team stay on track.
Documentation should include everything from the number of network segments, the routers that connect them, and the servers, hardware, and gateways associated with each. For example, server details should include the server’s name, role, and IP address. When a problem occurs, the IT team can quickly and easily locate the server exhibiting symptoms, eliminating hours of frustration and allowing them to resolve the issue soon.
A well-documented network will also make it easier for an MSP to demonstrate its superior customer service. Clients appreciate when their managed service provider communicates with them openly and proactively about any problems that arise. Having clear, up-to-date documentation readily available will demonstrate that the MSP takes its client’s concerns seriously and is always working to keep the company’s infrastructure functioning at its peak.
Track Changes
Network mapping solutions automatically gather and interpret data using an easy-to-read graphical representation of all enterprise devices and their links. They can also track how these devices are changing in real time. Alerts are sent to IT teams when issues such as excess traffic or device malfunction arise. IT can respond quickly and fix the problem before it becomes a major issue or threat.
With this data, sysadmins can see how one device is connected to another and identify the root cause of any issues. It can lead to less downtime and more informed capacity planning.
As networks grow increasingly complex, it’s become more difficult for IT and other personnel to picture the entire enterprise network topology. But this task is streamlined with the help of a quality network mapper.
For example, if someone is experiencing bandwidth problems, the IT team can use a network mapping tool to pinpoint the device eating up too much data. It makes it easier to fix the problem and reduces downtime for all users.
In addition, a network mapping solution like the popular Intermapper can display network topology in multiple ways, such as geographically on a world map. It also provides color-coded alerts to highlight any performance issues for quicker troubleshooting. This detailed information can save sysadmins a lot of time and effort.
