Your network or application is down and you need it corrected quickly or your business suffers through loss of productivity, revenue or image. With managed services from InSwift corrective action is already underway to get you up and running again.

Today’s remote network monitoring applications can help us generate valuable information about your network health and performance. This data, pulled from firewall and VPN logs, helps our network administrators quickly determine which of your network components are overburdened, underutilized or at risk.

And by hiring out this service, you can gain all the information you need to make critical decisions, without placing an additional burden on your busy IT personnel.

If you are an SMB with numerous PCs, servers and a Web site — but a small IT staff — remote network monitoring may prove to be an ideal solution. Here’s why:

Predict Network Problems Sooner

Using remote network monitoring software, we can spot many potential problems before they become catastrophes. For example, this software can give priority warnings if you have too much traffic in one area of your network or if a CPU on your server is approaching maximum utilization, thus increasing its likelihood of a crash. It can also spot failed backups, virus attacks and patterns of bandwidth congestion.

This advance warning gives our network engineers plenty of time to fix these small problems before they escalate into bigger — and perhaps costlier — ones. Depending on the problem, we may even be able to perform some network fixes on our side, which reduces downtime and results in a quicker repair. Thus, you will likely see your network engineer on-site only if your network problem cannot be fixed remotely.

Reduce IT Labor Costs

By outsourcing your remote network monitoring to us, you no longer need to employ a dedicated IT specialist to perform these tasks. We can simply monitor your network from our office, and alert you to any potential problems via your pager or e-mail.

In terms of cost, most SMBs consider remote network monitoring an inexpensive form of insurance against network hackers and data loss. For example, some companies find they can improve their network security and data integrity for about the same cost as a monthly cleaning service.

Typically, the cost of outsourcing your remote network monitoring will run anywhere from $50 to $1,000 or more a month, depending on how many other managed services (e.g., virtual-network administration, server administration and on-site service calls) are bundled with it. We can determine the actual price based on how many systems, devices, IP addresses or routers need to be monitored, and what other services are being provided.

Another advantage of outsourcing this service is the predictability of the cost. Most SMBs prefer a fixed monthly expense to the relative uncertainty of a reactive service plan, which can have costs that vary greatly from month to month.

Optimize Network Performance

By having your network usage and health monitored at all times, you can also optimize your network performance, which can lead to additional cost savings. For example, remote network monitoring software can identify when one server is running at 99-percent capacity, while another is only running at 40-percent capacity. Using this data, we may be able to shift some of that load over to another server and increase overall performance.

The software may also determine that you are paying for more bandwidth than you need. For example, you may be paying for a costly T-1 line to efficiently run your Web site, when you only need half that bandwidth.

Do More With Less

Today’s remote network monitoring software applications are more sophisticated and more intuitive than ever before. And many enable us to manage numerous network components — such as desktops, servers and networking equipment — all with a single program.

Contact InSwift today to find out more about how remote network monitoring solutions can help us balance your network needs with your available labor resources.