The New Normals of Network Operations in 2020

Summary

Today we published a report on “The New Normals of Network Operations in 2020.” Based on a survey of 220 networking professionals, our report aims to better understand the challenges this community faces personally and professionally as more companies and individuals taking their worlds almost entirely online.

Today we published a report on “The New Normals of Network Operations in 2020.” Based on a survey of 220 networking professionals, our report aims to better understand the challenges this community faces both personally and professionally, especially as the global pandemic has intensified the importance of networks, with more companies and individuals taking their worlds almost entirely online. Do network teams feel more pressure than ever before to keep the world connected?

Here are just a few of our findings:

• Cloud reliance is not as widespread as it seems. There’s no mistaking that the cloud is in high demand. However, despite reports of increased cloud bursting to give networks more capacity, the majority of our survey respondents (54%) said that their organizations have not increased their reliance on the cloud during the global pandemic. This could indicate usage of and a trend toward hybrid infrastructure.

• Network budgets remain intact. Forty percent (40%) of respondents said their organizations’ networking budgets had not changed due to economic uncertainties caused by the pandemic. In fact, for 36% of respondents, budgets had either significantly or somewhat increased.

• Work/life balance is a top networking challenge. Over half of respondents (51%) expressed concern for their work/life balance. This is likely, in part, due to the increased pressure that work-from-home and shelter-in-place policies have put on networkers to maintain network performance and reliability. Some respondents also wrote in additional stressors, including the management of business continuity plans, physical access to data centers, as well as general economic concerns.

The report additionally includes charts, data and potential rationale behind certain findings, including for infrastructure supply chain delays, concerns over network capacity shortages, and overall productivity levels of network teams. We also break down our results by large enterprise respondents, as well as small and midsize businesses (SMBs) to determine whether company size plays a role in certain networking concerns.

Overall, the new normals of network operations in 2020 require agility, flexibility, understanding, and balance — in many more ways than one. Find out why: Download the report here.