Network Efficiency: Why You Should Pay Attention

Network Efficiency Affects Every Employee, and Every Network Purchase.

The less efficient your network, the more money you are letting slip through the cracks. Think of a poorly insulated house. The harder a furnace has to work to heat a house, the higher the monthly bill.

Although you’re not writing a check each month for how well your network is or is not performing, you are paying your employees each month, and you are paying for network purchases on a regular basis. Network efficiency directly affects your employee productivity and the ROI (return on investment) of each piece of hardware and software you have already purchased.

Productivity, Efficiency, ROI, blah, blah, blah…

I know, you hear these words associated with IT all the time and it sounds like a broken record.  When network efficiency is not seen, heard, or easily felt but every product promises to improve it, the proclamation becomes a bit doubtful.

Consider this. Let’s say your networking products (server or switch) are newer and provide GB (gigabit) network connectivity, but your workstations only support 100 MB (megabyte). This means your network is running at standard speed until it reaches a workstation, where network performance suddenly drops. Your employees are only able to work up to 1/10 of their total possible productivity, and you’re only getting up to 1/10 of the value out of your networking products.

How to Improve Network Efficiency

Luckily, sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference – like the energy efficient light bulbs. Other times you may have to replace your old furnace with a new, energy efficient one, but the outcome is always greatly improved.

1. Cabling. Cabling really should not be an issue. Most everyone has Cat 5 E, or at least Cat 5 – both of which are able to support Ethernet connectivity. If you don’t have Cat 5, you are working in the dark ages and it’s time to move into the 21st century.
   
   
2. Network Cards. Each workstation should have a network card that matches your network size. Gigabit networks are actually standard these days. If your network is GB, your network cards need to be GB.
   
   
3. Memory, RAM, etc. You’re going to need the memory and RAM that suits your software and application requirements. Typically, it’s 1 GB for workstations  and 2 GB for servers.
   
   
4. Latest Anti-Virus. Anti-Virus software developers are continually working to improve the performance of their product. Older versions may be taking up valuable network resources.
   
   
5. Clean Up Hard Drives. The more software applications, downloads, and other resources you have saved to your C drive, the ‘bulkier’ and more bogged down it becomes. Perform a disc defrag and disc cleanup on a regular basis to remove unused and temporary files.
   
   
6. Minimize the # of hubs and switches. The more hubs and switches you have on your network, the greater the potential for delays and network loops. Remember to check your printing and copying devices.
   
   
7. Upgrade to GB. GB has become the standard in networking. Consider the amount of work that is done on the network and your number of employees…your network needs to be able to process all of this information at once.
   
   
8. Upgrade your WAN. If you have a WAN (Wide-Area-Network), you need an efficient line to connect your branch offices, if available.
   
   
9. Citrix or Terminal Services for WANs. These solutions require minimal amount of bandwidth.
   
   
10. Replace Servers and Workstations Every 3 Years. The more software, software updates, employees, applications, etc that we add to our network the more server and workstation resources are consumed. The more resources that are consumed, the less room for network performance.

Easier Said than Done

I know. It’s easy to point out what needs to be done, and much harder to allocate the time or resources to get it done.

If you don’t have the time, knowledge, or if your network is just too large, we can quickly and easily gather this information for you with a Network Assessment. (We’re actually giving a few free Network Assessments away with our next direct mail postcard.)

“See” Your Network’s Efficiency

With an elite piece of software we are able gather network inventory and performance information.  It’s almost like we can “see” inside your network and how well each device talks to each other. Your Network Assessment results will be provided in an analytical report. We will meet with you to go over the results, in terms that you can understand, and provide any recommendations. That’s it. You take it from there.

Not only do you get your network’s true efficiency, you also receive otherwise unobtainable information that will allow you to more easily and cost effectively plan your network upgrades – knowing which upgrades will make the greatest impact.

Learn more about our Network Assessment service. As a Bennett Bits subscriber, you can be one of the first to qualify for a free network assessment.

Don’t Wait Another 20 Years

You most likely purchased your first business computer back in the early 1990’s and have been adding to your network ever since.  This is almost 20 years of adding new technology to old technology. You may not even realize how much old technology still resides on your network, and how it is affecting your hardware, software and employee’s ability to work.

You continue to write monthly payroll checks and authorize necessary software or hardware updates, now make sure you are getting the most out of these expenses by checking into your network’s efficiency.