What are some use cases for network automation?

​As the networks run by enterprises become increasingly complex, managing and monitoring them has become a challenging task. Therefore, enterprises are turning to network automation to manage their networks more easily. In addition, the increase in demand for greater bandwidth, network virtualization, and cloud computing services has further promoted the development of network automation.

However, many enterprises are still skeptical about which network automation use case to start with, even though the market size of network automation is expected to grow to $30 billion by 2028. The following will introduce the top use cases for network automation and how they can help enterprises get started on their network automation journey.

Enhanced security

In earlier times, the networks of enterprises were confined to a single perimeter. In such a scenario, signature-based Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) protected the network. But with the increase in the intensity and speed of cyber attacks, maintaining signature-based WAFs can be time-consuming. Moreover, they are obviously ineffective in the face of zero-day attacks, as signatures have not yet been created to define these attacks.

Modern networks are no longer confined to a single location and include on-premises, cloud, edge, and other third-party networks. Therefore, protecting enterprises from zero-day and similar attacks requires adopting network automation.

Intent-based network automation platforms automate the device discovery process, allowing enterprises to develop good network security policies and implement them consistently across complex and multiple network environments. The addition of a zero-trust policy ensures that only the right people with the proper credentials can access the network.

Additionally, by centralizing network policy controls, automating access control lists and password management capabilities, and micro-segmenting the network into multiple zones, these network automation tools leave no gaps for threat actors to exploit.

Minimize downtime and downtime

According to Verizon's 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report, more than 82% of all network outages are caused by human error. ITIC's 2021 Cost Per Hour of Downtime Survey once again found that 91% of companies spend $300,000 or more per hour of server downtime. Of these companies, nearly 44% reported hourly downtime costs ranging from $1 million to more than $5 million.

Network outages can lead to lost revenue, reduced productivity, and most importantly, damaged reputation. Therefore, the burden of managing the network cannot be left to human staff alone. Instead, network management must be enhanced with automation.

Streamlining network changes will make businesses more efficient and protect them from downtime and outages. Since network automation tools provide comprehensive and real-time visibility into the health of the network, problematic issues can be identified in real time, allowing them to be resolved faster.

In addition, real-time topology mapping and custom dashboards reduce mean time to find a problem (MTTK) and mean time to repair (MTTR) for known situations, improving user satisfaction.

Training new employees on the use of equipment

Onboarding is the process by which new devices are allowed to access the network. However, it takes a lot of time to connect thousands of network devices, and network operators must manually check every detail before the devices can be used. This can take days or even months.

Not surprisingly, according to the research, 61% of respondents chose reducing the time to deploy services and 59% chose increasing productivity as their primary drivers for implementing automation.

In addition to this, there is the risk of human error. When IT teams do not take the necessary precautions during the device onboarding process, they risk exposing systems and networks to risks. With the development of network automation, device onboarding becomes a very simple and safe process. Network automation tools allow users to quickly onboard devices with appropriate customer access policies.

Equipped with advanced security features, these tools continuously monitor network security, checking each device before allowing it to connect to the network.

Reducing technical debt

Technical debt often results when developers take shortcuts or cut corners in order to ship code quickly. While it helps in the short term, eventually, developers will have to go back and reduce the technical debt. Poor code quality, zombie devices, partial or bloated configurations, abandoned projects, lack of documentation, and legacy technologies are some examples of technical debt.

Technical debt is a key concern for enterprises - not only does it increase operational costs and limit the agility of the network, it also reduces productivity and has a critical impact on the business bottom line.

In the 2022 LeanIX Enterprise Architect and IT Strategy Survey of more than 140 global companies, it was found that 41% of enterprise architects (EAs) believe that reducing technical debt is a top priority. Of the organizations surveyed, 96% of respondents said they are planning at least one project aimed at reducing technical debt.

Fortunately, with network automation, enterprises can easily identify and eliminate network technical debt. Network automation tools use automation to build a network source of truth, helping enterprises verify network components before and after network changes.

This helps enterprises ensure that the network performs consistently and predictably as expected. If there are inconsistencies, the tool will highlight them. As a result, network build time is reduced and NetOps teams have more time to focus on the future network.

Network Inventory

Understanding the current state of your network is critical to effective network monitoring. But to do this, you first need to have a complete inventory of network devices, and the inventory must be accurate and up-to-date. While early network inventories were done manually, this is simply not feasible given the size and complexity of modern networks.

Without a standard source of truth, people may neglect to record some devices and miss when changes have occurred on the network. Not having full visibility into network assets can be dangerous for enterprises because threat actors can infiltrate without people knowing.

Powerful network automation tools continuously scan network devices and automatically detect when assets are added or removed from the network inventory. They use several advanced discovery methods to perform network discovery and create a complete network inventory of devices, providing enterprises with detailed information about each device.

Configuration Management

Configuration drift is the process by which a configuration item such as software, applications, virtual machines, servers, network devices, or security policies gradually changes over time and deviates from its initial state. Manually managing networks often leads to configuration drift, resulting in degraded performance, extended downtime, and, more worryingly, regulatory noncompliance.

Network automation removes the guesswork involved in diagnosing configuration drift and provides enterprises with a centrally defined system to monitor the network to address this issue. With increased visibility, enterprises can quickly identify and correct configuration drift. By managing configuration drift, businesses can align with industry regulations and always be audit-ready.

Although a certain amount of configuration drift will occur in the network, through continuous monitoring and timely auditing, enterprises can keep a close eye on drift management and take timely action.