As CTO, you are constantly thinking about the health of your current network and determining what future operations will require. Technology affects every person, every department, and every business process. Your responsibility is significant. To help you out, we’re sharing three factors that we think will have a high impact on business continuity in 2024.

Video Collaboration: Enhance Communication and Productivity Without Stressing the Network

Video applications have changed how we do business. We like to see each other, to talk in real time, to collaborate and problem solve. Video conferencing makes this possible. It’s used across industries for everything from training sessions to providing customer services like telehealth appointments. Even while some organizations are issuing return-to-office mandates, video collaboration remains critical to business operations. Employees might all be in professional spaces, but they won’t all be in the same room, in the same location. This is one reason why the video conferencing market is expected to reach $19.1 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 12.6%.

Requirements for Seamless Video Collaboration

IT professionals care about this growing dependency because video conferencing solutions stress network operations. This is because their success depends on real-time data.

If you send an email and there’s a network interruption, it’s usually not an issue. But if you’re trying to solve a problem or meet with a vendor and your video app isn’t working well? Now frustration can strike.

The good news is that we know video collaboration is important and growing – and we know how to optimize networks so that they deliver reliable support.

Organizations that give IT professionals the following make it possible for networks, and business operations, to succeed:

• Complete network and application visibility
• Proactive alerts before issues affect end users
• Automated Video Collaboration testing

With this information in hand, teams will resolve problems quickly and keep operations running seamlessly.

The 6GHz Frequency Band and WiFi 6E Migration: Expand Connectivity, Watch Out for Interoperability

WiFi 6E and the 6GHz frequency band are here. We can all expect larger deployments throughout 2024. This could create a lot of challenges for IT.

6E is the first time in over a decade that we’ve introduced a new frequency band to our networks. We haven’t had to deal with a transition like this in a long time. This makes it important for everyone to slow down and make sure they have what they need in place before transitioning.

Is IT prepped and ready to:

• Analyze end user metrics to predict which departments need the upgrade first?
• Redesign AP deployment to better provide 6GHz connectivity?
• Ensure redesigns don’t cause roaming issues?
• Continue to manage possible security risks?
• Compare network performance before and after transitions?
• Watch and analyze three frequency bands, 24/7?

6GHz is exciting, and what it can deliver could make significant differences for large organizations. Prepare for the upgrade properly, and let IT have fun with it.

AI-Powered Network Automation: Watch This Solution Become Mainstream

CTOs need to provide complete assurance that both the wired and WiFi networks are reliable and optimized. Industries like – and for the most part, still require – hybrid connectivity. Combine this with a recent, growing reliance on cloud applications, and networks are more complex than they used to be. 

Now when problems occur, IT needs to know:

1. Is this happening on our network or is it cloud services?
2. If our network, is it wired or WiFi or both?
3. Is it a client issue or our network?

Solutions that provide those answers immediately significantly reduce the Mean-Time-to-Resolution. This preserves business continuity, operational efficiency, and user experience. All of which, in turn, improves company reputation and finances.

This makes it impossible to overstate the importance of AI-powered network automation. These solutions automate problem detection, notification, and identification. Without them, IT has to analyze data from hundreds or thousands of devices in real time in order to isolate the root cause of issues. No CTO is signing their team up for that.

With AI-powered network automation, IT professionals will have quick and easy access to:

• Automatic problem identification and root cause analysis 
• Recommended resolutions
• Proactive testing 
• Automated, remote troubleshooting

All for both the wired and WiFi networks. This is modern network assurance.

Stand By Your Network in 2024

Embrace these trends, prep your networks to be outstandingly reliable, and give yourself a great competitive edge in the new year. Contact us at any time if you want to learn more about AI-driven WiFi and network automation.