Your organization is about to make an investment in a technology – or technologies – that will enhance its operations, better serve its customers, and create more efficiencies and less headaches for your hard-working colleagues: awesome!
That said, if you’re talking about buying something, you’ll want to approach the purchase decision the right way. Enter a Proof of Concept (PoC). So, what’s a PoC and why is it so important? Let’s start with the basics: a proof of concept is commonly defined as a “demonstration of a product in which work is focused on determining whether an idea can be turned into a reality.”
Consider this the best way one can “try before you buy” so that an organization can understand how a solution would fit or even be feasible/viable. That said, let’s look at how your organization can put a strong PoC together to better inform your technology solution decision(s).
It Starts With a Clear Set of Goals
What does “success” look like in a PoC? In this case, what is your ideal state of operations for your team with the right network monitoring solution?
Find – and Mind – The Gaps
What problems do you seek to solve with this network monitoring solution? Using a PoC can help find the problems that may be hidden in your network. Examples could include latency issues, device downtime, a need to better track device configuration changes, and/or perhaps any factors that may contribute to exposing or unraveling security vulnerabilities in your network.
Measure Performance and Features
How will the network monitoring solution actually do? This is where your team can focus on real-time performance data, the accuracy of the solution’s alerts, and its adaptability. Regarding the latter, more specifically, how well does it act/adjust when changes are implemented, and how is it interacting with other tools and technologies?
Other meaningful questions to ask regarding alerting capabilities:
- To what extent can the alerting capability be customized? (e.g., efficient without creating “noise” to users)
- Can it also integrate with other incident management platforms (e.g., Opsgenie, PagerDuty) to allow users more flexibility in terms of how to receive notifications?
How’s the Report Card?
Another more tangible way to measure performance and features includes a dedicated review of the reporting capabilities of the solution, as well as the analytics being provided. Are there actionable insights from these? And are those actionable insights geared toward improving network performance?
Look Back, Look Forward
Lastly, when initiating and executing a PoC, critique past incidents and determine “what did we miss?” as well as “why weren’t we being alerted?”. This will enable your PoC to seek improvement on network security and network monitoring blind spots.
Michael Suvorovs,
Product Manager, AKIPS
